Seriously, I was looking forward to the release of the Apple TV. It was small, sleek and looked like it was going to finally bring the content on my iMac to my 30" HDTV. Well, I guess it does do all that, but in a crippled way. All my content has to be catalogued in iTunes for that to happen. As any one whose tried knows, iTunes will not recognize any video content in AVI format, and even if it did, the Apple TV still wouldn't be able to play it unless you apply the hack to it's OS like some have already done, and it doesn't look trivial, at least not yet.
Most of my video content is Divx or Xvid. I hardly buy ANYTHING off of iTunes, simply because I detest being restricted to 128kbps for music and 480p for video. So even if my music would play on the Apple TV, my movie collection wouldn't and that is what I want it most for.
The best solution I can think of, and one I would like to implement once I have the spare cash, is a souped up Mac Mini. Yes, there are tons of articles about using one for an HTPC and they are right. Just add on a larger hard drive, buy an ElGato hybrid TV tuner so you can record both HD and SD content and you are set. You can still stream your content across your network with iTunes, and it is now a PVR. True, you can't get digital premium content but then again, you can buy most shows off of iTunes and your TV bill would still probably be less than what you pay now for cable!
I don't know, maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but it doesn't look like any one has it just right yet, and fortunately I still don't have the cash to get it if they had.
Most of my video content is Divx or Xvid. I hardly buy ANYTHING off of iTunes, simply because I detest being restricted to 128kbps for music and 480p for video. So even if my music would play on the Apple TV, my movie collection wouldn't and that is what I want it most for.
The best solution I can think of, and one I would like to implement once I have the spare cash, is a souped up Mac Mini. Yes, there are tons of articles about using one for an HTPC and they are right. Just add on a larger hard drive, buy an ElGato hybrid TV tuner so you can record both HD and SD content and you are set. You can still stream your content across your network with iTunes, and it is now a PVR. True, you can't get digital premium content but then again, you can buy most shows off of iTunes and your TV bill would still probably be less than what you pay now for cable!
I don't know, maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but it doesn't look like any one has it just right yet, and fortunately I still don't have the cash to get it if they had.
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People should read this.
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