Apple Tv 1 or 2 or Mac Mini

I have all 3. Agree with jhsrennie that the Mini is the best HTPC you can get, but you pay a premium for it.

ATV2 has limitations: limited remote functionality, struggles with some heavier skins, and still some crashes here and there. But it's also tiny, silent, $99, and you get a very nice Netflix box (also MLB.tv if that's your thing) as a nice side benefit

ATV1 works great, full remote capabilities, does a little better with skins (at least with reFocus which is what I use), and if you use Crystalbuntu the entire OS is optimized specifically for the hardware.

I'd say Mini > ATV1 > ATV2, though some of the benefits of the ATV2 might outweigh the downsides enough to make them equal or ATV2 better depending on your personal preferences/needs.

sting2010 Wrote:I have xbmc eden beta 3 running on OSX Lion and have no issues - I see no reason to move to a different OS when everything runs perfectly well out of the box with the mac mini - highly recommend this as a HTPC. It is connected via Hdmi to my denon receiver which has dual outputs - one connected to a projector and other to a 1080p tv - the mac mini works flawlessly with my Harmony One remote as well. One major reason for me for purchasing the mac mini for my HTPC was how quiet it runs - no noise at all - I tried different options, DELL PC etc and the fan noise was ridiculous. Keep all these factors in mind when considering your HTPC - best of luck

On which platform? XBMC for Mac or is there a different version I need to download from the downloads page?

Anything special you needed to do for the Harmony?

bossanova808 Wrote:Anything special you needed to do for the Harmony?

You set up the Harmony as a Plex remote in the Harmony software, and then you can configure joystick.Harmony.xml to customize the buttons to your liking

goofygames Wrote:On which platform? XBMC for Mac or is there a different version I need to download from the downloads page?

xbmc for mac os

aaronb Wrote:You set up the Harmony as a Plex remote in the Harmony software, and then you can configure joystick.Harmony.xml to customize the buttons to your liking

I purchased a great app - Remote Buddy - which allows you to extensively customize the Harmony One

Just curious but is there a Plex for XBMC or vice versa so that i can just leave it runninng and not have to exit one program to enter another. (Easier for wife and kids)

I use an ATV2 with Quartz 3 skin, wired connection to home network, streaming movies from NAS

I rip my movies using the same format as currently available when downloading from itunes, they play seemlessly with no buffering issues. The quality is great as far as I'm concerned on a 40" 720p TV

I use the icefilms, iplayer, youtube, 4OD and 5 demand plugins

IMO Quartz3 makes XBMC very slick on ATV2, it's a very user friendly skin, my 3 yr old daughter can use it (not sure if that is a good thing though!)

I know this is an old post but this exact same situation came up for me. I used to have the ATV1 but that was just not power enough and XBMC did not run smoothly unless you made a few hardware changes. So I went out and bought an ATV2, did a tethered jailbreak and loaded XBMC. Problem is, it has a big buffering issue with some HD content. They say it plays H.264 encoded mkvs well, but for me, it buffers much too often. Apparently the ATV2 will never be power enough to work like how XBMC was designed for, playing back any media you grab off the net.

So I was looking at other streams like the Roku 2, WD Live TV, and Boxee, but they might have the same issues. I then figured having a Mac Mini might be the best option to avoid any hardware restrictions and play back issues. Also, I'd have a spare computer in case I needed it and can use it off the TV. Also, you can pull up other content like you normally would on a computer. Also, if you don't want to use the TV, I hear you can just VNC with the Ipad and use that as the 'monitor'.

As reference, I was trying to stream a episode of Game of Thrones encoded in x.264. One buffered twice and played back fine the rest of the way. The next episode buffered about 10 times within 10 minutes. I ended up streaming it off the Macbook which was a FAIL. Instead of watching it on a 60in, watched it on a 15.4 inch screen. And the Macbook was wireless and the ATV2 was hard wired so I definitely know the ATV has limitations.

The iOS forums will tell you that the ATV XBMC implementation definitely has these limits. I'm not one to be wary of the encoding when I download things. Also, I don't feel like re-downloading content just so it will maybe play properly on the ATV2.

So my solution? I'm going to get a MAC Mini.

Edit: Yes, price is probably the biggest difference but the HD playback compatibility and buffering is just too annoying to push me to make the spend. Another thing I like about the ATV was the power consumption which I'm not happy to switch to the MAC Mini but hopefully it's not a big power spend.

And in reference to Bezza where it works well for him, that's because he is specifically getting SD content. This would work well with the ATV if you find content all the time.

I'm a huuuuuuuuge fan of the Mac Mini, but ...

... current low end models have an Intel GPU and I don't know how well this works with DXVA. Even the i3 Mini probably has enough guts to play 1080 without acceleration, but it would annoy me to have to disable DXVA. I would seek reassurance from the forum that the hardware acceleration is OK on the current Minis.

The last time I wanted a Mini (I now own three!) I bought it from ebay to get the 2010 model with the DVD drive and NVIDIA GPU. I use Windows 7 on it, and it's just wonderful :-)