Planning my Mac Mini HTPC (1 Viewer)

[revs]

So after a lot of consideation I have decided that the Mac Mini would make a great HTPC - it looks ace, its tiny, it fast and has a DVD burner, oh and its silent! Silence is my most important factor.

So now its a case of choosing a few peripherals.

The built in IR port isnt currently supported under windows, so a external IR receiver and remote is needed - if i am correct a ir receiver comes with the MS media centre remote?

Also, the main question I have is regards choosing a TV tuner.

Obviously it will have to be USB and external - Does anyone see any issues if I purchased two or three of those small USB TV tuners (e.g. nova-t USB)

 

[geocas1]

My setup on Two seprate Mac Mini's

2gb of RAM
Firefly remote
mediaportal
Terraserver Server
30" LCD

works great have i have it hooked up through DVI out and also have a USB tuner hookd up which works but dont use much.

The minis perform really well as media center PCs and the form factor is great.

 

[revs]

Sounds great.

Do you use the optical ssound output? Does it work correctly for MP?

 

[geocas1]

dont use the optical.....yet

 

[revs]

As there are no PCI slots, ill obviously use some USB TV tuners - will I run into any issues with having 2 or 3 USB DVB-T sticks? (other than having to apply the change to allow Win XP to use more than one TV card)

 

[revs]

Im pretty much convinced that ill get a mac min and a coupel of external USB tuners, but I thought I would ask everyone here why i should NOT get a mac mini?

Things I can think of:

no PCI slots - everything external.
gfx - intergrated
no HDMI (will this be an issue?)

Ive been looking into building my own HTPC, but it will always be bigger, buggier and noiseier than the mini.

Id really like to hear anyones reasoning as to why a custom build HTPC wouldd be better than a Mac Mini, thanks!

edit: theres also future considerations - e.g. HDTV - can usb dvb-t tuners cope with this? is USB 2 bandwidth enough etc.

 

[revs]

Not that anyone is reading my own thread, but an update anyway!

Once I specced out a mac mini, i realised its quite expensive! The only + point being its small, and that i can run OS X on it if needed.

I have thus decided to upgrade my current media pc, and if im happy with it in suture i Might move t to a Zalman HD160/135 case!

Not as small and sexy as a mini, but its futureproof (as i can had gfc cards and more tv cards etc). Also my media pc ive made is very vevry quiet - so quiet that when i first made it i thought it didnt work as i didnt hear anything (and had forgotten to hook up the LED!)