Mini HTPC Setup , Will this work?

[rcmorgan540]

Here are my thoughts. I am trying to get rid of cable because I do not use all the crap on it. Here are my thoughts :

2010 Mac Mini
El Gato EyeTV One (Record OTA and watch)
HDMI out for audio and video to Sony 46" LCD
DVD Playback through the Mini
Will try the remote app on the iphone for 2.99 but will probably use a magic mouse and bluetooth keyboard.
minimal web surfing


So I should get:
Netflix Streaming
Hulu Streaming
ESPN 360 streaming (have someone's id)
DirecTV Superfan (All NFL games) have someone's ID
All local channels in HD with DVR (El Gato)
Itunes Music and video library (on mini and shared on other home computers)

I plan on buying season passes to the non network shows that I want.

Are TV show rentals only going to be for the itv?

What do you think? Any suggestions?

 

[btbrossard]

What do you think? Any suggestions?

It would be easiest to use a USB keyboard and mouse to navigate. The EyeTV comes with a remote, but outside of the EyeTV software, you're going to want a mouse.

Netflix and Hulu both work good on my Mini.

As far as ESPN 360, you really don't need someone else's user ID. If your ISP pays ESPN for access to 360, your good to go. If your ISP doesn't pay for access, your out of luck no matter what user id you have.

A list of ISPs that payed bribe money is available at espn360.com.

You're going to want to get an external firewire 800 drive for your mini. HDTV shows take up A LOT of space. 320 gbs isn't going to last long.


EDIT TO ADD: There are also apps available on the iPhone that allow you to use it as a wireless pointing device for your computer. That might work instead of the mouse if you want to try that.

 

[Aegelward]

Consider using Boxee, it's a flavor of XBMC that intergrates both hulu and netflix.

XBMC are working on support for EyeTV in a future release of the software, but that could come late as next year... and unfortunately their plugin support is quite primitive compared to Boxee, or even plex.

But hopefully that support will find it's way into Boxee & Plex...

I'd consider getting a Logitech Harmony universal remote control, using one with my mini & XBMC setup (boxee does not support the full remote, only appleremote emulation, main reason i personally don't use it) and it works great.

 

[rcmorgan540]

It would be easiest to use a USB keyboard and mouse to navigate. The EyeTV comes with a remote, but outside of the EyeTV software, you're going to want a mouse.

Netflix and Hulu both work good on my Mini.

As far as ESPN 360, you really don't need someone else's user ID. If your ISP pays ESPN for access to 360, your good to go. If your ISP doesn't pay for access, your out of luck no matter what user id you have.

A list of ISPs that payed bribe money is available at espn360.com.

You're going to want to get an external firewire 800 drive for your mini. HDTV shows take up A LOT of space. 320 gbs isn't going to last long.


EDIT TO ADD: There are also apps available on the iPhone that allow you to use it as a wireless pointing device for your computer. That might work instead of the mouse if you want to try that.

My ISP does not pay the bribe money. However, you can still get 360 assuming you are away from home. I had a buddy create me an email address on his supporting ip address. I use that email address and password to access 360 from anywhere in the US on any isp.

As to the extra firewire drive, I agree. Most of my media is sitting on a 2 TB drive that is on my G5 desktop. I assume I can just share the video over itunes wifi like music? Can you share video like audio?

Someone else mentioned XBMC , Is that XBox? I have a 360 that would be connected to the same tv. I could always put the antenna in to the tv. I am just trying to make the setup as simple as possible. I will probably get the trackpad. My 3 and 5 year olds are experts on multi touch. It is unreal watching them navigate our MBPros with multi touch gestures. Thanks for the advice .. keep it comin ... BTW I have a Harmony One remote now as well.

 

[dolphin842]

The home theater scene is pretty volatile at the moment... depending on how long you can hold out, it may be worth it to wait a few months, after which an ideal setup may become more apparent.

For example, the Boxee box will be coming out, along with GoogleTV. We don't know yet how hackable the new AppleTV is, and Plex (originally a mac-specific fork of XBMC) will be coming out for Windows as well as LG TVs and Blu-ray players. It remains to be seen how this will all pan out, but it seems that paying $700 for a Mac Mini is becoming less attractive with each coming announcement from both Apple and its competitors.

 

[btbrossard]

My ISP does not pay the bribe money. However, you can still get 360 assuming you are away from home. I had a buddy create me an email address on his supporting ip address. I use that email address and password to access 360 from anywhere in the US on any isp.

I didn't know that worked. I tried to log in with my username/password from my isp at work and it still didn't work (work has RoadRunner Fiber).

 

[DaveNinja]

I plan to do something similar (drop directv and buy a macmini). I've been trying out plex with my iMac hooked to my tv and it works pretty well. they just released version 9 this week. you can watch netflix and hulu (and much more) through plex.

 

[rcmorgan540]

Yup

I didn't know that worked. I tried to log in with my username/password from my isp at work and it still didn't work (work has RoadRunner Fiber).

Certain ISP's have a portal to login from. I know it works if you are away from your isp. I have used it with a verizon password and a cox password.