Here are my hardware components and what I would like to accomplish:
Multiple external hard drives with media (particularly high resolution video) connected to...
Airport Extreme (2nd gen)
Apple TV 3
iPad3
Macbook
I want to be able to stream video from my external hard drives (which are not NAS drives) connected to my Airport Extreme to my Apple TV and iPad, without having my macbook on. Without iTunes, "Home Sharing" may not work; I'm not sure. If that is the case, what can I do to make this setup work? What additional hardware/software would I need? If it is possible, would streaming speeds be acceptable for watching video?
I have seen that a NAS will allow you to stream video to an iPad (and on to an Apple TV), without a computer running, by using additional iPad apps. I really don't want to buy a bunch of NAS drives to replace the external hard drives I already own. There are NAS converters for external hard drives, but I haven't seen any that are particularly reliable.
Another option would be to replace the Apple TV with a mac mini that stays on all the time, again, something I don't really want to do. That would allow me to have a wired (maybe necessary in terms of streaming speed?) or wireless network connection from the external drives to the mac mini, and the constant presence of iTunes on the mac mini would allow Home Sharing to work with the iPad.
It seems like there should be an easy answer, but I don't think there is. We have the technology; Apple just doesn't let it work together the way it could and should.
I'm looking forward to some good advice. Thanks everyone.
Matt
Multiple external hard drives with media (particularly high resolution video) connected to...
Airport Extreme (2nd gen)
Apple TV 3
iPad3
Macbook
I want to be able to stream video from my external hard drives (which are not NAS drives) connected to my Airport Extreme to my Apple TV and iPad, without having my macbook on. Without iTunes, "Home Sharing" may not work; I'm not sure. If that is the case, what can I do to make this setup work? What additional hardware/software would I need? If it is possible, would streaming speeds be acceptable for watching video?
I have seen that a NAS will allow you to stream video to an iPad (and on to an Apple TV), without a computer running, by using additional iPad apps. I really don't want to buy a bunch of NAS drives to replace the external hard drives I already own. There are NAS converters for external hard drives, but I haven't seen any that are particularly reliable.
Another option would be to replace the Apple TV with a mac mini that stays on all the time, again, something I don't really want to do. That would allow me to have a wired (maybe necessary in terms of streaming speed?) or wireless network connection from the external drives to the mac mini, and the constant presence of iTunes on the mac mini would allow Home Sharing to work with the iPad.
It seems like there should be an easy answer, but I don't think there is. We have the technology; Apple just doesn't let it work together the way it could and should.
I'm looking forward to some good advice. Thanks everyone.
Matt