[mythtv-users] AppleTV, was: Mac Mini and Broadcom Crystal HD PCI Express mini-card

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Sat Jan 2 16:03:30 UTC 2010


On Saturday 02 January 2010 08:48:01 am Brian Phillips wrote:
> Brian Wood wrote:
> > On Friday 01 January 2010 10:46:52 pm Jeff Wormsley wrote:
> >> Brian Wood wrote:
> >>> That solution, and my using old thin clients, both depend on having
> >>> old hardware hanging around.
> >>>
> >>> If buying new today, I still think the Revo, or some other ION
> >>> solution, is probably the best way to go. $200 for a
> >>> hardware-accelerated HD-capable frontend seems pretty good.
> >>
> >> Yes, and I'm doing that for one of my other frontends, with a Zotac
> >> IONITX board with the laptop supply, no fans, and if I can get
> >> netbooting figured out, no hard drive.  I have a lot of TV's and not
> >> many frontends and nowhere near the budget I had before I got
> >> married.
> >>
> >> The AppleTV is a tad better than the Zotac for me for one reason,
> >> though.  It has analog TV outputs so that I can use it on an older SD
> >> set and still be able to play back the HD stuff I'm recording.  The
> >> Zotac is VGA or HDMI or DVI-D only.
> >
> > I haven't followed the AppleTV much, but your point about being
> > usable with older TV sets is valid.
> >
> > What about the remote situation? Is there a usable and affordable
> > solution there?
> 
> I still use the Microsoft MCE USB remote that is pretty common with the IR
> receiver plugged into the USB port.  Because I formatted the internal HDD
> and run mythbuntu, it's no different than any other computer.  I think it's
> the easiest solution out there.

So you're just not using the Apple hardware for remote, guess that's the 
simplest answer, and USB receivers are certainly affordable.

> 
> Some have found ways to use the internal IR receiver with a Harmony
>  learning remote I believe.

I know a lot of folks really like the Harmony, but I just can't get over the 
fact that it's just way too much money for a remote control IMHO.

I use a small wireless keyboard on my main F/E, it just sits on a small table 
next to my recliner, and I've found it more usable than most remotes I have 
tried.


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