[obelix]

You are correct in some ways. But no true optical audio out? You use a Toslink to Optical converter, I read that getting 7.1 out of it was not possible. Not sure about 1080p playback.

Oh, $600 for the mac mini vs $200 for something like the Boxee box / Logitech control box (hopefully $200)

All said and done, Mini is not the ideal box for the consumer, geeks can get it to work, but most people can't.

[nathos]

The mini has 'true' optical out. Mini-Toslink is Toslink, so it's just a matter of buying the right optical cable.

DD/DTS 5.1 is a limitation of Toslink. If you want 7.1 or the newer lossless codecs, that requires HDMI or an conversion to multichannel analog audio on the device (some HD-DVD players did this, back when that was still a thing :)

[obelix]

That is correct. Hence my gripes towards the mini - it wasn't designed to be a digital media player, whereas the AppleTv is (HDMI, optical out). If it supported 1080p and was open, it would be the device. The boxee box could have been the device, but now I am going to wait for the logitech device.