[timmmee]

Hi all,

I'm trying to set myself up with a dedicated media hub in my house. I've experimented lightly with streaming straight from my MBP to my PS3 by way of MediaLink, which works fine, but the PS3 interface is clunky.

What I have
-TV, sound system :P
-Wireless internets
-Airport Express (maybe useful?)
-1TB hard drive with music, movies, pictures, etc. etc., organized by iTunes/iPhoto

What I want
-easy-to-use receiver-type thing (is Apple TV worth it? Or any other media streaming box?)
-a way to have my hard drive be on the network all the time, not only when I plug it into my computer (do I need an Airport Extreme for that or can I use my AP express? Can I split that USB port so I can do both hard drive AND a printer? That'd be cool)

Any ideas? Do I need to go the route of Mac mini or something, or can I do this more cheaply?

Thanks!

[turtle]

AppleTV is worth it no matter which model you chose. Since you already have you media in the Apple Ecosystem you are set. Just get the AppleTV and be done with it.

I did just notice that you mention needing the HDD connected to the network, I use a Mini for that. So yeah, you should have some type of iTunes server to do this for you. Even a really old Mini would do the trick for that.

[screensaver400]

Yeah, the iTunes server part will be a bit tougher. You might look at something like the D-Link DNS-323. You basically pop your hard drive(s) into it, and it makes them accessible over the network, and also acts as a iTunes server for media. I think that iTunes server will be seen by an Apple TV, but be sure to confirm that.

Edit: Looks like I was wrong about the above. Right now, you need an actual iTunes installation to do it. Either a really old Mini (but able to run the latest iTunes, which rules out a PPC mini) or a Windows nettop.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread...art=0&tstart=0

[turbulentfurball]

I thought a PPC Mac could still run the latest version of iTunes... The system requirements certainly says so.

[turtle]

Yeah, and Old PPC Mini would do the trick.

[timmmee]

Originally Posted by turtle Yeah, and Old PPC Mini would do the trick.

But for how much longer? I'd like to get it on the cheap but then I don't want to be stuck in a year (or two or three) when iTunes 11 comes out without support for PPC Macs...

Agh, that's really frustrating that iTunes needs to be running to make Apple TV work. I could probably get around that by jailbreaking...but then that'd be another headache and would complicate the wonderfully simple Apple interface.

[turtle]

Well, then you certainly need to just spend the money on a newer Mini or a MB that has a busted screen or something like that.

[Yontsey]

Couldn't you just use an old PC? Those seem like they would be cheaper, but then again, you may be able to get an old Mac Mini for cheap.

[turbulentfurball]

Originally Posted by timmmee But for how much longer? I'd like to get it on the cheap but then I don't want to be stuck in a year (or two or three) when iTunes 11 comes out without support for PPC Macs...

I get the feeling that iTunes will be the last app to go Intel only... Why would Apple stop owners of PPC Macs from being able to purchase from the iTMS? Besides, iTunes 10 will keep working when iTunes 11 comes out.

[chucker]

For some reason, my build of iTunes 10.6.3 says it's Intel (32- and 64-bit)-only.

[timmmee]

Originally Posted by Yontsey Couldn't you just use an old PC? Those seem like they would be cheaper, but then again, you may be able to get an old Mac Mini for cheap.

I could, but the hard drive is formatted HFS+ which would be an annoyance.

I found a 2007 Intel C2D Mac mini for under $300 on eBay, not terrible...

I guess my issue with using another computer is I wanted to basically plug the hard drive in somewhere and never have to worry about it again (e.g. plug it into an Airport extreme and manage it entirely from another computer). I'm kind of concerned that adding another computer into the mix might have a tendency to bog things down more (how would I update the content from another device? Screen sharing? That's kind of a chore...).

Apple TV 2 can be jailbroken with XBMC at which point it can access files from a networked drive (not DRMed stuff but that's ok). Or maybe there are alternative products that can access HFS+ networked drives...

[Boomerangmacuser]

Instead of Apple products, I went with Westen Digital. I have a 1Tb Mybook World edition plugged into My network as well as a WD media player I picked up at Costco. It can play almost any file type you throw at it. It can find and play files on any machine on my network; the WD, my iMac, my laptop. The newest iteration can be controlled by any IOS device. Each were about $100.

I like that I don't have to transcode AVIs to MP4s or vice versa. It plays them both. I don't need to be able to stream movies from my iPad to my TV, which only the Apple TV can do. What I do want is to be able to stream or copy movies from my NAS to my iPad which can be done with various apps. I love my setup.

P.S. The WD can read HFS formatted drives.