As much of an Apple fanboy I've become in recent months I really see no need to do this.
It's just a very over the top way of having an HD Media Player, which basically does the same thing but better (and for only £150).
Still I guess if it's an old mac mini that you would otherwise get rid of it's a good idea.
Totally agree, buying a Mac Mini
just for this purpose is a waste, but it's perfect for older machines. I use mine as a desktop machine and a media centre (piped around the house to the Plasma etc) so it was a worthy investment.
I've had this in my mind for some time to do away with my W7 htpc (on mediaportal) but the issue I have it recording TV from DVB-T and DVB-S. If this was easy then I'd be over in a flash as its all so much more compact and easier to use. :s
Have you looked at the Elgato USB sticks? I believe you can customise filenames, so they are output to a folder set or straight to iTunes.
Thinking about it, you could also use Hazel and create some custom scripts to move these recordings to proper folders which Plex could see and import automatically. I haven't done it myself, but it's possible with some work.
Is there anyway to get plex running on a G4 mac mini?
IF not what other options for a media centre do you have ?
Not that I could find. The Plex forums state it's Intel only, leopard only.
XBMC has PPC support, so you could install that and have the "Aeon" skin which I use on Plex
http://mirrors.xbmc.org/releases/osx/ppc/xbmc-10.1-ppc.dmg