Written by Aaron Huslage, a technologist who blogs about media issues, unified communications and infrastructure.
One of the holy grails of the PC maker has always been the complete integration of the machine into your life. Hooking up the computer to your television has long been touted as the ideal solution as it would allow you access to all of your photos, music and video content — along with your favorite oldteevee shows — from the comfort of your couch. This typically means hooking your PC up to your TV via a home-theater PC setup. For many people, however, this notion remains a foreign one. In order to help you get started, we have put together this beginner’s guide.
One option is the Mac Mini. People have been using the Mac Mini as a platform for home media since its debut. It’s quiet, small, and uses a small amount of power, yet with the latest revision from Apple, is quite powerful. Plus, it (along with its less capable cousin, the AppleTV) plays back DRM-protected iTunes music. If you have a large library of iTunes music and videos, this may be your only choice.
Web designer Jon Hicks recently introduced the world to his Mac Mini Media Centre via a detailed “how-to” post on his blog. The Mac Mini solution is still very much a DIYer’s dream that cobbles together products from Elgato, Western Digital and many others, but as Hicks notes, “15% of the time something happens – EyeTV crashes, iTunes has been updated and won’t let you play anything until you’ve accepted terms and conditions, or another app is telling you that an update is available.” That’s far from ideal, especially for the non-techie among us.
There are many pre-built media center solutions from vendors like Dell, HP and others, most of which are based on Windows Media Center from Microsoft. These are fully integrated, PC-based systems that combines TV, DVR, music, photos and movies into one package that works out of the box. But you’ll end up dealing with the same myriad of updates and complications that plague Hickey’s Mac-based solution.
Finally, there is TiVo. It supports the UPnP standard for distributing media throughout the home, just like the Windows Media Center machines do. When it comes to downloaded movies and TV shows that you might have on your computer, it’s more limited than the other solutions, but the community that has sprung up around the device is already working on this problem and will likely soon have a solution. Overall, this is my favorite solution. It offers the most integrated experience with the fewest user experience failures.
Take your time when reviewing the options available and make sure that whatever you pick is something that you and your co-viewers will be happy using. Sitting down at the television is something that should “just work” without having to mess around with options or menus or command lines. Having a computer hooked up to it shouldn’t make that experience any different.

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