Computer Media Control Center

lcap · Ladies Man Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 10973 City: Homeless

More and more people are talking to me about the benefits of having a computer to do all the media stuff--dvd player, music, recording, picture playback, t.v. etc.

Is this the wave of the future? I need to upgrade some stuff anyhow and this kind of makes sense but I'm a little behind the curve.

Is this a good type of setup?

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

I like it. I use my computer for both office use and media stuff. Right now I don't have it hooked up to any TV source, I just watch downloaded stuff and computer stuff.

If you get over the air HD it is the perfect setup with a TV tuner card. It might be a little trickier if you have satilite or a cable provider. I'm not sure how the 2 would sync up, although I would bet there is a way.

It is really nice to have the flexibility to do anything without having to pay a monthly service charge.

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

lcap, I'm too cheap to do it, but what I want to do is have a MacMini under the TV to use as a media server+dvd player+net appliance.

It's really a simple thing to do. My mom got a MacMini on the uber-cheap, so I set it up that way at their house. Works awesome, and they don't use half of the capabilities.

I probably wouldn't use it as a DVR though. I have Dish network's DVR, which works great and I see no need to use a computer as a DVR in it's place.

Anyhow, next time my bro has a site sale, I am going to try to get one. Last time they had one of those sales, it was all PowerPC minis, which lack a handful of the features of the Intel based Macs.