So some background first. my house is all apple: apple tv 2, apple tv 3, various ipads, ipods, airport extreme, and a 2010 mac mini hosting itunes in an external firewire 800 3tb drive.
i currently, run ALL my music through itunes, stream it anywhere with airplay, upload wireless to ipads, and wired to ipods. Play whatever i want through airplay enabled speakers, pioneer receiver, or apple tvs. So music being handled by itunes is PERFECT. i maintain a meticulous libray - fanart, info, sorting etc.
my movies and tv shows however are in their own separate folders on the external drive. I, again, have sorted them meticulously. Each movie or tv show has its own folder...nfo file...fanart, background etc. All using a media manager for mac.
Now....I keep all my movies/tvshows in whatever format they are in. However, mostly mp4/mkv.....with a lot of older stuff or hard to find at avi. i have over 1000 movies, and probably as much in tv shows.
my main tv is using the ATV2 with xbmc. The bedroom and theater room are apple tv 3's.
Right now this is my usage. When really want to watch something in either the bedroom or theater room i convert whatever it is we want to watch with identify and then use either apple tv 3 to to find it and watch. My main tv usage is the apple tv 2 jailbroken with XBMC.
Continuing thoughts of mine. 1) i may be adding two more tvs - inlaws moving in. So i would like to have each room able to watch as much as the main room. Right now since its just me and my wife its easy to convert when we are watching something in an off location. 2)Pros and cons of XBMC - pros:, love its usability in terms of searching, displaying info, and general sorting also able to play any file, but solely im converting all my avis to mp4s. Cons: apple tv 2 only, takes minutes to scrape movies - because of my large library, doesnt use itunes library. 3) apple tv 3 pros and cons: basically the reverse of the XBMC ones.
So here is the dilemma: When do you guys suggest going to an ALL itunes library and why?
Given that most of my movies are mp4 or mkv - maybe 200 or so are avi. it would take a a bit of time to convert all with identify and send them all into my itunes library. Then all again with all the tv shows. Now this would satisfy the issue of getting access to these files with every apple tv in the house. especially when i add more tvs and apple tv 3s are all you can buy. This would also allow me to sell my apple tv 2 and make enough on it so i can purchase 2 apple tv 3s. BUT BUT BUT, the apple tv 3 interface on how to get to a movie/tv show is ENTIRELY lacking when compared to XBMC especially in the WAF. Going to computers to find movies then to not be able to list the movies by latest added will drive the wife insane. Here is where i am stuck. Because if i add over 1000 movies to itunes she will HATE searching for the latest added and it wont go over well. So im stuck...and im looking for advice.
i currently, run ALL my music through itunes, stream it anywhere with airplay, upload wireless to ipads, and wired to ipods. Play whatever i want through airplay enabled speakers, pioneer receiver, or apple tvs. So music being handled by itunes is PERFECT. i maintain a meticulous libray - fanart, info, sorting etc.
my movies and tv shows however are in their own separate folders on the external drive. I, again, have sorted them meticulously. Each movie or tv show has its own folder...nfo file...fanart, background etc. All using a media manager for mac.
Now....I keep all my movies/tvshows in whatever format they are in. However, mostly mp4/mkv.....with a lot of older stuff or hard to find at avi. i have over 1000 movies, and probably as much in tv shows.
my main tv is using the ATV2 with xbmc. The bedroom and theater room are apple tv 3's.
Right now this is my usage. When really want to watch something in either the bedroom or theater room i convert whatever it is we want to watch with identify and then use either apple tv 3 to to find it and watch. My main tv usage is the apple tv 2 jailbroken with XBMC.
Continuing thoughts of mine. 1) i may be adding two more tvs - inlaws moving in. So i would like to have each room able to watch as much as the main room. Right now since its just me and my wife its easy to convert when we are watching something in an off location. 2)Pros and cons of XBMC - pros:, love its usability in terms of searching, displaying info, and general sorting also able to play any file, but solely im converting all my avis to mp4s. Cons: apple tv 2 only, takes minutes to scrape movies - because of my large library, doesnt use itunes library. 3) apple tv 3 pros and cons: basically the reverse of the XBMC ones.
So here is the dilemma: When do you guys suggest going to an ALL itunes library and why?
Given that most of my movies are mp4 or mkv - maybe 200 or so are avi. it would take a a bit of time to convert all with identify and send them all into my itunes library. Then all again with all the tv shows. Now this would satisfy the issue of getting access to these files with every apple tv in the house. especially when i add more tvs and apple tv 3s are all you can buy. This would also allow me to sell my apple tv 2 and make enough on it so i can purchase 2 apple tv 3s. BUT BUT BUT, the apple tv 3 interface on how to get to a movie/tv show is ENTIRELY lacking when compared to XBMC especially in the WAF. Going to computers to find movies then to not be able to list the movies by latest added will drive the wife insane. Here is where i am stuck. Because if i add over 1000 movies to itunes she will HATE searching for the latest added and it wont go over well. So im stuck...and im looking for advice.