[clue] HTPC systems?

[Brian Gibson]

I'm in the research stage myself.  Rolling your own is the best way to get you exactly what you want, but is the most time-consuming.  For a complete out-of-the-box system (short of installing OS and software), the ASRock line of HTPCs appear to be the top-recommended choice: http://www.asrock.com/nettop/index.asp.  A Mac Mini is another option, but the newer models require an external optical drive if you need it.  You don't have to stick with OSX, but if you do, Plex (which is an XBMC variant with iTunes integration) seems to be the way to go.  I've seen Assassin HTPC http://assassinhtpc.com/ mentioned too, and they'll even install the software (for a fee).  The Acer Aspire Revo series is very popular too; it's very similar to the Asus EEE Box.


As for software, MythTV and XBMC are the primary options.  To make things simple, there are Mythbuntu and XBMCbuntu distros.  




________________________________
 From: Sean Leblanc <seanleblanc at comcast.net>
To: "clue at cluedenver.org" <clue at cluedenver.org> 
Sent: Friday, July 6, 2012 2:44 PM
Subject: [clue] HTPC systems?
 
Anyone out there that has built - or bought - HTPC systems?

Anyone have hardware/software to recommend? I'd like to use some flavor of Linux, and I know for sure I'd want to run MAME and other emulators on it. 

I think I'd also like to use MythTV as a front-end and probably XBMC, maybe, too? The typical use case would be playing video files. 

I'm a little out of touch on which flavor of Linux might be the "best" fit for this, though. I need something that doesn't require much fuss, but doesn't have too much cruft slowing it down, either...


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