Microsoft Media Center vs Apple TV

Microsoft Media Center supports high-definition video; Apple TV does not. The Xbox 360 can play DVDs and music CDs; Apple TV has no slot for reading discs. And Xbox 360 plays videogames, something you can’t do with Apple TV.

Daniel Lyons - You can attach a computer running Media Center directly to your TV. But who wants to have a computer sitting next to the TV? Better solution is to send data from the computer to your Wi-Fi router. From there it goes to a hardware device such as an Xbox 360 game player, which catches the signal and relays it to the TV.

Downstairs in the living room, connecting an Xbox 360 to the TV was just as easy. The Xbox was equipped with a Wi-Fi transmitter that let it talk to my wireless home network. A set of simple configuration steps enabled the Xbox and the Vista laptop to spot each other on the network and share data. Everything worked. No crashes, no reboots, no blue screen of death. Stunning. Link.