Guest Posted May 29, 2010 Posted May 29, 2010 evil_josh said: Or just get one of these , one of these and one of these and you're done! And it just works too no ifs no buts. Can it bitstream HD audio?. Theres other mini pc options like the Zotac Mag for less than 1/2 the mini mac price
myrantz Posted May 29, 2010 Posted May 29, 2010 geezer32 said: Great info AJM, I was looking seariously last year into bulding a combo playback / PVR HTPC and what finally killed it was s/w compatability with the remote. Basically I nor the wifus were prepared to have to touch a mouse / kb in the lounge to operate any function of normal use (setup tasks aside)Just too much hassle programming a remote for all control needs, and yes even something simple like swapping apps may not be possible I think u're prob trying to do too much.. A trap many got caught with... All the remote control keys u need are up/down/left/right, play, pause, ff,rev, next/prev chapter... No need for mouse control, etc... Less brings more.
ajm1503559545 Posted May 29, 2010 Posted May 29, 2010 treblid said: I think u're prob trying to do too much.. A trap many got caught with... All the remote control keys u need are up/down/left/right, play, pause, ff,rev, next/prev chapter...No need for mouse control, etc... Less brings more. I guess it depends on your needs and expectations. I've never found MCE to suit all my needs so I have a few different applications for the different uses. The complication starts when you're trying to open, close and gain control of different apps. You only need one pop-up message from an app or the OS to lose focus on the app and the remote becomes useless - then you're left scrambling to find the mouse and keyboard again. As you mentioned, MythTV is still doesn't do Blu-ray playback (not to mention the need to dig fairly deep to get it configured) so it's not really an option I would consider. Anyway, I only mention the remote control because it does seem to be the least understood compromise with using an HTPC. FWIW I just use the Shintaro keyboard with trackmouse.
myrantz Posted May 30, 2010 Posted May 30, 2010 ajm said: As you mentioned, MythTV is still doesn't do Blu-ray playback (not to mention the need to dig fairly deep to get it configured) so it's not really an option I would consider. It does now... No menu support though... Couldn't build it in Windows, and I'm too incompetent to find out why (never really understand how the windows build environment work)....
digitaladvisor Posted June 2, 2010 Posted June 2, 2010 AJM is correct when it comes to remotes. That's the thing - in usual cases unless it is clearly back lighted and the keys do not require the finger of an ant - it is somewhat a deal breaker. However the closest I have come to driving a PC home theatre all dancing solutions that works for pure ignorance of a PC comes from expensive capabilties at present. THEY EXIST. Tablets or wireless tablet based TOUCH screen large enough to thumb press on with various underlying pre-programmed functions. Yes - I beleive the solution is almost upon us. I have an expensive Harmony touch screen and it was easy to program the iMon remote controls* bound and it pretended to be the sender and receiver of all things remote sent in either IR or Radio style signal via remotes. * works and starts up Pc and also power down functionailty with a powered on response signal sent via USB when PC is off. For some time it is very obvious that the Apple crowd have synced the release of their products for market uptake. Their tablet is a real winner. Hint: If you own an Iphone then part of the touch screen solution is ALREADY in your own hands! The issue is programming it. DA
evil_josh Posted June 2, 2010 Posted June 2, 2010 digitaladvisor said: AJM is correct when it comes to remotes. That's the thing - in usual cases unless it is clearly back lighted and the keys do not require the finger of an ant - it is somewhat a deal breaker.However the closest I have come to driving a PC home theatre all dancing solutions that works for pure ignorance of a PC comes from expensive capabilties at present. THEY EXIST. Tablets or wireless tablet based TOUCH screen large enough to thumb press on with various underlying pre-programmed functions. Yes - I beleive the solution is almost upon us. I have an expensive Harmony touch screen and it was easy to program the iMon remote controls* bound and it pretended to be the sender and receiver of all things remote sent in either IR or Radio style signal via remotes. * works and starts up Pc and also power down functionailty with a powered on response signal sent via USB when PC is off. For some time it is very obvious that the Apple crowd have synced the release of their products for market uptake. Their tablet is a real winner. Hint: If you own an Iphone then part of the touch screen solution is ALREADY in your own hands! The issue is programming it. DA I don't want to harp but the apple remote powers my macbook on and off just by pressing and holding thr play button. It will also wake for a scheduled recording. I also use a harmony (525 in my case) to control the AV receiver. Fanboi or not, they're really work quite well and are worth checking out.
ajm1503559545 Posted June 2, 2010 Posted June 2, 2010 evil_josh said: I don't want to harp but the apple remote powers my macbook on and off just by pressing and holding thr play button. It will also wake for a scheduled recording. I also use a harmony (525 in my case) to control the AV receiver.Fanboi or not, they're really work quite well and are worth checking out. Apple do some things very well and integration of their various products is one of them. Unfortunately, media compatibility is not one of them.
evil_josh Posted June 4, 2010 Posted June 4, 2010 ajm said: Apple do some things very well and integration of their various products is one of them. Unfortunately, media compatibility is not one of them. Hehe what do you mean? On apple you can have both H.264 AND MPEG4 On the macbook I can play most codecs in most containers in quicktime/frontrow, but itunes will only accept MP4 containers, not AVI. Thus if you want to sync media between the macbook and other appliances such as ipod touch or ipad you are restricted to MP4 containers.
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