I am thinking about installing Microsoft Windows Vista Media Center on our Mac mini, espcially since our Xbox 360 is doing everything that the Mac mini used to do. I am planning on keeping the Mac mini in the closet, near our Windows Home Server, and then I would view this content on the Xbox 360 through Windows Media Extender.
There are several things that I would be able to do with this setup:
- Install TVTonic to have access to "Internet TV" and video podcasts (The 2008 Olympics is available this way)
- Play ripped DVDs that are hosted on the Windows Home Server (1, 2)
When I get this set up, this would allow me to remove our 300 disk DVD changer, as I can select any of the movies that we have through a nicer UI.
Also, potentially this would allow us to get rid of our cable TV. This would save us a lot of money. I think that the vidoes available over TVTonic will be fine, when the kids want to watch something. If there are current TV shows that we want to watch, we can buy them through the Xbox Live Marketplace. Buying each episode individually would still be cheaper that paying for our monthly cable bill (especially since we wouldn't have to rent the extra cable boxes)
[...] am excited about this, as it brings me one step closer to canceling Comcast. Netflix has a lot of TV shows available, and I could see canceling many of the series [...]
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