Raspery Pi Vs a PC for Media dutys

[Platinumjsi]

Ok so been hearing a lot about the Raspery Pi of late and how it can handle 1080p content pretty well, not really kept up with things of late so im pretty impressed that a system that draws pretty much no power can do what required a 150watt PC not a year ago.

So my question is (and I have looked around the web and not found what I am looking for), can anyone give me a comparison run down of what the Pi can and cant do in the media PC space as compared to a PC?

Im aware Blu Ray's are a no due to Linux but a Blu Ray ripped to MKV should be fine?, I have backed up most of mine to MKV uncompressed, would it have much trouble playing back these or is the CPU just to weak to playback the movie?

 

[ThePolarSky]

...

 

[Platinumjsi]

Cheers, I have pretty much a full pc, just needs a CPU so I'll be using that, I'm just interested really in what the pi can do, I think I'll get one to play with, looks like for most people it will be fine really.

What are the big compelling reasons to go for a pc over this?

Looks like the pi is almost there, I would expect more and more arm based media systems popping up.

Any reason you can't get the likes of Netflix? Is this also the case for other Web based services such as iplayer ect?

 

[wirednuts]

its good for basic playback right now. the software isn't quite mature enough for a full time media player... really the lack of Netflix hurts the most!

I think if you need solid media center, just go with a amd apu setup.

but the pi is cool because its small, doesn't produce heat and its easy to maintain once set up. its also cheap!

 

[ThePolarSky]

...