Help! I need to get organized (and I´m crap at it)

[yoak]

Hi everyone.
After looking at a few threads about set ups, I decided to get organized, or at least try.

Here is what I have:

Office
MBP 2009 on Snow Leopard (main machine)
Mac Pro on both Lion and Snow Leopad (work machine for editing, no wifi card)

Living room:
42" Panasonic
Yamaha reciver with 4 HDMI ports that serves:
PS3 for games and Blu-Ray
ATV1 (jailbroken, but I have very often problems connecting to hard drives with it)
HD PVR for cable
2 PSB speakers connected to the receiver

AEBS with 2TB USB drive attached that has a few different iPhoto libraries from older macs on it, plus movies
AND a 12TB ReadyNAS Pro that is attached to my router. I use this for back up of my work (RED EPIC footage that takes an enormous amount of space.)

Problem 1:
The Mac Pro can´t connect to the NAS as it dosen´t have a wifi card, but I need to attach it to ethernet anyway for speed. So I have to drill a whole in a wall, but I would like to put the NAS in the basement as it generates a bit of noise. Not sure how to best set this up, as I would like to store movies and TV shows for streaming as well on the NAS

Problem 2:

I would like to be able to view all my photos (that are at the moment scattered around on different drives) through my TV. Would a ATV3 serve me better for this?
Should I merge all my libraries into one and use Aperture? (I already use Aperture as well as iPhoto)

Problem 3:

Same as above, but for music. I would like to be able to play my music easily over the receiver that is connected to the TV
(and movies to of course)


I wouldn´t like to have the Mac Pro running 24/7 as a media server, due to heat, power consumption etc.

My MBP is very often with me on location, but I´m about to upgrade it to a rMBP. SO I´m thinking of keeping my old one as it´s quite dented and worn out so the resale value is not very high I think.

BUT, is a Mac mini better suited for the task? I´m not too keen on buying a Mac mini at the moment, as I´m getting a rMBP and it is a lot of money already.

Thanks for any thoughts our input and please let me know if you need more info

 

[jruppert]

my 2 cents

I am constantly updating my home network. storage, connections, networking equipment, etc. Here is my suggestion:

1) Take time and plan out your whole system. From the file storage, naming schema, applications, and connections. Research and plan

2) Draw out your entire architecture (connections, file storage)

3) Implement plan. Take your time! This is a practice in time management. Do work in 30 minute clips (focus booster is great for this) 5 minute break, then start again. You will not be able to finish in a day, accept it.

4) Remember that taking an additional 5 minutes now, will save you 30 mins later.

5) complete diagram with all of your notes, (use evernote for backup)

There is no solution that doesnt involve you taking your time, other than paying someone to do it every 6 months.

KCCO

 

[yoak]

Thanks for the input. I'm slowly staring the process. My one concern at the moment is drilling through my walls, but I think it will be ok

 

[The DRis]

Thanks for the input. I'm slowly staring the process. My one concern at the moment is drilling through my walls, but I think it will be ok

I am an electrician. The walls aren't that big of an issue.

They make low voltage plastic rings that will go into the whole and tighten up, leaving you screw holes for a cover plate of your choice.

You can get any color of your choice. I have white for the TV connections and blue for data.

If you want to post some pictures of the wall you will be cutting into, and what the ceiling looks like in the basement. Is it an open sub-floor or drywalled in?

ETA: I was going to post pics of mine, but apparently I don't have them on the iPhone anymore, but this it what it will look like, the ones I got were orange:

This goes over that:

With these connecting to that:

 

[yoak]

Thanks DRis. I have to find something like that over here. Shouldn´t be a problem now that I know what to look for.
Really appreciate it.

I´m living in an oldish house, built in 1959 so it shouldn´t be any trouble cutting through both the wall and floor I think. The basement ceiling is just wood

 

[rayward]

Re: Problems 2 and 3, the ATV1 behaves exactly the same as an ATV3 regarding photos and music. The only way to get them all available through one unit is to have them all in one place. They don't have to be on the Mac/PC that drives the ATV, but they do have to be in a consolidated library.

Aperture isn't needed for consolidating photos (it's a high-end editing suite meant for pro and semi-pro photographers). iPhoto works just fine and, like iTunes, can work with a library on a remote drive (does not have to be the same drive as iTunes).

 

[yoak]

I understand iPhoto can be used instead of Aperture. I do have Aperture and I thought it would handle the really large library I would get should I consolidate our 6 different iPhoto libraries.

I picked up a ATV3 on sale today so that will go into a room for the kids where there is no cable box, on second thought, its probably better to use the ATV1 in there and load it with films