Apple TV or....?

[Boomba05]

I'm trying to decide what I need for my home theater set up. I'm trying to totally abandon paying for television, as I watch very little of it anyway.

Ideally, here is what I would like to do:

1) Watch my home movie collection that I plan on backing up to my computer

2) *Easily* watch shows that I've downloaded automatically via torrents (all legal stuff, Revision3 anyone? ) This would require automatic updating of my library, or at least, very easy updating. I'm worried about the downloads being in the wrong format for Apple TV or the PS3. I don't want to convert if possible.

3) Be able to watch streaming shows from network sites (like watching Lost from ABC.com)

I have a PS3, which I've heard *can* do media server stuff, but I'm told it's difficult, and you hafta pay for the good software anyway.

If anyone has experience with doing this, I'd love to hear how you did it!

I also considered getting a Mac Mini instead of a Apple TV and hooking it straight up to the TV and connecting it over the network, but that is more expensive and a little more hassle than Apple TV.

Any other suggestions would be more than appreciated!

P.S. I have a Mac Pro that I plan on using as a media server, if that helps anyone.

 

[gadabout]

you could patch the appletv to add support for more video types. or you could just use the ps3 you already have. personally, i use appletv, but i dont mind converting stuff from torrents.

ultimately, you'd save money using what you already have.