Video content from the iTunes Store, however, looks darned good. Personally, I'm more than happy with standard definition programming from the Store. Yes, the HD content looks better, but not so much better to my eyes that I'm willing to pay more for it or wait longer to receive it.

One important test of the mini's suitability as a media center is its family friendliness. My wife and daughter are renowned for their smarts and perseverance, but anyone's patience can be pushed to the limit when forced to deal with too much complexity. Would they have the patience to control it? The answer to that depends on what they wanted to do with it.

With Front Row configured to launch at startup and some instruction on how Rowmote works, the family--already comfortable with the Apple TV's interface--could navigate local and networked content with them. And considering that's the avenue to the family's music and movies, it's a great start.

When they had to venture outside Front Row to Netflix and Hulu via Boxee, however, they got lost. As I mentioned in an earlier installment, Boxee, Plex, and XBMC are powerful media applications, but their respective interfaces can be confusing. The family also balked at watching, recording, and playing back TV with the EyeTV hybrid. TiVo they get, as they're in a walled-in interface. The EyeTV software, intuitive as I find it, has a computer-like interface and the vote was to stick with TiVo.