Old Mac Mini as an HD Media Player?

[Bibblejw]

I was wondering how old Mac Minis stood up to playing 720p and 1080p MKVs via Plex?

My current media playing solution is an original Xbox with XBMC, but it's getting to the point where it's struggling to handle the size of my library, and the lack of HD support is a big downside for me (I used to use an Xbox 360 and TVersity to transcode teh files on the fly, but this was too unstable a setup).

My plan was to pick an old machine up, strip the software down as far as physically possible and configure it as a standalone media player.

So, any thoughts?

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

If its a G4 you might as well forget it, you will need a Intel inside for HD.

 

[b0redom]

Depending on the processor it should be fine with 720p. I had to upgrade mine to one less than the top current model to get it to run 1080p smoothly.

b0redom

 

[Bibblejw]

Ok, that's alright, then.

I'm wondering whether it's the files or the resolution that're the problem, though. I have a number of 1080p files (for use on my PC, mainly), but the mini would only be put on a 720p output, so I wouldn't let it's resolution go to 1080.

Does anyonw know if the bulk of the processing is done on the decoding or the rendering of the file (e.g. having the 1080p ones downscaled to 720p would allow it to play the files, albeit not at the same quality)?