Dedicated box for movie downloads? Ideas?
 

What about using a small desktop computer as a dedicated video component? Put it on the shelf next to your DVD player. Give it an internet connection, video out to a your TV. Small bluetooth keyboard allows you to download movies to the hard drive then play it on the big plasma. I'm sure there are cables available to convert PC video out to HDMI, etc... Good idea? Bad idea? I have a friend who copies movies to a 16 gig flash drive and plays them on his TV through a Sony Playstation. I'm looking to skip a step.

Can you download movies in 1080?

I have a misc 17 in G4 PowerBook that I use for that.

Don't even need a keyboard, just run screen share and control from any other Mac in the house or even a PC running a VNC client.

iTunes is controlled from my iPhone.

Or just build a Myth TV box.

Oh yeah, found this this morning.

SuperBiiz.com - ZOTAC IONITX-A-U Atom Dual-Core 1.6GHz/ MCP7A-ION/ A&V&GbE/ Mini ITX Motherboard w/ 90 Watt PSU

$225 all in with the case.

Looks Hackintoshable to boot.

I have this Mac Mini laying around. Would this work?

Mac mini "Core Duo" 1.83 Specs (Late 2006, MA608LL/A, A1176, Macmini1,1) @ EveryMac.com

Western Digital TV Live
Can be connected to your current computer via networking, can output full 1080 via HDMI, upconverts, runs just about any format you throw at it, the size limits is only based on how many hard drives you want to buy, small, quiet (no fan), can be controlled via a Logitech Harmony remote...

Hackable, cheap, small, easy. Has the resources to connected directly to YouTube, and maybe Hulu (don't know if that's fully implimented yet).

It will work better than a computer sitting next to your TV.

WD TV Live HD Media Player ( WDBAAN0000NBK )

Moses,

That would work perfectly. I twould add one of these adapters from Monoprice.

Mini Displayport Male and USB Male Audio to HDMI Female Converting Adapter

Then I would install Plex Media Center for OS X on it.

If you don't want that Mini, I'd be interested.

Absolutely.

I'd hang a bigger firewire (not usb) 7200 RPM hard drive off it for your library.

Second in line.

I use a Tivo HD box to do what you are discussing.

A PC will work fine. Get a video card with HDMI.

Most downloadable files on the internet are .avi's which are low quality for a HD screen.

You want the biggest files you can find. When I rip a movie, I rip at full strength. You can see every bit of compression on a nice TV.

I find it largely depends on the ripper. I stream to my Xbox 360 or PS3 from my PC, and they look pretty good on my 47 inch Vizio. Not fantastic, but good.

I agree with the ripping comment. There are many different settings you can choose to create .avi's. I played with .avi settings for months before I finally gave up and just rip movies without compression using DVDFab. Then I run VOB2MPG to consolidate the VOB files into one single movie. The quality is great. I cannot tell the difference between a hard drive stream and my DVD player.

I am ripping District 9 tonight. A Redbox rip for a buck is better than a questionable download.

I've looked at those.... Definitely worth considering...

Any idea if you can stream netflix w/ it?

You cannot stream from the web with the WDTV. You can stream from your computer, and some have hacked ways to stream from some very specific sites, but not anything like Netflix.

If you want to stream Netflix without a computer, then go for a Roku box.

I rip them down with DVDFab, then shrink them down about 25% with DVDShrink, then use MakeMKV to encapsulate them into a single easy to deal with .mkv file. If I download a TV show (the only things I download), I often grab the .mkv HD version if possible.

Agreed...I use the Blockbuster unlimited package, Netflix would work well too, I didn't think about Redbox, but I don't like to be stuck with any type of deadline.

Google/Wiki search for "htpc"

Where are you guys grabbing those from? and what software would you recommend to use for ripping on Snow Leopard....

First, download Windows.

Then grab the programs listed above :p

I've got another laptop with XP... But my mini 9 running snow leopard is faster....
Assume those formats would work on a mac? I can do it on the XP if I have to... but I will watch them on the MINI

There are Mac rippers like Handbrake available.

Unfortunately DVDFab is not Mac friendly and it is definitely the best software around. If a movie comes out with new protection software, the developer has an update out the same day, if not sooner.

He provides 2 years of updates for about $50. Never let me down yet.