Plex

My new best friend, Plex(mac only? awesome). It's a beautifully designed media management app. A little difficult to set up initially, but once you get going, it's great (and yeah, I guess you could just watch the tutorials, but that's no fun).

It syncs with imdb.com to get all sorts of info about your movies and apparently does the same with TV shows (maybe i should watch the tutorials). Plays your music, displays your photos, well done guys. It's got all sorts of app to add such as NBC, The Daily Show, Colbert report, Hulu...

I find Boxee a bit to difficult to navigate, it's slow and clumsy... Plex Plex Plex

I won one of those hot little apple bluetooth keyboards on eBay ($41), that's been great. I'm still torn about the track ball. If you've got a suggestion, please send it my way.

The Mini

I haven't posted in a while. Since we last left off, I won a mac mini on ebay, (a little more then i wanted to pay, but slightly better then i expected).Well I set it up yesterday, I've got a DVI to HDMI for video (going to Reciever, I already had the cable but, something like $8 from monoprice) and mini-Toslink to Toslink for digital audio(6ft $2.25).
I'm running Leopard, all the latest Software Updates. Xvid codes, Perian audio(among other things) codec(trust me, you need this). Downloaded Boxee, Hulu Desktop, Mplayer, VLC.

In general the quality from mac mini is pretty damn good, could be better... but good.

DVD playback, I have yet to test... I'll try that tonight.

Hulu desktop, fantastic, highly recommended.

Boxee, I want to really like, but really needs some major improvements. Overall interface is clumsy, difficult to navigate, and compared to Hulu, the quality just isn't great... it's still in alpha though, so we'll see where it goes.

Netflix streaming, I have to say, I'm really disappointed. The quality from the Roku Box is sooooo much better than Netflix Movie Viewer (powered my microsoft, pfff). Boxee can control netflix streaming as well, but the quality is in the same place... why is it that Roku can stream HD content, but streaming to a computer can not? Needs further investigation. Ideally I'd like to get rid of Roku and play everything from my mac, we'll see.

Harmony Remote work really well with everything. I really need a wireless keyboard and track ball... better start eBayin again.

...Offer TV Channels Online (If You Already Pay)

Sure, you have a right to make money on your content, etc... but you can still suck it.

http://mashable.com/2009/06/24/tv-everywhere/

what's your favorite pozish..

After getting a little frustrated with reception, I decided to try and get the closest thing to outdoor as I could. As you can see from this illustration, I've moved it from my TV console in the middle of a RR apt, to my refrigerator near the window (facing northish?)

So far, reception has been great.

moving forward

After a brief discussion with @schatz, I've decided mac mini is the way to go. I'm going to try my luck with ebay before I commit $600 to this. Requirements: Intel processor, preferably dual. seems like the 1.66ghz is the most popular and most reasonably priced, I think I'm looking at around $350 (BTW, WTF is wrong with everyone on craigslist? Your are NOT getting almost 90% of what you actually paid). I'll eventually need that sexy small wireless keyboard from apple, and I'll continue to search for a sweet wireless trackball. Until then i suppose it'll be wired.
This does mean, goodbye dvd player, and roku netflix player. Suppose I could ebay them?

have you heard of this internet thing?

Hi, we're engadget, and we did a write up 4 years ago...

yeah well...shut up

1 for TWC, a thousand against...

Today I made the big move and decabled myself.

I asked about the turbo upgrade... I asked how I could really know if I was getting anything extra, the woman kindly offered to see if there any promotions to try out turbo... sure enough, "we can offer you turbo for a year"... score, $80/mo savings. one point for you TWC.

Taking back...

On my way to take back my cable box... I'm going to need a clock. With no time in sight, I just missed a good deal on ebay by 4 minutes.

New antenna solution?

Check this shiz out, equinux TV Receiver, could use it instead of elgato AND it comes with an antenna... maybe I could get rid of big ugly

Macpiphany

Mac mini ($599)
I started thinking about the possibility of having a mac mini as a sort of entertainment center. While searching for a no-subscribe DVR, I found a few that would work with my mac (and not independently). The mac would allow me to eliminate a DVD player. I've read briefly about turning a mac mini into an apple tv, not sure if that requires sacrificing the OS (besides, I suppose I could just play it from itunes). I could also stream netflix and boxee from one device (via web browser and boxee app, respectively)... I would essentially have a receiver, mac mini, antenna and TV. My biggest concern would be, quality. I believe apple TV has a better graphics card and HDMI... I've read that the mini could handle a fairly large LCD quite well... I suppose I would need a wireless mouse and keyboard, though apple mouse would suck in my living room. Maybe there's a dope track ball (not necessarily this one). Built in Bluetooth (poifect). Hard drive options, 120, 250, 320GB, though I'll bet I could put in whatever I want. RAM 1GB, maybe it doesn't matter. It would save me the heart ache of not having a mac with an intel processor (I currently can not watch netflix or boxee on my mac, G5).

AppleTV-to-Mac mini lite ($229+geeky work)
On the other hand, I've read about turning an apple tv into a mac mini lite (of sorts)... This is a bit more involved, but do-able. It would lack a DVD player, but maybe there's an external blu-ray (maybe a nice looking case for this?)? A Bluetooth Adapter for keyboard/mouse. Looks like there's one USB, if it doesn't have bluetooth, it's kinda fucked. Suppose I could get a hub. I should see what they're going for on eBay and CL (not hubs... apple tvs).
All of this stuff is miniature, which is great, but could cause a big mess. Oh and it's got optical out, which is good, since my receiver doesn't support hdmi audio... This option would be a shit of a lot cheaper... and would give me a chance to swap in a bigger hard drive.

Apparently my Logitech harmony remote can control it as well... It's starting to look good for appletv (can i just call it iTV? it make things easier)

El Gato's EyeTV ($149.95) could be a great DVR solution.

I would essentially be turning my TV into a big display for a mac... I'm not against that. But, it wont be just a laptop with a dvi-hdmi... it'll be a proper home theatre.

Plans for my future setup

Here's the overall plan...

My current Cable bill is something like $125/mo (this includes DTV, internet, DVR, no premiums). Dropping the DTV and having RoadRunner Standard(10Mbps down) will be $45.95/mo, with and option for RR Turbo(15Mbps down) +$9.95. With a bill of $56 (+tax I'm sure), I'm saving almost $70 a month. Now what could I do with all that cash...

•Over-the-Air (OTA) HDTV- Obviously I need basic channels and I need them in HD. Antenna's in, so far so good. ($37, will be paid for in less then a month)

•Apple TV (w/Boxee)- I was inspired to get rid of cable, after a few months of exposure to Hulu and the likes. So the question is, how do i get streaming content onto my TV. If you haven't heard of Boxee, you should. it's sort of a mashup of Hulu and all the other networks that are streaming.

With (what seems) a simple hack/mod, Apple's AppleTV can be made to stream Boxee.

For $229, I can get a 40GB AppleTV (it's capable of 802.11n, my airport express isn't, wonder if that'll be an issue). I can stream content that I've purchased form the apple store on my mac, or other content that somehow made it's way onto my itunes library. This is huge. ($229, paid for in just over 3 months)

•Netflix - I currently subscribe to netflix, 1 DVD out at-a-time (Unlimited) plan with unlimited time to watch instantly. $8.99 a month, pretty dope. With no cable to pay for, I may just go up to 2 movies at a time. It's the watch instantly streaming content, that's important... typically it's for your computer, but there are a few ways to view it on your TV. One of which is Roku ($99), others include Xbox360 and few Blu-ray players (either of which I would have preferred). Some content is offered in HD, other just pretty freakin good.... they've got movies, tv shows... but it's pretty limited. ($99 +$8.99/mo, I already have this, so it doesn't count as extra)(unless i go for the extra DVD at a time, $13.99, so +$5/mo)

•Personal Video Recorder - This is a new one for me. I originally thought I could get away with not having DVR because I could just stream the show from boxee (eventually), but as stated in an earlier post, there is no live rewind. I'll have to look into that.

Other Random Ideas:

•I wonder if  it's possible to watch DVD's from my mac via AppleTV, that would allow me to get rid of my dvd as well.

First snag...

Suddenly realized I can't rewind without DVR... independent PVR may be the solution.

First Step...

I gave the ol' owner's manual a look through, and there's a built in digital tuner, even though it was built and sold before the March 1, 2007 cut-off.

Now I was ready for an antenna. In general, outdoor kicks indoor's ass. Being in a little apartment in Brooklyn, I didn't have the outdoor option.

There's a website that can tell you appx how well you should receive signals based on your location: http://www.antennaweb.org/

NYC has it good, and I should be OK with an indoor.

I found this really helpful during my Research

http://www.hdtvantennalabs.com/hdtv-antenna-guide.php

I eventually settled on the Terk HDTVa ($36.83 after tax)...

1. J&R had it in stock.

2. Good reviews.

3. Comes w/ an amp ($10 less for the HDTVi, which doesn't have one)... just in case.

-1. Ugly as sin.

I got it home, quick little temporary(I hope) hookup... and what do you know, got all the basics in HD, great start.

pics after the break...

some notes... just to clear up any confusion.

detail of the ugliness

Current Setup

Here's my current setup, I think I have everything

• TV: 40" LCD - Samsung LN-S4051D
• Receiver: Harman Kardon AVR-146 (got it open box. didn't realize that it had HDMI, but didn't carry audio though it... Sure is purdy though)
• Remote: Logitech Harmony 550 (yeah there are better models, but this is the
  sexiest)
• DVD Player: LG DN-191H
• Netflix Streaming: Roku N1000 (I hate one-use devices, but I got this before it was offered in Xbox360 and some Blu-Ray players)

Prologue

This isn't an absolute solution for everyone... it's going to be my current situation/setup, and the changes I make to reduce the cost of my tele. I'll try to keep track of everything I'm spending and everything I'm saving, as well as links to things that I find helpful.