The Apple TV is now shipping, and some lucky blokes like Walt Mossberg were given demo units to play with early.  I don't have much to say, other than as it stands now I will not be purchasing one, and here are some reasons why.

I want my DIVX!

Seriously Apple, come on.  H.264 is actually a beautiful codec; I have no complaints with the quality that you can get out of it.  What I will complain about is the footprint.  I can get the same, or better quality, from a DIVX encoded file that is sometimes half the size.  Period.

Can I play DIVX, or XVID encoded files on the Apple TV?  Nope, sorry try again.  I have 100's of gigs worth of content that is encoded in one of these two wonderful formats, and if I were to purchase an Apple TV I would either:

1. Be forced to re-encode 150+ gigs of content into H.264
2. or just not watch it.

I don't think either one of those is acceptable.  Oh and did I mention that the only way that you can actually get that much vaunted 720p resolution is with H.264 encoded content?  Use any other supported file type and they bust you down to 720 by 432 thank you very much.  Bah.

So, what is a boy to do?

Buy a flipping Mac Mini, that's what.  Let's break it down yo.

1. Apple TV: Slow Intel processor... so slow they don't even list the speed.
2. Mac Mini: 1.66Ghz Intel Core Duo, not too shabby.
3. Apple TV: 40gig HD
4. Mac Mini: 60 gig HD
5. Apple TV: Supported Video Formats (H.264, MPEG 4, files acquired from the iTunes Music Store)
6. Mac Min: Supported Video Formats (All of the above, as well as anything you can find a plugin for; tens, if not hundreds of formats)

Add to that list that they both have a media center application, and a remote control and you start to see how buying an Apple TV makes no sense.  Still not convinced?  You can expand the storage of the Mini almost infinitely.  Not so with the Apple TV.

Oh and Walt, I can control the volume of my tv right now with Front Row, so score another one for the Mac Mini.

All in all, for 300.00 more you get a far better solution for your media center needs.  I don't understand why anyone would choose the Apple TV over getting something like the entry level Mac Mini.

Am I wrong here people?  Let me know in the comments.