Quote:
Originally Posted by wufflebunny
Hello, I'm a total Apple newbie, but recently I've been wanting to get a PVR to connect to Foxtel, and one of my friends mentioned that I might as well get a Mac Mini as it would be around the same price but could do so much more.
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Bonnie,
To my mind the key to your question is whether you really want a device that does "so much more", or if you just want to record Foxtel for later viewing.
If it's the latter, spend the extra money and invest in a Foxtel IQ, which does a very good job of recording Foxtel programs purely for later viewing on the same TV (ie no exporting, copying or sharing). If you're looking perhaps to record the occasional Foxtel show onto DVD to watch somewhere else, pick up a stand-alone DVD recorder to connect to your Foxtel box and that'll serve your needs simply and effectively.
The Mac Mini solution is really only a good idea if you plan on using those "many more" features on a regular basis. For instance the biggest feature I wanted was the ability to instantly access any of my TV shows or DVDs from any TV in the house using a common interface and common play lists - which is why I needed to look at a computer-based solution rather than a stand-alone box solution. I use a central server to record free to air TV shows and add them to the common library, and I only occasionally watch live TV so in my case a Mac Mini solution worked out as the best option.
If you'd like a similar type of solution yourself then spending the time & money upfront in building a Mac Mini system is probably a worthwhile investment. However, if you're just looking at a simple 'record Foxtel' type of requirement, you'll probably find that the stand-alone device option is a better bet.
James
