Media Centre, Your Opinion Please

[R.Youden]

OK, I was to set up a media centre in my living room (louge for some of us!).

As far as I can see it I have two possibilities:

Number 1: I currently have a PowerMac G4 1.42GHz DP. The advantages of this machine are; I already own it, i.e. free! Large HD, if I add an SATA card I could get very large storage in this device. I have a TV card built in that comes with a good remote I can control alot of apps with. The disadvantages are that the video card may not connect to my TV using the Apple connector but I have bought one to try out. It is very noisy and hot (the temperature of the room has definity increased since I put this machine in the living room), its bloody big!

Number 2: Mac mini core solo. Advantages, very small footprint, FrontRow in comparison to MediaCentral etc... Graphics card will work with TV. Disadvantages; no PCI slot for TV card so I would need another USB device to connect and record TV. HD not as expandable so size will increase. It costs more than using my PowerMac.

I will be connecting to a bog standard CRT TV via the SCART input.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to which setup would be best. I am not saying I have £400 to spare on a Mac mini but in the long run I could get the money together but only if it would be the idea solution.

Any advice would be great, thanks.

 

[Shrek6446]

Something else you might consider (like an option 3) is something called a Myth box. It uses any version of linux, that way you can build a pretty good computer for under the price of the mac mini solo. With Myth Tv you can record TV rip DVDs to your HD, Rip music and play classic games. If your not that familar with Linux then you could try a version called Knopmyth For the wiki and the main website is http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html its VERY simple to set up this version of linux and easy to use as well.

More information about Myth Tv can be found at
www.mythtv.org/

Good Luck