[mythtv-users] HD thin client?

[jedi at mishnet.org]

>>    I think if more PC makers get into these sorts of machines,
>>then the niftiness of both the mini and the appletv will wane.
>>We currently have a rather perverse situation right now where
>>Apple is actually the "cheap option". Everyone else wants to
>>charge you more money for slower systems and sometimes dramatically
>>more money for roughly equivalent systems.
>>
>
> I've seen lots of small platforms in the ITX motherboard form factor
> which is larger than the MacMini outside case size. I even have a
> few. By the time you buy everything to "match" MacMini, you are $100
> to $300 dollars more in cost with a larger form factor. And that's
> self build so add your labor cost too. Note that we are talking HD
> content not SD content (408i/p).
>
> The other PC makers just don't get it, plus with the MacMini and the
> AppleTV there is the potential additional revenue from iTunes music
> and video sales. The other PC makers no other revenue stream once the
> box is sold. Not to say we should all be using iTunes but there is a
> large number of people who do. There is no incentive for PC makers to
> make small silent form factor boxes for home media usage with the
> price point that we would like to see. Just not enough sales to
> justify the return on the effort.

I don't know about that. It could be a growth area and a way
to drive sales of more units. It's another reason to buy a new
PC. The kludge clone should be all over that.

It doesn't even have to be tiny.

Just reasonably small and  quiet would do.

They could even get by with being ugly.

They could use more normal PC components and under cut Apple quite handily.

A compact HTPC doesn't have to be an ITX affair.