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Apple TV or Mac Mini?

hNicolas

hNicolas

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 4, 2008
377
66
Ottawa, ON
I'm getting a new iMac 24", and was thinking of hooking up my Mini 1.5 G4 rather than buying an Apple TV for iTunes movies, streaming music etc., to my home theater.

What are the pros and cons of using either one for this purpose? Can anyone suggest the ideal set-up using the Mini vs ATV?
 
The big benefit of the mini is that it can play a variety of formats as well as VIDEO_TS folders. Also, later models can handle 1080p, whereas the ATV only does up to 720p. However, your old G4 isn't going to be able to either.

Since you already have a mini, I'd say just use that for now and wait to see what, if any, updates to the ATV are made in the near future. Then you can decide if you want to pick one up.
 
I had an atv but sold it becuase I was feeling limited.. mac mini seems better suited..

ATM I am using a PS3 for almost all media stuff. With full screen flash support now its great.

Zack
 
Thank you all for your input,:) I'll see if ATV is improved in January. Meanwhile, I'll see what results I can get using my Mini.

Any suggestions on what software I should use?
 
Electro Funk said:
can you use plex with the PS3?
Click to expand...

How could you? Plex is OS X software... unless I'm missing something and it's possible to run OS X on the PS3 somehow?

This topic seems to come up every week, but I'll say what I always say: I sold my hacked Apple TV and bought a Mac Mini and run Plex. More expensive, yes, but also way cool and very flexible. Of course, Plex requires an Intel Mac I believe, so you may be out of luck on that front with your G4.
 
mrogers said:
How could you? Plex is OS X software... unless I'm missing something and it's possible to run OS X on the PS3 somehow?

This topic seems to come up every week, but I'll say what I always say: I sold my hacked Apple TV and bought a Mac Mini and run Plex. More expensive, yes, but also way cool and very flexible. Of course, Plex requires an Intel Mac I believe, so you may be out of luck on that front with your G4.
Click to expand...


Good read and very nice center, thanks for the link. I'm new to the media threads and trying to learn.
 
Apple TV

I have have an Apple TV for a while now and love it. I use it everyday for listening to music and every once in a while I'll rent a movie. Having a Mac Mini hooked up would not be the same.
 
apple tv is simpler to set up out of the box for home theater. mac mini gives more functionality if you put in the work. not to mention a dvd drive.
 
Hi
I am interested in this topic as well. I actually own a 160Gb appletv (not allowied to use it yet as it is an xmas present). I asked for this because it has the HDMI on it and I wanted to show the HD films that I have made of my kids in a higher quality.

I currently connect my macbook to the tv and use iplayer etc and surf the net when others need to see what I am doing. I will miss this when I go to ATV

Can the mac mini do HDMI?
 
mrogers said:
How could you? Plex is OS X software... unless I'm missing something and it's possible to run OS X on the PS3 somehow?

This topic seems to come up every week, but I'll say what I always say: I sold my hacked Apple TV and bought a Mac Mini and run Plex. More expensive, yes, but also way cool and very flexible. Of course, Plex requires an Intel Mac I believe, so you may be out of luck on that front with your G4.
Click to expand...

i can stream photos and music to my 360 using 3rd party software on the imac (connect 360)

that is what i was speaking of, not installing plex on the PS3.
 
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