What to hook-up to the TV?
I have several HTPC’s that I’ve build to watch my downloaded content on. How ever in planning to buy a new TV I also want to downsize what is hooked up to the TV. We recently decabled and are now using an over-the-air digital TV box(DTV). This works great as we use a mix of Hulu, Boxee and downloads to get our TV shows. I’m not a big console gamer so we only have two of them, PS2 and Wii, hooked up to the TV. The DTV box we are using is small as well. The biggest piece of hardware in our media center is the HTPC. Which is a 4 HE PC case. I have a couple of Dell Optiplex SX280’s that I can use but I’m thinking of going even smaller.
Recently Boxee announced the Boxee box at CES
This is a really unique looking set-top box.
The Specs:
HDMI
Optical Audio
RCA Stereo Audio
WiFi (802.11n)
Ethernet
2 USB Ports
SD Cart Slot
RF Remote
QWERTY Keyboard
The Boxee box will also be able to play 10.1 flash video. It can do this because of the Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset it has inside. It also has a really nice remote which will also be available as a loose purchase for other Boxee users.
The Boxee box will be available the second quarter of 2010 for under $200 dollars. I hope to be able to get this box in when it releases(or maybe even a little sooner) for review.
Apple TV is still a good option
Apple TV is still a good option I really like the size. They are available for $189 for the 160GB version refurbished on the Apple website. Although I don’t have any QuickTime or iTunes library’s to sync with, when you install Boxee on the Apple TV it becomes as usable as any HTPC even for downloaded content.
Also websites like www.appletvhacks.net could make having an Apple TV a lot of fun.
There are a couple of other options but for now these should work. Now to decide what to use.