Apple TV v Mac Mini

I want to integrate my Mac into the living room, and as far as I can see I have two options:
a) I buy an Apple TV and sync it with iTunes so I can watch/listen to films and music ripped to my iMac in the study, and control it all from the living room. This gives the added benefit of being able to do photo slideshows on my HDTV too. This will mean I still need my separate DVD player to play 'live' DVDs (my iMac is on wireless 802.11g, which I don't think will stream DVDs to Apple TV - am I right?).
b) I buy a Mac Mini for the lounge, which will take care of the DVD situation.
Questions:
1. If a go with option a), I'll probably rip all of my DVDs to the iMac so I can watch them at will. Can I choose what is stored locally, rather than just being able to use whatever Apple TV has been able to sync, before it becomes full?
2. Can my iMac with 802.11g stream video to the Apple TV?
3. Option b) feels like a better idea (more functionality for the money, plus I can use it as a digital TV recorder with a bit of help from EyeTV). Will I be able to replicate Apple TV - ie sync all of the music, movies and photos from the iMac for use in the living room? ie more than just 'sharing', so I don't need the iMac turned on to use the content?
4. Is it worth holding on to see if a Blu Ray compatible Mini is on the cards? Plus, will Minis start to come with 802.11n?
5. Can I stream from iMac to Mini? I'd like to be able to set iTunes playing, and have the same stuff playing on the Mini and the iMac.
6. Anyone got any thoughts on what I'd like to do?
Thanks
iMac 20" Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Spencer...
The latest Intel Mac Minis are more powerful, more flexible and ,of course, more expensive than the Apple TV.
The Core Duo MacMinis can easily play 1080p content. The Apple TV is limited to 720p. Avoid the older G4 MacMinis.
The Mini can play all sorts of digital formats, including DIVX. MKV etc.
The Mini has a built-in DVD player. (Although I find it frustrating that the Mini's DVD drive is one of those that cannot be modified to be region-free.)
The Mini has a larger hard disk, and you can plug in additional storage, and stream content wirelessly. You can also plug in a Freeview tuner and record TV.
The Mini does not have 802.11n networking. But 802.11g is adequate for video streaming, especially if your media server is wired to your router.
The Mini can get confused by hi-definition 16:9 screens where the pixel ratio is not 16:9. ie. 1024x1024 plasmas.
Glyn

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https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4143595
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Hello,
I just received my mac mini server and started to set it up.
I bought this computer with my regular apple id account that I use with my 2 MBPs.
When installing the mac mini computer I connected my Mac Mini Server to my regular apple ID account.
The issue is that I don't want to share my MBP account details on this Mini Server computer (software update, server notification push, SSL certificate contact e-mail...) not to mess things up between all my macs.
My question is :
I created a new apple ID for this computer with a different contact email etc.
How do I change the default ID for the whole mac mini settings ?
I already changed the user settings in the OSX user pref pane, the new mail is updated.
I already changed the icloud apple ID with the new one it's updated.
I already changed the alert notification push recipient e-mail in server.app it's updated.
BUT still, if I want to change the "self-SSL certificate" for a new one with my new apple ID account, the e-mail contact is still my old one which I bought the computer with.
How do I change that ?
Also I want to be able to update my apps on this computer without using the apple ID account I bought the mac mini with (and my 2 MBP, iphone etc), but with the new dedicated apple ID for this McMini.
Is there a software transfer trick to separate computers softwares from a mac to another?
thanks for your precious help.
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With the Mac Mini can I play DivX encoded files on
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Some posts say yes this works if the file is on the
internal drive, but not if it is on an external
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<http://www.kanexlive.com/mdphd10ft>
<http://store.apple.com/us/product/H1824ZM/A/moshi-mini-dp-to-hdmi-adapter-with-a udio-support>
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Airtunes remote speakers (currently running in 3 rooms)
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"http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4281054&#4281054"
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