Apple TV vs. Mac Mini as HTPC
Recently, I was running an Apple TV as a HTPC, hooked up to our TV, to watch movies from our file server (mounted via NFS) here at home. The back row interface of Apple TV was slick, but sadly the h.264 encoded movies were too much for the Apple TV’s processing power, and it regularly dropped frames during movie viewing. Major detractor. Also recently, Apple released OS X Leopard, which despite its faults, also happens to have the same media interface as Apple TV as its new Front Row interface. So, we dumped the Apple TV in favor of a Mac Mini, which does not have any trouble decoding h.264 at full clip. The experience is much improved. There are a few things missing, such as an easy way to display cover art for the movies, and Front Row lacks the You Tube plug that the ATV had. In time, I expect both will be resolvable with community solutions. Until then, the Mac Mini is a better, more capable solution. We’ve converted our entire DVD collection, and can view any/all at the quick click of an apple remote.