Why not at least switch to an Apple Computer (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) Mac? Apple's new operating system is stable, reliable and easy to use. The applications are simple, gorgeous and work well together. And they're here. Today. Steve Jobs must be waking up a happy man this morning.
Really explains alot. I presumed this guy (with his anti IBM, Novell & Linux stance) was an MS shill. Turns out he's just another Apple fanboy.
You tell me, who's the fanboy here? Take a closer look at your behavior and answer again.
Hmmmmn, I think you're getting snarky at the wrong person. I never mentioned fanboy. Maybe you should slow down, chill out & reread the thread, slower.
To answer your question however:
Both of us.
Anyway, to answer your post in a general way. You don't need dl-dvd's to backup, just two sls. I'm sure you can find some (remote control scriptable, nice clear text) software to do just that.
You go on to accuse me of poor comprehension. The line I failed to comprehend:
There's a lot of nice features the mini has which every PVR on the market lacks, including several you claimed, falsely, to be exlcusive to a MythTV solution.
My comprehension? I read that to mean that I claimed (falsely) some features were exclusive to MythTV.
All those things you mention (are great apps, but) don't integrate into a PVR type setup (with large, high contrast text, full screen, remote operation, etc etc) without alot (a weekend's worth?) of effort.
WoW is a good example for you to use however, it is something of interest to many people, and wanting to play it is a good reason to choose a mini or windows media center (or whatever its called) over mythTV.
And again, I'm not saying that a Mac mini, for all people and all tastes, is a better alternative for a media system than a MythTV box.
But you did imply it was an easier alternative with: "...to spend their weekend building a box from scratch...", but its not easier - not to get a full featured PVR. The mini maybe a better PVR/PC combo, but thats a different discussion.
I'm just saying that its an available option which some people might find more attractive than building their own beige-box mini-ITX penguin-power machine.
The article we're discussing features a black case (not a particularly attractive one mind you). My mini-itx (which predates the mac mini) is in a black box too. The mini is closer in color to the beige-box you mention.
Wait for Steve before touting the mac-pvr. It's coming and it will probably wipe the competition away, but for now... The mini just ain't ready.
1. Why would I ever want to put a TV show on to a DVD? Hard drives cost less per GB than blank DL-DVDs do.
Errr, right.
For starters, it's easier to buy DVD-Rs then upgrade a hdd and secondly, what you say is false. Blank DVD's are about 20c each, roughly 5c/GB. Upgrading a Mac Mini (we are still talking about these right?) from the standard 60GB to 120GB will cost you $175. That works out at 35c/GB.
2. You can do all of that on a mini, either with free software or stuff that comes with the OS, but again, why would I want "weather" on my TV box, especially when THREE of the HD channels in my broadcast market are nothing but weather radar?
Right, but you were saying how easy things are with the mini. If you're going to go to more effort then your 'three step solution', then why not just go the cheaper generic box & pop knopmyth into the cdrom?
3. There's a lot of nice features the mini has which every PVR on the market lacks, including several you claimed, falsely, to be exlcusive to a MythTV solution.
Man I love the smell of unsubstantiated allegations in the morning!
Care to share some links with us? We're looking for:
PVR features exclusive to the mini.
The line were I claim (any) features are exclusive to MythTv
But thanks for trolling.
You post a "mac mini is better" comment to a completely unrelated article, I helpfully correct you - but now I'm trolling? Whatever dude.
Here's a (slightly more expensive) alternative for non-geeks:
1. Buy a Mac Mini
Sorry - your 'alternative' is a solution looking for a problem.
1) Your solution is a good deal more expensive then your post makes out - for instance if you want to burn to CD/DVD using EyeTv you have to purchase roxio toast (and that is not the only hidden cost)
2) MythTV gives you Mame, VOIP, Weather, Web, Gallery & music player all-in-one. Mac Mini solution does not.
3) If you really want an easy solution, rather then a look-my-mac-is-as-good-as-linux solution, just buy a dedicated PVR (with a similar set of features to eyetv) & plug it in. Lots of cable companies give them away for free now - otherwise you can pick them up for less then $100.
If you want a full featured PVR, do what this guy did (but please use knopmyth to make your life easier).
If you allready own a mini, great, buy eyeTV & assoicated peripherals.
If you just want a basic PVR, don't follow the advice above - you end up with a relatively expensive computer masquerading as $89.95 PVR.
On Barbara Nitke, the (co) plaintiff of the case in question.
Dig up some of her work & decide for yourself whether it's Art, Documentary or Porn. I'm willing to bet that even amongst Slashdotters there'll be the full spectrum of opinions, showing how hard it is to apply 'community standards' to the internet.
In just the same way, if I was forced to choose between os x & windows, I'd choose os x, but it would be nice to have a copy of windows hanging around in case I wanted to play some games.
I completely agree, and the solution is VirtualPC. Yeah, you need to have a little more RAM to support the virtualization layer and still have plenty available to the Windows instance running on VirtualPC, but it's less expensive than two PCs, and less annoying by far than dual-booting.
Virtual PC is useless for games.
Just face the facts - for a substatial amount of people who want to run multiple operating systems, two PCs are a pain to manage and virtual PC / vmware just dont cut it.
For these people (and those wanting to occasionally use a crappy windows-only-drivers-device) dual booting between windows & mac will be extremely useful.
Next, how to mod your Porsche into a Toyota Camry.
Funny - but a terrible example.
Sure - a porsche looks cool, but if you're just going to the shops, its nicer to have a fuel range of 21 - 35 MPG rather then porsche's 17 - 25 MPG
I'd rather have a porsche, but if I could seamlessly degrade my porsche to a camry's performance to get the extra mileage, on occasion I would.
In just the same way, if I was forced to choose between os x & windows, I'd choose os x, but it would be nice to have a copy of windows hanging around in case I wanted to play some games.
AAC supports bookmarking, so you can resume your 20 minute podcast right where you left off.
Is it really worth ditching a sizable percentage of your target audience because a tiny percentage of your audience doesn't know how to use a pause button?
In fact, Melbourne IT's procedures are so slack that they infamously transferred the panix.com domain to a third party without authorisation last year.
Not just that. They've also been accused of facilitating 419 fraud.
So, don't just blame the "Australian government" for this, as it's unclear who exactly intervened.
Better: Blame the "Australian government" for this, along with Melbourne IT. John Howard has lied to the Australian Public again and again.
He's currently under investigation for his role in collusion with Saddam's regime under sections.
does songbird do anything cool like add itunes-like features to generic usb bulk storage mp3 players? automatic upload of playlists, automatic download and transfer of podcasts, etc? now THAT would be cool and remove the few points that tie me to itunes/ipod at the moment...
Nope, Songbird isn't ready for production yet. It does however plan to do everything you mention (and be extensible like firefox)
You're probably best off sticking with itunes for now - and if you want to use a generic mp3 player, give the Bad Apple generic mp3 player / itunes sync plugin a whirl. It allegedly breaks the Itunes Music Store, but hey, many people would consider that a feature
In light of this report, I'm wondering if and when I should ditch providing MP3s for my podcast and switch to AAC?
You would be an idiot to drop mp3 in favour of mp4.
Mp3 is still the king. There is no format out there that comes close. You don't want to alienate all your listeners with old mp3 players (or the multitude who've bought the $20 256MB chinese cheapies)
Dropping it for mp4 would make about as much sense as dropping it for ogg.
First, I understand that AAC sounds at least twice as good at comparable bitrates.
I don't know what sort of audio files you're distributing - but do your own listen tests. Different codecs perform wildly differently depending on the source audio type & most reviews are using pretty standard music with vocals.
Yup, something like Songbird, but complete, cross platform and with the licensing clarified
Files that are our original creations are copyright Pioneers of the Inevitable LLC. We plan to keep the vast majority, if not all, of our source code available under a GPL license.[emphasis mine]
Songbird looks cool, but with no linux client its useless to me.
Slashdot Mirror
He's a troll, and an inconsistent one at that.
The final paragraph of the linked articleReally explains alot. I presumed this guy (with his anti IBM, Novell & Linux stance) was an MS shill. Turns out he's just another Apple fanboy.
Fastest at running certain photoshop plugins :-/
Still - yet another reason to not dismiss windows-on-mac-hardware efforts.
after reading this thread, i CAN tell you that you are a whiney little mac fanboy
noone is interested in your sad little life.
Of the first 20 comments, 16 are about spelling.
I can understand why the rest are modded redundant - but why the first? Its obviously important to many people.
I just can't bring myself to spend money on a simple metal box when I can avoid it
:-)
Quoth the Mac fan
Now I know you're trolling... very amusing however - nicely played.
Yeah, I mean who accepts an email unless you can first identify the sender...oh
(I do kinda take your point, but if it gets cheap enough....)
Hmmmmn, I think you're getting snarky at the wrong person. I never mentioned fanboy. Maybe you should slow down, chill out & reread the thread, slower.
To answer your question however:
Both of us.
Anyway, to answer your post in a general way. You don't need dl-dvd's to backup, just two sls. I'm sure you can find some (remote control scriptable, nice clear text) software to do just that.
You go on to accuse me of poor comprehension. The line I failed to comprehend:My comprehension? I read that to mean that I claimed (falsely) some features were exclusive to MythTV.
Is that not what you meant?
Do yo ever use your mini as a PVR?
All those things you mention (are great apps, but) don't integrate into a PVR type setup (with large, high contrast text, full screen, remote operation, etc etc) without alot (a weekend's worth?) of effort.
WoW is a good example for you to use however, it is something of interest to many people, and wanting to play it is a good reason to choose a mini or windows media center (or whatever its called) over mythTV.
And again, I'm not saying that a Mac mini, for all people and all tastes, is a better alternative for a media system than a MythTV box.
But you did imply it was an easier alternative with: "...to spend their weekend building a box from scratch...", but its not easier - not to get a full featured PVR. The mini maybe a better PVR/PC combo, but thats a different discussion.
I'm just saying that its an available option which some people might find more attractive than building their own beige-box mini-ITX penguin-power machine.
The article we're discussing features a black case (not a particularly attractive one mind you). My mini-itx (which predates the mac mini) is in a black box too. The mini is closer in color to the beige-box you mention.
Wait for Steve before touting the mac-pvr. It's coming and it will probably wipe the competition away, but for now... The mini just ain't ready.
Errr, right.
For starters, it's easier to buy DVD-Rs then upgrade a hdd and secondly, what you say is false. Blank DVD's are about 20c each, roughly 5c/GB. Upgrading a Mac Mini (we are still talking about these right?) from the standard 60GB to 120GB will cost you $175. That works out at 35c/GB.
2. You can do all of that on a mini, either with free software or stuff that comes with the OS, but again, why would I want "weather" on my TV box, especially when THREE of the HD channels in my broadcast market are nothing but weather radar?
Right, but you were saying how easy things are with the mini. If you're going to go to more effort then your 'three step solution', then why not just go the cheaper generic box & pop knopmyth into the cdrom?
3. There's a lot of nice features the mini has which every PVR on the market lacks, including several you claimed, falsely, to be exlcusive to a MythTV solution.
Man I love the smell of unsubstantiated allegations in the morning!
Care to share some links with us? We're looking for:
But thanks for trolling.
You post a "mac mini is better" comment to a completely unrelated article, I helpfully correct you - but now I'm trolling? Whatever dude.
Here's a (slightly more expensive) alternative for non-geeks:
1. Buy a Mac Mini
Sorry - your 'alternative' is a solution looking for a problem.
1) Your solution is a good deal more expensive then your post makes out - for instance if you want to burn to CD/DVD using EyeTv you have to purchase roxio toast (and that is not the only hidden cost)
2) MythTV gives you Mame, VOIP, Weather, Web, Gallery & music player all-in-one. Mac Mini solution does not.
3) If you really want an easy solution, rather then a look-my-mac-is-as-good-as-linux solution, just buy a dedicated PVR (with a similar set of features to eyetv) & plug it in. Lots of cable companies give them away for free now - otherwise you can pick them up for less then $100.
If you want a full featured PVR, do what this guy did (but please use knopmyth to make your life easier).
If you allready own a mini, great, buy eyeTV & assoicated peripherals.
If you just want a basic PVR, don't follow the advice above - you end up with a relatively expensive computer masquerading as $89.95 PVR.
Is there such a thing yet, or should I wait for PVRuntu?
Knopmyth
On Barbara Nitke, the (co) plaintiff of the case in question.
Dig up some of her work & decide for yourself whether it's Art, Documentary or Porn. I'm willing to bet that even amongst Slashdotters there'll be the full spectrum of opinions, showing how hard it is to apply 'community standards' to the internet.
Virtual PC is useless for games.
Just face the facts - for a substatial amount of people who want to run multiple operating systems, two PCs are a pain to manage and virtual PC / vmware just dont cut it.
For these people (and those wanting to occasionally use a crappy windows-only-drivers-device) dual booting between windows & mac will be extremely useful.
Next, how to mod your Porsche into a Toyota Camry.
Funny - but a terrible example.
Sure - a porsche looks cool, but if you're just going to the shops, its nicer to have a fuel range of 21 - 35 MPG rather then porsche's 17 - 25 MPG
I'd rather have a porsche, but if I could seamlessly degrade my porsche to a camry's performance to get the extra mileage, on occasion I would.
In just the same way, if I was forced to choose between os x & windows, I'd choose os x, but it would be nice to have a copy of windows hanging around in case I wanted to play some games.
I know some large companies (cough*apple*microsoft*redhat*cough*) can certainly afford to support openSSH, and need the project to continue running.
These companies however would not want to give to an operating system project that competes with them.
Maybe the openBSD & openSSH projects should seperate?
AAC supports bookmarking, so you can resume your 20 minute podcast right where you left off.
Is it really worth ditching a sizable percentage of your target audience because a tiny percentage of your audience doesn't know how to use a pause button?
It should be noted here that Apple have allready pulled the ipod from france due to decibel limits.
However, Apple almost immediately surrendered, limiting the decibels with a firmware update so they could get the French market back again.
In fact, Melbourne IT's procedures are so slack that they infamously transferred the panix.com domain to a third party without authorisation last year.
Not just that. They've also been accused of facilitating 419 fraud.
So, don't just blame the "Australian government" for this, as it's unclear who exactly intervened.
Better: Blame the "Australian government" for this, along with Melbourne IT. John Howard has lied to the Australian Public again and again.
He's currently under investigation for his role in collusion with Saddam's regime under sections.
does songbird do anything cool like add itunes-like features to generic usb bulk storage mp3 players? automatic upload of playlists, automatic download and transfer of podcasts, etc? now THAT would be cool and remove the few points that tie me to itunes/ipod at the moment...
Nope, Songbird isn't ready for production yet. It does however plan to do everything you mention (and be extensible like firefox)
You're probably best off sticking with itunes for now - and if you want to use a generic mp3 player, give the Bad Apple generic mp3 player / itunes sync plugin a whirl. It allegedly breaks the Itunes Music Store, but hey, many people would consider that a feature
Um, which iTunes adverts are you referring to? There's no version that requires payment that they try to nag you to buy.
You say you use osx - I'm not sure if it does it too, but under windows, itunes installs quicktime which is irritating nagware.
If you're talking about the MiniStore, try going to Edit > Hide MiniStore
Errr right, I didn't say you couldn't turn it off, I just said (and thanks for confirming) that it is adware & nagware.
Haven't used itunes for a while (and that was on my gf's laptop), so my memory is a little hazy.
In light of this report, I'm wondering if and when I should ditch providing MP3s for my podcast and switch to AAC?
You would be an idiot to drop mp3 in favour of mp4.
Mp3 is still the king. There is no format out there that comes close. You don't want to alienate all your listeners with old mp3 players (or the multitude who've bought the $20 256MB chinese cheapies)
Dropping it for mp4 would make about as much sense as dropping it for ogg.
First, I understand that AAC sounds at least twice as good at comparable bitrates.
I don't know what sort of audio files you're distributing - but do your own listen tests. Different codecs perform wildly differently depending on the source audio type & most reviews are using pretty standard music with vocals.
Yup, something like Songbird, but complete, cross platform and with the licensing clarified Songbird looks cool, but with no linux client its useless to me.
I have to say that I'm very surprised that itunes hasn't long since surpassed real player.
I know plenty of people who use itunes, but none who use realplayer.
Still, both are irritating adware & nagware (along with WMP of course)
We need a firefox for media....
Ooops!
:-) Didn't see that 'intel'
I'm dumb sometimes