Mac Mini, Apple TV, External HDD

jjk454ss said:

If I have a Mac Mini hooked up to my TV, and an Apple TV, and my movies are in m4v format(I think, I used handbrake and the atv3 preset) on an external HDD, whys the best/easiest solution for playing those movies? I don't have them all in iTunes because I didn't want 100+ movies in my iTunes library when I had a mbp. Is it best to add them all to iTunes now that I have the Mac mini? I hate to make iTunes slow with all those movies. Is there a good/better way to use the Mac Mini without the atv? I don't want to have to get out the keyboard and trackpad, I'd like to use the remote or the remote.app on my ipad.

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Just put everything on your mini or external HD download xbmc or plex and use one of them with your mini. I personally just picked up the new mini use XBMC and disconnected my Apple TV from my main setup.

jjk454ss said:

I was thinking I didn't need the Apple TV anymore. Im thinking the Apple TV and itunes is going to be a much smoother, more elegant, solution? Also, I'd like to use a remote and not the keyboard/trackpad. Can I do everything from waking my Mac to finding the movie and playing it with a remote if I use xbmc or plex? I'll have to o som research on both, but what's the differences?

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I use the trackpad and wireless keyboard I'm not sure about the remote. I use xbmc because of all the add ons that can be installed like Navi-X which is similar to Ice-films. I personally love the look and feel of the interface.

If you have an iOS device you should be able to use Remote Access services such as Logmein or GotoMyPC to "wake-up" and manage your Mac (unless it has to stay awake indefinitely to allow remote access), then use the Apple Remote App to navigate and play your iTunes Media from the Mac to your ATV.

Sounds good in theory anyway.
I've done this with a Win7 netbook, but never when it was "sleeping".
I usually just plug in the power cable, disconnect the netbook battery, set it to never go to sleep when the power is in and the display is closed, fire up iTunes with Home-Sharing enabled, and close the display. The Apple Remote app let's me navigate all the files on USB drive connected to iTunes on the netbook, and it plays to the ATV.

It's close to elegant, but I don't have a computer that I can dedicate to just iTunes yet. Maybe then a similar solution might work.

try using hipporemote on your ios device to control the mini running XMBC. works great!