Comments on: My Idea for an Apple Living Room Experience http://gigaom.com/apple/my-idea-for-a-current-apple-living-room-experience/ Mon, 28 May 2012 13:26:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: links for 2008-04-18 | MyHTPC.TV http://gigaom.com/apple/my-idea-for-a-current-apple-living-room-experience/#comment-327288 Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:06:21 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=3095#comment-327288 [...] My Idea for an Apple Living Room Experience – The Apple Blog I plan on purchasing an Apple TV, 40 gig (to save money at first). Then by hacking it, get it to run OS X. Understandably a bit slower then most Macs, the Apple TV will at least be able to run core applications within the OS. (tags: AppleTV) [...]

]]> By: Sala Apple de cinema e entretenimento http://gigaom.com/apple/my-idea-for-a-current-apple-living-room-experience/#comment-327291 Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:45:46 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=3095#comment-327291 [...] no TAB um artigo similar a este que escrevi sobre o pensamento do Arvin sobre o mesmo tema. Compare preços [...]

]]> By: kj http://gigaom.com/apple/my-idea-for-a-current-apple-living-room-experience/#comment-327290 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 01:52:29 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=3095#comment-327290 Oh, here are some more details on my setup if you’re interested:

http://www.123macmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17874&highlight=

My post is johnzy9493, about halfway down the page.

]]> By: kj http://gigaom.com/apple/my-idea-for-a-current-apple-living-room-experience/#comment-327289 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 01:36:01 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=3095#comment-327289 Just adding a “here-here!” for the Mini. Your ATV idea is just asking for trouble — hacking a very closed/limited system to work a certain way … a system that might not have enough power and/or might break with the next software update. When making a ‘cost’ decision, you *have* to keep that in mind.

With a mini, you are paying more for a system designed to do just about anything without being hacked. You’ll be customizing a relatively open system instead of ‘breaking’ a pretty closed system.

I have a mini hooked up to my HDTV and just use Front Row to interface with everything I’ve loaded into iTunes. It is wonderful, and I have the side benefit of a real computer to use in the living room should I want to do so. I love it, no hacking or voided warranties, should serve me for a few years.

Keep an eye on refurb minis in the apple store to save some bucks!

]]> By: davedownunder http://gigaom.com/apple/my-idea-for-a-current-apple-living-room-experience/#comment-327269 Sun, 20 Apr 2008 10:51:31 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=3095#comment-327269 been trying to do exactly the same thing for a while. havent taken the plunge yet as didnt want to completely toast my working ATV. from the research I have done it does look possible but that the ATV is very slow and may not be up to the job of grabbing the content with the eyetv stick. Please, please follow up on progress of this as I am reluctant to purchase a Mac mini at this stage (which seems to be the easiest way to achieve this)

]]> By: Arvin Dang http://gigaom.com/apple/my-idea-for-a-current-apple-living-room-experience/#comment-327270 Sun, 20 Apr 2008 07:16:08 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=3095#comment-327270 I think it’s kind of coincidental, but Lifehacker just posted something about Mac Mini’s as an entertainment center, so I thought I’d post here as well: http://lifehacker.com/381695/roll-a-mac-mini-media-center-with-leopard

They cover some of the things you guys have all said in the comments. Seems almost collective that the Mac Mini should be it. How many of you actually use Elgato EyeTV or something similar? Or is it mainly on demand content (just download what you watch?)

]]> By: RFrye http://gigaom.com/apple/my-idea-for-a-current-apple-living-room-experience/#comment-327271 Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:03:36 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=3095#comment-327271 Like many others here I would stay away from the AppleTV for what you are trying to accomplish. Just not enough guts. I have a MacMini plugged directly into my plasma TV with a DVI – HDMI cable, and optical audio running through my surround sound system. As a stand alone this system worked great for quite awhile until my libraries started to get bigger and I was starting to run 1080p resolution images. The MacMini just doesn’t have the graphics ability to draw that many pixels. I now have a MacPro (yes it is more expensive, but using it helps me pay my bills) that holds all my content. I then mount my iTunes hard drive on my Mini which is still connected to my TV. Now Im not limited on space for my content and just use FrontRow to access everything. It’s good, not great, but does everything I really need it to do. As far as running my 1080p content I’m just about to buy a new graphics card so I can power everything off my Pro. (both stock DVI ports are connected to Cinema Displays)

Long answer but I just don’t think AppleTV has the power…

]]> By: muzo http://gigaom.com/apple/my-idea-for-a-current-apple-living-room-experience/#comment-327272 Sat, 19 Apr 2008 07:53:23 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=3095#comment-327272 First of all, the software should work properly. Anyone who tried to watch a movie with subtitles in Leopard’s Front Row would agree.. The fact that this is still not fixed is outrageous and very un-Apple-like..

You can find a post on my blog about this issue with instructions to downgrade to Tiger’s Front Row…

]]> By: Arvin Dang http://gigaom.com/apple/my-idea-for-a-current-apple-living-room-experience/#comment-327273 Sat, 19 Apr 2008 06:47:54 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=3095#comment-327273 I love the Mac Mini, don’t get me wrong. I agree that it’s a solid entertainment fixture, but like NT says, it really came down to cost and working with the ATV if possible.

A lot of good feedback was given though, I hadn’t heard of PyeTV before and I’m interested in using it a bit more. I’ll see if any refurb Mac Mini’s come out soon, or maybe I’ll just stick with an ATV and push content to it (recording on my Macbook and copy it over).

Out of curiosity, since you all seem to either use XBMC or a Mac Mini what do you think Apple could possibly change in order to fulfill this market? It seems like we can already create what we need, so why would they need to provide anything new? I’ve always been vocal in my ideal hopes for a subscription rental model with new tv shows, and the ability to watch a vast source of archived material, which Hulu is now beginning to take up. But what else do you guys want to see in devices?

]]> By: jon.christopher http://gigaom.com/apple/my-idea-for-a-current-apple-living-room-experience/#comment-327274 Sat, 19 Apr 2008 02:23:37 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=3095#comment-327274 Ok, I’m biased because I wrote PyeTV (http://code.google.com/p/pyetv/), but I’d just go with a Mac Mini + EyeTV and use PyeTV to access TV recordings from directly within Front Row.

That’s the setup I have in my living room, and it works perfectly. A real Mac OSX computer (no hacking required) as well as Front Row for an excellent media center experience.

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