Re: Apple Announce New Mac minis - Media Player Perfection

[Kenneth Watt <kwatt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 3 Mar 2009, at 17:40, Phil Harris wrote:

> ...as long as you don't want to play a Blu-Ray movie. :-D

Being a Mac convert I'm now biased in this.

I did a clean install of Vista MCE about four months ago and, I have
to say, that for the most part it's okay but it does still fall over.
Thus far I haven't tried any alternatives as there's always something
about them that they don't have or don't do that I want. So, for now,
I'm stuck with MCE.

If I could live without the ability to record the odd TV show I'd be
incredibly tempted to get a Mini for several reasons.

It's small and unobtrusive.
It's quiet.
It looks nice.
It *shouldn't* fall over as much as the Doze box.

Bluray support really doesn't bother me too much as, IMO, it's touch
and go whether it's worth the premium for the player/s and the
software in particular.

Asides from which I have a PS3 so don't care. ;)

As for off-air recordings I, like many I expect, have Sky+. Okay so it
isn't Tivo and the UI is like something you'd have expected on a
1980's game console but, for the most part, it works. And, if you want
Hi-Def TV in the UK there's no other viable option beyond downloading
for the moment, which brings you back to the media player.

Apparently support for the Elegato tuners is in the works for Plex but
it has been for months on end and seems to be going nowhere the last
time I looked. Of course, you can use the Elegato software to record
off-air transmissions though.

But I would tend to agree, it's a bit of a cobbled together solution.
Largely I expect as it's not commercially driven.

Plex looks lovely and I'd love to see it serve as a true replacement
for MCE as, coupled with the advantages of the Mini, it would be a
lovely little solution indeed IMO.

K.

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