Apple TV or Mac-Mini ???

[A4orce84]

Hello Everyone,

Had a quick question on what would be better for an HTPC experience. The Mac-Mini or AppleTV?

I thought Mac-Mini would be the better setup initially, but now with OSX Mountain Lion offering "Air Mirroring," I can mirror anything off of my Macbook Pro laptop to my TV...I'm not so sure anymore.

From what I've read, the Mac-Mini does not do airplay, while the AppleTV does.

Any opinions on which is better, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


--Asif

 

[Dustman]

Apple TV. Easier to navigate from the couch. No keyboard and mouse required. Try and find a Apple TV 2 if you can... then there's no airplay required. You can just stream from your NAS.

 

[A4orce84]

I thought I read you could NOT stream content that was not in iTunes. So content in a NAS or another computer on a network would not work.

Also, I would like to use Airplay when it comes out to Mountain Lion, so I could watch hulu.com on my TV vs. on my Macbook pro screen.

Do Apple TV 2's have the airplay feature at all?

 

[blevins321]

I thought I read you could NOT stream content that was not in iTunes. So content in a NAS or another computer on a network would not work.

Also, I would like to use Airplay when it comes out to Mountain Lion, so I could watch hulu.com on my TV vs. on my Macbook pro screen.

Do Apple TV 2's have the airplay feature at all?

The ATV2 can only play from a NAS if you jailbreak it. But yes, it does have AirPlay capability.

 

[A4orce84]

Can either of you guys link me to a video showing this functionality?

The ATV2 also only streams in 720P though correct?

 

[PhoenixMac]

Not to thread hijack but I have a similar question, if I run a NAS as a plex server do I need a computer to be on to stream movies to my atv2?

 

[blevins321]

Not to thread hijack but I have a similar question, if I run a NAS as a plex server do I need a computer to be on to stream movies to my atv2?

If its a NAS that actually runs the Plex Server program, like Synology or QNAP, then you can use that in conjunction with AirPlay from an iOS device to avoid having a computer run-thru. However if you're just going to have the media stored on the NAS, a computer is going to need to run the Server client.

Note that the AirPlay method works with ATV2 or 3. There is an ATV Plex Client program for jail broken ATV2s that can play directly from a NAS Plex server. It could also play the media directly via XBMC without having to have the Plex server installed on the NAS.

 

[PhoenixMac]

If its a NAS that actually runs the Plex Server program, like Synology or QNAP, then you can use that in conjunction with AirPlay from an iOS device to avoid having a computer run-thru. However if you're just going to have the media stored on the NAS, a computer is going to need to run the Server client.

Note that the AirPlay method works with ATV2 or 3. There is an ATV Plex Client program for jail broken ATV2s that can play directly from a NAS Plex server. It could also play the media directly via XBMC without having to have the Plex server installed on the NAS.

Ok so about xmbc I wouldn't need a computer go between? I already have xmbc installed on my atv2 what 2-bay NAS solutions would work with this?

 

[Eddy Munn]

You can use an App such as FileBrowser to AirPlay content from NAS storage to an Apple TV, works great!

 

[blevins321]

Ok so about xmbc I wouldn't need a computer go between? I already have xmbc installed on my atv2 what 2-bay NAS solutions would work with this?

Any of them would work actually. Just has to access by AFP or SMB. A USB drive off of an Airport Express would work too.

 

[PhoenixMac]

Any of them would work actually. Just has to access by AFP or SMB. A USB drive off of an Airport Express would work too.

Thanks a lot.

 

[blevins321]

Any of them would work actually. Just has to access by AFP or SMB. A USB drive off of an Airport Express would work too.

Oop I meant Extreme. You can't use a USB drive with an Express.