WMC or Apple TV

I have to say I've used both and WMC is a much better platform for organising media. I don't have to convert my videos, and it's just a lot more open for add-on's and stuff...

Probably a bit stupid to ask Apple fans, but which do you prefer.

Forgive my ignorance, but I have absolutely no idea what WMC is. If the W stands for windows, then I'll have to go with Apple. It's one of the few brands these days I can say I have complete faith in.

Few microsoft apps and pieces of hardware I've used have worked properly. Even my Xbox, which I love, has the annoying habit of ALWAYS resetting its internal clock if it's disconnected from a power point for more than 24 hours.

I don't know much about Apple TV right now, but I'd be inclined to side with Apple on this, for the reason that I can rest assured it'll work, and work **** well. Converting movies wouldn't be a problem, because there are way too many movie formats these days anyway. Converting to one format can only simplify things.

Also, since we only use mac in this household, it'd just make compatibility a whole lot better.

It depends on what you want to do. The two products have different goals.

Windows Media Center. And even Apple fans agree that it's the only good MS App in a while.

I use MythTV.

Gives you much of the WMC type stuff, but it's extensible and there's a MythRemote for the Mac which lets you control it without an IR remote.

Pain to install but I've been using it near three years now.

Right now, I'm planning on going with an ATV. The streaming feature and simplicity of setup and use appeal to me. I've already ripped most of my video library for my iPod (4000+ Movies and TV Episodes) so there is no real conversion involved unless I want higher quality.

I have to agree with dtownley1 about formats though, there are WAY to many to worry about and that is the reason why I tend to buy and rip my own content rather than "acquire" it from the web. Too much worry about conversion from this format to that format and all the things that can go wrong in between. It's far easier to just do it myself and know that it will work right the first time around. Having everything in a single format that will work on all my devices (Desktop Mac, iBook, iPods, ATV) is a huge bonus, at least in my opinion, as well.

All that being said, WMC is much more mature than the ATV is and has more functionality. I won't be purchasing an ATV until at least the second or possibly the third generation has been released. I'm willing to wait for a bigger Hard Drive and more capability at this point, I can still watch video off my iPod on my TV with no problems.

If your worried about compatibility with what you have, just go with WMC and be happy.

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dtownley1 said:

Few microsoft apps and pieces of hardware I've used have worked properly. Even my Xbox, which I love, has the annoying habit of ALWAYS resetting its internal clock if it's disconnected from a power point for more than 24 hours.

Click to expand...

My Xbox did that, but then I got a 360. Now it just resets when I turn it off!