[blueice03]

Okay, so I don't have a HD TV, and most of my movies are in an AVI/XViD format. I'd like to use something like the Apple TV that I can connect to my TV to play my media. Anyone have any suggestions on the best way to accomplish this?

[King Bob On The Cob]

A hacked Apple TV with the Perian plugins installed?

[lpkmckenna]

The only real TV competitor is the PS3. Since its only $100 more, that's pretty good deal.

Correction: $50.

[BRussell]

You could also reencode your videos to an AppleTV-compatible format. It takes time, processing power, and results in a (very slight, in my experience) loss in quality, but it will work.

[Chongo]

Have a look at eyetv
http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/main...-eyetv.en.html

[Simon]

Originally Posted by blueice03 

Okay, so I don't have a HD TV, and most of my movies are in an AVI/XViD format. I'd like to use something like the Apple TV that I can connect to my TV to play my media. Anyone have any suggestions on the best way to accomplish this?

A friend of mine was in a smilar situation. He bought a used Mac mini and hooked it up to his TV with a $19 DVI->Composite adapter. He uses Airport Extreme to wirelessly connect the mini to his other Macs and his media server. With Perian, Flip4Mac, and VLC he can basically play everything. Since he mini has internal BT he can use the new slim BT keyboard from Apple to control everything from his couch.

IIRC he paid about $220 for the mini (it was a used PPC model) which is less than he'd pay for the AppleTV. IMHO the only downside to that approach is no FrontRow. But OTOH this setup has a lot of advantages and is much more flexible than the AppleTV.

[Big-C]

So I'm not suggesting anything either way, but I did want to point out an unexpected bonus of the AppleTV - the default screen saver of all your pictures in a random bunch. I cannot have a party at my house anymore without that running or my family/friends will lynch me. I've even had a friend go out and buy the appletv just so they could have that feature for parties at their house.

Using visualhub (which I plug way too much around here) my content is ready for whatever computer/appletv/iphone I want to put it on. I also like how I can easily unplug the appletv and put it in my bedroom so I can watch tv in there when I'm sick (or lazy).

Either way I'd wait to purchase anything until after macworld, but just wanted to put out my positive experience with the appletv, which gets raked over the coals pretty often.

[besson3c]

MythTV kicks AppleTV's ass in terms of features offered. It will play any movie supported by whatever helper application you associate with it (e.g. VLC, MPlayer, Xine, etc.)

[lpkmckenna]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

MythTV kicks AppleTV's ass in terms of features offered. It will play any movie supported by whatever helper application you associate with it (e.g. VLC, MPlayer, Xine, etc.)

How much would it cost to build a myth-box that plays h264 in HD?

[legacyb4]

I'm in a similar quandry except that I do have a new HDTV and am looking for an upgrade to the homebrew Windows/BeyondTV box that I have. When I built it a few years back, I stuck in an analog tuner and a video card capable of composite/S-VHS output only and am now looking on an upgrade to the system.

Originally Posted by lpkmckenna 

How much would it cost to build a myth-box that plays h264 in HD?

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by lpkmckenna 

How much would it cost to build a myth-box that plays h264 in HD?

Well, if you just want to use the MythVideo interface to play videos, all you need is a PC with a video card that is capable of playing back this video. VLC supports LIRC, which is the Linux infrared remote service, so you could actually watch your h264 movies right out of VLC (or MPlayer, or Xine, or any other player that supports LIRC and h264) and use your remote to control the video playback. MythVideo simply provides you a menu interface so that you don't need anything but your remote control, and allows you to automatically download movie cover art and metadata from the IMDB.

MythTV is a PVR/DVR system. If you want to use MythTV as a PVR, you'll need a video capture card. MythTV supports analog and digital capture cards. Hauppauge is probably the best known video capture card line supported by MythTV. You can get a Hauppauge 150 for $75 if you don't mind analog TV capture.

So, really, you are looking at:

- cost of computer case/CPU/motherboard - say around $200
- cost of fast video card - say around $75 - $90
- cost of RAM
- cost of hard drive
- cost of video capture card, if desired
- cost of schedulesdirect.org TV listing subscription, which is $20/year

This same PC could of course perform double duty and act as a file server, print server, web server, iTunes share server, VMWare machine for running other OSes, gaming, etc.

[lpkmckenna]

Sounds like PS3 is still a far better deal.

Here's to hoping TV gets an update, though. It should get widgets and Safari at least (since Wii can do that). It should also talk to the new BT keyboard and do file/print serving. (And I'd like a pony too.)

[Smokerz]

wireless to Express router use 360 preference pane software to use macbook ,etc to streaming photos, music and video to TV.

[legacyb4]

What features exactly does the PS3 support? I'd love to hear from an actual owner what the setup is like.

[Angelo78]

The Mediagate MG-350HD is what I've been thinking about. They're said to be adding HDMI output in the next version which would make this a nice little set-up for me.

*I overlooked the option of a DVI to HDMI cable which would work well enough for me.

Mediagate USA

[Langdon]

Originally Posted by legacyb4 

What features exactly does the PS3 support? I'd love to hear from an actual owner what the setup is like.

IMHO, it kicks the hell out of the Apple TV with the help of a 3rd party application. I helped Headshot set his up and the PS3 exceeds my expectations. You will never be able to play media purchased from Apple with DRM but apart from that it is as good or better than the Rev.1 Apple TV.
The software, Medialink, is new up but they are revising it pretty quick. Last week they put out two updates. With headshot's setup we found an issue with the software having problems locating files stored on external drives but I assume that will be fixed soon.

http://forums.macnn.com/92/networkin...k-for-ps3-mac/

[the_glassman]

Xbox 360 with Connect 360. You can get a refurbished one with a warranty for about $200 at one of your local game stores. Stream everything from your Mac. Photos, movies, audio, etc.. You can connect it to an external hard drive or ipod as well. You can download and rent stuff of of Live and it has the best selection of any of the next generation gaming consoles thus far.

Nullriver Software ~ Products ~ Connect360

[Aegis]

But, the 360 can't do 5.1 unless it's wmv 5.1. Also it doesn't have a great selection of codecs (no MKV for instance).