Apple will own my living room
December 5th, 2008 | by geo |
I desperately need to get a media machine hooked up to my television to handle all of my music, video, photos, and anything else taking up GIGS of memory on my day-to-day computer. AppleTV was a poor product and I was upset because I thought that would be the solution.
But now, I still think Apple will dominate my living room. I’m thinking about a MacMini (w/ wireless TimeCapsule for massive storage) hooked directly to TV with ability to record like DVR/TIVO, stream Netflix, store Digital DVD’s, and Play and Sync Music. You can even get HD connection.
My music library alone consumes over 1/2 my hard drive on my laptop! I’ve thought about a Shuttle PC running Windows or Linux, but you just can’t beat Apple’s ease of integration + nice looks.
Thanks Carlos for passing along tip on eyeTV 3. This is my new year resolution 
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5 Responses to “Apple will own my living room”
By Charlie on Dec 5, 2008 | Reply
What do you not like about the AppleTV? I really like mine.
By Matt on Dec 5, 2008 | Reply
Don’t listen to Charlie, he’s an Apple fanboy with money burning holes in his pockets.
The Mac Mini is a good idea, but don’t do wireless storage. 500GB USB2 harddrives are well under $100, and you can get a 1TB for under $300. They’re slim, silent, and you don’t even notice them but they will be MUCH faster than the wireless option (although not very fast compared to internal storage).
I’m speaking from experience: Mac Mini with a DVI-to-HDMI cable with 500GB of connected storage with another 750GB across gigabit ethernet. 1920×1080 is a nice resolution for a Mac, my friend! With Front Row and you’ve got a nice little entertainment center.
Mind you, Mac Minis implement HDCP DRM standards so make sure your TV/Receiver is compliant.
By geo on Dec 5, 2008 | Reply
Apple TV can be done with more features using a simple PC or a macmini…to me it was a marketing play – but I bet round 2 is coming soon.
I agree USB or firewire vs. wireless will be huge difference for large files. Didn’t know about HDCP DRM.. what? nice!
By Mac-TV-Tuner-Guy on Dec 6, 2008 | Reply
You might find the ethernet-based HDHomeRun DUAL Digital tuner box from Silicon Dust – combined with EyeTV 3 to be a GREAT Mac home entertainment setup. Watch one program while recording another, or let multiple computers access the 2 tuners directly. Attached to a TimeCapsule’s ethernet port makes a nice media access point that’d be far better than a USB tuner stick hanging off a Mac’s port.
By Mac-TV-Tuner-Guy on Dec 6, 2008 | Reply
P.S. Get a better idea of what’s currently available in the Mac television tuner marketplace at http://www.mac-digital-tv-tuners.com – I’m thinking my next tuner will be Pinnacle Micro’s HD TV mini stick for Mac which is the tiniest USB tuner made to date. Makes an EyeTV Hybrid look like an Elephant in comparison.