[mythtv-users] Alternative to Mac Mini?

JWA jwa at macbidouille.com
Tue Jul 27 10:10:09 UTC 2010


On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 08:15, Ken Mandelberg <km at mathcs.emory.edu> wrote:
> In another thread it was suggested that the Mac Mini was overpriced as a
> Myth frontend/backend. I want something with a similar footprint.
>
> The atom/ion2 boxes won't do. As a backend I need firewire to get input from
> a cablebox and the boxes I've seen don't have it. I also want enough cpu to
> do efficient commercial marking, and the atom's are too slow.
>
> Is there really a box with similar size to a Mac Mini that is at least a
> core2/nivida and cheaper (or more powerful).

I'm in a similar situation, except I don't want to do commercial
flagging and I just want the firewire for channel changing (IR
blasting is just to unreliable).  But I can't find any Atom/ION boxes
with firewire or at least with a PCIe so I can buy a Firewire card.  I
could build my own with a Mini-ITX board (I've seen some Ion boards
that have a PCIe slot), but I can't find any Mini-ITX cases that I
like (meaning small, but still with a slot for the firewire card) that
are less than $300, so adding it all together it'll be around the same
price as the Mac mini anyway.  I'd love it if there were a $300-$400
nettop with ION and a firewire port, but those just don't exist.


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