Mini as a DVD player & PVR

Your expert opinion needed:
I'm soon to upgrade my entire AV set-up at home. This is what I'm thinking:
Mac:
Intel iMac/MacBook where iPod will dock
Audio:
iTunes Library held on a Time Capsule
Wireless music in house with Sonos (no doubt Apple will soon bring out an update to Airtunes allowing the same functionality using an iPod Touch!)
Video:
Video files stored on Time Capsule
Apple TV to watch rented/ripped video content
Mac Mini to act as DVD player and as PVR/Tivo using EyeTV
Does anyone have any experience of using the Mac Mini as their sole/main DVD player & PVR/Tivo? Is it in practice a bit clunky to boot up a full working computer (rather than a stand alone DVD/PVR machince) to watch or record a show (and having to come out of TV stream to access recording functionality)? Or does the addded functionality/adaptability work really well?
Would love to get opinions as I'm still undecided about having this set up or a Topfield (Toppy) and EyeTV on the iMac. Only trouble with that would of course be that I would also need a DVD player and recording a TV show wouldn't be very sponstaneous as the EyeTV would be in a different room. Would be nice to have recorded shows ready to go on my iPod though. Decisions decisions...
Many thanks

I had had a setup like that for a couple of months now. It is easier to never turn the Mini off and simply put it in sleep mode when not in use.
The most annoying part is the keyboard and mouse. I use a Logitech DiNovo Edge wireless keyboard and trackpad and it is a bit akward. It would be really nice to have some kind of "air" mouse which can act as both a mouse and remote for Front Row.
Another issue is that there is no good way to keep 5.1 audio when you rip DVDs to something iTunes/Front Row and see and play even though the Mini as a TOSLink output which goes to my Yamaha receiver. DVDs played through OS X Leopard player keep 5.1 audio just fine.
I use EyeTV and it seems to work ok, I just wish it was fully integrated with Front Row rather than using its own menu system. EyeTV can automatically recompress recorded shows to H.264 and dump it into your iTunes library which is really convenient.
Things get complicated if you're trying to use EyeTV for, say, cable TV and over-the-air HD. I have tried using 2 USB tuner sticks and EyeTV requires that both use the same signal type (cable or OTA). If you use a QAM capable tuner card with cable, you'll be able to tune in all open HD channels (cable companies were mandated to rebroadcast local network stations unscrambled in HD by the FCC)

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