Hi all, I'm looking for advice on the following idea please.

There is a lot of talk about integrating a mac into the system.  Usually this is for movies and music stored on the mac.  I have an old iBook which I was thinking of using for this purpose, and last night whilst avoiding my tax return I realised I could probably use it for CDs and DVDs as well.  I don't have any VHS tapes any more, so the VCR on my avant is obsolete.

So in the interest of reducing clutter, would it be possible to remove the vcr unit from inside the avant and strap in the ibook so that the slot loading optical drive is where the vcr flap is?  After a bit of surgery to the flap, I would then have a very cool slot loading 'Macvant DVD'.

Firstly, is this possible? Secondly, in terms of connections, I guess there would be the S-VHS or component leads from the dvi adapter off the ibook, and then plug this into the camcorder socket on the avant.  Alternatively could it connect to the (now unused) video scart?  Would pressing the vtape button on the beo4 select this source without getting confused that there isn't a B&O vcr unit attached to it?

Any thoughts/ideas welcome...

Cheers,

Neil 

I don't think that it will be quite that simple but in principle, I don't see why this couldn't be possible. I think a Mac Mini would be an easier starting point but essentially you are adding the equivalent of a Beomedia. The Connections would need to be changed as the Mac is clearly not going to respond in the same way as the VCR in the Avant and I dare say the Eject button could be used to eject any optical disc. There is however the matter of an interface being designed and the actual surgery will need quite a bit of thought.