Yep, I have a mac-mini and a drobo setup in a closet. The Mac-mini Drobo setup streams to an apple tv in the living room. It works great and is quiet.
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Apple Developing a Home Media Server?
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Yep, I have a mac-mini and a drobo setup in a closet. The Mac-mini Drobo setup streams to an apple tv in the living room. It works great and is quiet.
Could the Mini setup seamlessly allow any mac on my home network to access and modify any and all movies, photos and music files thorugh iApps? keep my two iPhones 4 iPods and 2 appleTVs in check?
Hopefully be cheaper? If it's just going to stream data and not decode it, you don't need a core 2 duo.
Personally, I'd just like a decently-spec'd AppleTV update. Something cheap to watch movies, iTunes, and Netflix on.
HTPC *AS* a home media server.
Does me no good to have a separate appleTV box, which can't do DVR, and can't do optical discs at all, let alone BluRay. It is still pretty easy to go down to the redbox vending machine and get a movie to watch, and it is pretty inexpensive.
I don't want ANOTHER box in my home theater. I want a box to replace most of my home theater, save the receiver, monitor, and speakers. And then I can use appleTV or airTunes, or secondary computers, to send media dispersal to other locations of my choice.
An updated MacMini with superior media capabilities, with a combination or completely separate storage array (peripheral or network-attached) for redundant backup, and network services for remote service of media libraries via LAN, MobileMe, or VPN, or whatever, via remote application, or screen/audio sharing, or whatever.
Very do-able, if done right. But buying 18 different pieces of equipment is not the right way, and one box for one purpose, another box for another purpose... may seem profitable...
But it won't be if people buy something else that will be as versatile in one or two enclosures, as three or four otherwise.
Does me no good to have a separate appleTV box, which can't do DVR, and can't do optical discs at all, let alone BluRay. It is still pretty easy to go down to the redbox vending machine and get a movie to watch, and it is pretty inexpensive.
I don't want ANOTHER box in my home theater. I want a box to replace most of my home theater, save the receiver, monitor, and speakers. And then I can use appleTV or airTunes, or secondary computers, to send media dispersal to other locations of my choice.
An updated MacMini with superior media capabilities, with a combination or completely separate storage array (peripheral or network-attached) for redundant backup, and network services for remote service of media libraries via LAN, MobileMe, or VPN, or whatever, via remote application, or screen/audio sharing, or whatever.
Very do-able, if done right. But buying 18 different pieces of equipment is not the right way, and one box for one purpose, another box for another purpose... may seem profitable...
But it won't be if people buy something else that will be as versatile in one or two enclosures, as three or four otherwise.
Maybe this time they can add an on/off switch. It still bugs me that the appletv doesn't have one
Tell me about it. Holding the play button to shut down is a major pain. I like using the Apple TV for airtunes (like using an Airport Express) and many times I am forced to boot up my projector so that I can see the Apple TV menus so that I can put the damn thing to sleep. It seems harder to turn off the Apple TV since the last update too.
Why would Apple sell a media server when they can just add an option to do that in iTunes? If you have all your content on a Mac and it is connected to the internet why not just use that to share the files with all your other devices?
The only thing I'd be concerned with is price. The new MediaSmarts are $599 (750 GB) and $749 (1.5 TB).
If you have a little know how, you can build a comparable setup for much less. This is the machine I was planning on building.
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=13836627
This is for $528, and the price will probably be dropping. If you don't want the fancy drive bays, you can remove the backplane and subtract $90 bucks.
Once WHS is installed, it would be no different than the MediaSmart setup except for the official Time Machine support, for $100-$250 less.
I have a feeling that the high end Apple offering would push $1,000. Hell I can't bring myself to spend $500 bucks to build this when I have an external hard drive for both machines in the house and stream media from my MBP to my Xbox with XBMC. It would be hard to justify double that.
It would be interesting to see if this materializes though.
If you have a little know how, you can build a comparable setup for much less. This is the machine I was planning on building.
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=13836627
This is for $528, and the price will probably be dropping. If you don't want the fancy drive bays, you can remove the backplane and subtract $90 bucks.
Once WHS is installed, it would be no different than the MediaSmart setup except for the official Time Machine support, for $100-$250 less.
I have a feeling that the high end Apple offering would push $1,000. Hell I can't bring myself to spend $500 bucks to build this when I have an external hard drive for both machines in the house and stream media from my MBP to my Xbox with XBMC. It would be hard to justify double that.
It would be interesting to see if this materializes though.
DIY is penny-wise, pound foolish (IMO, of course)
HP's MediaSmart software adds quite a bit of value (I'd say about $100 worth) to the Windows WHS OS. Mac support, Itunes support, a support network,... HP smooths the rough edges on WHS. (How do you install WHS on your system without a DVD? HP has a uPnP installer that runs from the DVD on any Windows system in your subnet.)
The MediaSmart box is really small, good looking, quiet, low-power, but more than powerful enough. It's also "Drobo-like" in that you only need to look at the lights - if they're all blue, she's happy. See a purple light, take a note to check into it. See a red light, open the console now and find out what's wrong.
I've done a lot of DIY systems, but the HP system is nearly perfect. The only shortfall for me is limit of 6 TB internal storage, but if I need more I'll hook up an eSATA RAID box.
By the way, if any of you have the EX470/EX475 and haven't upgraded the RAM to 2 GiB - do it right away. It makes a huge difference, and it's very cheap to get a 2 GiB DIMM these days.
And, did you realize that your Newegg FrankinWindowsHomeServer is 3.7 times bigger than the HP box, and probably uses a lot more electricity!
HP's MediaSmart software adds quite a bit of value (I'd say about $100 worth) to the Windows WHS OS. Mac support, Itunes support, a support network,... HP smooths the rough edges on WHS. (How do you install WHS on your system without a DVD? HP has a uPnP installer that runs from the DVD on any Windows system in your subnet.)
The MediaSmart box is really small, good looking, quiet, low-power, but more than powerful enough. It's also "Drobo-like" in that you only need to look at the lights - if they're all blue, she's happy. See a purple light, take a note to check into it. See a red light, open the console now and find out what's wrong.
I've done a lot of DIY systems, but the HP system is nearly perfect. The only shortfall for me is limit of 6 TB internal storage, but if I need more I'll hook up an eSATA RAID box.
By the way, if any of you have the EX470/EX475 and haven't upgraded the RAM to 2 GiB - do it right away. It makes a huge difference, and it's very cheap to get a 2 GiB DIMM these days.
And, did you realize that your Newegg FrankinWindowsHomeServer is 3.7 times bigger than the HP box, and probably uses a lot more electricity!
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The good old days.
Nisaea said:
The good old days.
I think I speak for the majority when I say "took them long enough". I'm sure many of us have cobbled together some frankenstein setup in the past and have wished Apple would just release one already.
This news to me is more anticipatory than a tablet that's long been rumoured. I can't wait!
This news to me is more anticipatory than a tablet that's long been rumoured. I can't wait!
The Mac Mini or any other Mac could in practice be an AppleTV but they want to milk the consumers. I for one would rather have an AppleTV than Mac Mini doing the things it does. Much like what you're suggesting, it's easier to have a media server than to have to jerryrig a Mini or Time Capsule to do what a media server does.
Yep, you hit on all the points that have prevented me from building this.
I'm stuck between WHS and a Synology box. Do I make my own WHS setup or buy a MediaSmart? On the Synology side, so I buy a 2 or 4 bay machine? Do I stick with the low end or go with the high end? To many what ifs.
Maybe I'll sit down over the upcoming days off and think all this through so I can stop coming back to it.
Because Itunes is already obese
You are probably right - Apple will probably add another wart to the pig named "Itunes", rather than innovate a new home server.
Or, "rather than copy Windows Home Server" - since WHS is an interesting approach to the problem of backups, sharing, multi-media and security for a home network.
You need to wait until after the Apple Home Server announcement to say this . At this point, it's just an unlikely rumour that seems to have been prompted by HP's announcement.
You are probably right - Apple will probably add another wart to the pig named "Itunes", rather than innovate a new home server.
Or, "rather than copy Windows Home Server" - since WHS is an interesting approach to the problem of backups, sharing, multi-media and security for a home network.
You need to wait until after the Apple Home Server announcement to say this
. At this point, it's just an unlikely rumour that seems to have been prompted by HP's announcement.
You know, I'm about to call this rumor incorrect. For it to be a true "Apple" solution there has to be a rip-burn-watch component. No point in having a multi-gig server if you can't put your dvds on it...
It just seems redundant to add another box that basically holds and serves everything that is already on your main computer, that is separate from Time Capsule which copies all files of your computer, that is separate from Apple TV that syncs with the files you have in your iTunes library. Servers serve a purpose in professional environments but I just don't see a need for them at home where one main computer can have all the files you need. An option in iTunes Preferences to make its library available over the Net would be a lot simpler and affordable than a home server.
Crap ... I just bought a 5TB LaCie 5Big NAS. I love it, however, had I known that Apple was coming out with a media server, I would have waited.
For me, I had a Mini with some daisy chained drives doing what thing thing proposes. If Apple can come through, this would be the preferred route for me and I suspect most. I don't like turning on the Mac just so I can watch a movie on the big screen while in bed or listen to a tune in the kitchen. If I can access my complete movie/music library from where ever; be it my notebook at a coffee shop or my phone at the park, spectacular. It isn't redundant at all to me. It's also the integration that Apple is staunchly known for that makes this so appealing.
But how is a server being left running 24/7 any better than leaving your main computer running with the monitor off? I just see this home server concept as a product for a very small niche of enthusiasts.
Three posts, but only Supercooled understands the problem.
Sol - the point is so that you can turn off your power hungry main computer.
Supercooled - right on. You only need the low power server to be up...
Sol - the home server is a 20 watt system left up 24x7 - much better than leaving your 150 watt to 300 watt main computer running.
__
According to my Watts Up? meter, my HP EX470 sits at 15 to 20 watts when not being hit. (It has a laptop CPU with the power settings set for "green".) With lots of activity (against the four 1.5 TB disks), it hits 50 to 80 watts if I manage to spin up all 4 disks.
Even better, it lets me put all my other systems into a "sleep if not touched for 15 minutes" mode. I don't do "screen saver" - if the system isn't in use it goes to sleep. When it's time for the daily backups, the WHS will wake the Vista and XP systems from sleep, back them up, then put them back to sleep.
(below)
The HP MediaSmart server has no GPU - there are no keyboard/video/mouse ports on the box. This system is meant to live in a closet or ventilated cabinet.
Normal access is through the web console (even for system load and restore). Power users can use RDP to log in, but there are warnings that power users can screw the system up by using native Windows Server 2003 commands and wizards.
And if, as is more frequently the case, your "main computer" is a laptop - the fact that when the laptop's gone so is the content!
Long overdue for the Mac perhaps, but the "rest of us" have been using Windows Home Server for quite some time
.
Mac mini:
- Core 2 Duo CPU
- intel/nVidia GPU
- 1GB to 3GB of high-speed RAM
- lots of small things powered up but useless on a server (such as sound chips, etc)
- relatively high purchase cost, relatively high power cost (~110W)
Apple Media Server:
- Atom CPU
- no GPU if there's no video output
- could use a minimum amount of low-power, low-speed RAM (256~512MB perhaps?)
- potentially a much lower purchase cost, also potentially a much low power cost (say, 10~20W)
As for this product being a niche, I'd bet a lot of users are seeing their available drive space getting smaller every day, with all those movies, TV shows, video podcasts, music videos, music, 8+ megapixel photos, etc. Then the hassle of managing it all from a "main" computer, the problems with having multiple iTunes libraries for multiple iPods/iPhones, etc.
It's far from a niche product, IMHO. In fact, it's long overdue.
I really am happy about this, a great idea for apple.
lets hope it will much like the app store, work with crestron, control 4 and much more.
if the future of the home is digital media networking ... then i hope apple does a great job with it.
lets hope it will much like the app store, work with crestron, control 4 and much more.
if the future of the home is digital media networking ... then i hope apple does a great job with it.
Please Apple, make a server.
I have over 300 dvds, 50 blu-ray, 70 gigs of music, 15 gigs of photos plus my work data.
One server to add all the above, control by my iPhone remotely or by my Mac at home. Simple to use like Apple software. Instant Time Machine backups.
I am sold. I hope it happens in 2009.
I love the AppleTV concept, the lack of storage is what is preventing me to buy one. If this server comes to reality, AppleTV would open to a lot of media enthusiasts.
I have over 300 dvds, 50 blu-ray, 70 gigs of music, 15 gigs of photos plus my work data.
One server to add all the above, control by my iPhone remotely or by my Mac at home. Simple to use like Apple software. Instant Time Machine backups.
I am sold. I hope it happens in 2009.
I love the AppleTV concept, the lack of storage is what is preventing me to buy one. If this server comes to reality, AppleTV would open to a lot of media enthusiasts.
What if you don't have a main computer? What if you've only got laptops? What if you just want everything in one place that isn't also someone's main computer? Plus there are lots of other reasons why having a single, stand alone, data server at home makes sense (lower power usage, centralised backups, drive / data redundancy etc).
I'm far from convinced it will happen though. First problem is the cost, based on what Apple charge for Time Capsule the price would be a joke. Second is the complexity, primarily for increasing capacity and swapping out bad drives - they're not the sort of things Apple would have in a consumer device.
But if this does happen the Apple Home Media Server (or whatever) will replace the Time Capsule as it will do everything it currently does and a lot more.
I hadn't seen the HP MediaSmart Server range before and it looks very, very tempting and will solve my storage problems. I'm pretty much sold on the new ones and it would take something equivalent at a good price from Apple for them to get my money instead.
All good reasons for a server, especially the power usage. I can see the need for something like this when SSDs become standard on all laptops and maybe even desktops; what computers gain in speed they will lose in storage capacity so a server (based on large capacity hard drives) could be more useful then.