I had fun building the Xen server in my first project, since that one is completed it is time I start with project 2! Building an HTPC with Snow Leopard 10.6 and XBMC.

I’ve been using my Xbox 1 chipped with XBMC for over 4 years now, and it has served me some good times. But as the movie quality keeps improving, or increasing in size, the Xbox doesn’t have what it take’s anymore. For example, viewing a movie in 1080p quality is simply not possible. Mostly because the file format MKV is not supported, or weakly supported.

A friend of me was talking about his new HTPC running on Snow Leopard with XMBC and it got me thinking, running Snow Leopard om my TV sounds good to me anyway. And being able to finally view Full-HD movies on my TV (witch it has never done before) is something i really want, I’m done watching crappy DivX’s.

Of course it never comes cheap, for a reasonable priced hardware configuration you come somewhere near 400 – 450 euro’s. And if I want a nice casing that fits next to my amplifier it costs me even more. The same goes for ’sound reduced’ hardware. So I think I’m just going with the average hardware and put this in a basic casing, and hide it behind my couch :) Maybe put some sound reducing stuff in the casing to reduce the annoying fan noise.

- Edit, Turns out HTPC casings are not that expensive after all. Found one for 60 euro’s, Looks like it’s going to be next to my amplifier afterall :D

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