Mac Mini vs Apple TV question

[brolfsen]

I just got the latest Mac Mini from Best Buy and hooked it up to my 55" Sony 1080P 3D LCD tv through HDMI. Is there anything different that the AppleTV can do that my Mac Mini can't? Like can I rent HD movies off iTunes and watch them full screen with my Mac Mini? Thanks.

 

[aphexacid]

Of course you can.

You can do everything the apple tv can do plus 100,000 other things.

 

[EvilC5]

my only issue trying to connect my mini directly to my tv was getting the screen size and resolution correct. My vizio cut the top and bottom off of the screen, and thus I had to use an old 15 inch LCD to be able to see the menu bar.

now with screen sharing, you should be able to see the menu bar if needed from that.

maybe the sony will have better luck than the vizio in this area.

 

[RWinOR]

I just got the latest Mac Mini from Best Buy and hooked it up to my 55" Sony 1080P 3D LCD tv through HDMI. Is there anything different that the AppleTV can do that my Mac Mini can't? Like can I rent HD movies off iTunes and watch them full screen with my Mac Mini? Thanks.

You can rent some HD with the Mac Mini, however I have found that many HD movies are only available to rent through an IPad or ATV2 interface.

 

[Colors6]

What would make the mac mini really awesome would be the inclusion of thunderbolt ports.

I hope apple updates the mini hardware with these ports.

I will be buying new mac hardware later this year and hopefully mac mini will have this feature by then.

 

[enklined]

Mac Mini > ATV2 as far as features are concerned. Mac Mini is a full PC, unlike the ATV2. ATV2 does what it does well, and fairly cheap ($100? Not bad at all).

However, if you want functionality beyond a simple streaming device, the Mac Mini was the right move.

I'm looking to do the same - use a Mac Mini as an HTPC. Although, I'll be building my Hackintosh Mac Mini-esque HTPC myself - more fun, and cheaper

 

[b-rad g]

my only issue trying to connect my mini directly to my tv was getting the screen size and resolution correct. My vizio cut the top and bottom off of the screen, and thus I had to use an old 15 inch LCD to be able to see the menu bar.

now with screen sharing, you should be able to see the menu bar if needed from that.

maybe the sony will have better luck than the vizio in this area.

That's because you need to use your Underscan bar to get the entire screen to show up on the Vizio. I used to have my Mini hooked up to my Vizio and had to use the Underscan, but just got a 52" Sharp LED TV and it has a View Mode called Dot-to-Dot that displays the entire image of the Mini with no Underscanning required. I know my Vizio did not have this feature, and I don't know if the newer Vizios do.