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Can I make a 'media hub'?

S

suburbiton

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 9, 2009
92
0
I have this idea - don't know it it's possible so would like some advice.

At the moment I have a MacBook Pro and an Airport Express and LOVE being able to wirelessly play iTunes through my hi-fi. But can I take it further?

Would it be possible to have a hard drive sitting behind my TV which could contain my iTunes library, copies of all my DVDs and be able to wirelessly back-up mine and my partner's Mac allowing us to listen to music, watch films on the TV, back-up, share files etc. etc. all wirelessly?

And, even better, being able to use the hard drive to record TV programmes too would be ideal.

It would be great to get rid of my DVD player, Freeview recorder, DVD recorder etc. and just use a remote HDD and my MacBook Pro but, is this even possible?
 
Well the AppleTV can do the streaming, and a TimeCapsule can do the backups.
 
But neither do AirTunes - seems a shame having to have three bits of hardware to do what I want. Can Apple TV play my own DVDs that I've HandBraked onto my MBP harddrive?
 
If you install additional software, yes. The DVD framework is already on the system.
 
I've been looking at Apple TV but it's quite vague in some areas. It has 'Analogue RCA Audio Connection' - but is that an output? If so, does that simply work like AirTunes?

Also, if I play a TV Show, which is stored on my MBP, using iTunes, will that play on my TV via Apple TV or does it only display things I've downloaded and paid for?

It also has a USB port. Why? Is it possible to plug in an external HD and extend the capacity of the unit?
 
suburbiton said:
I've been looking at Apple TV but it's quite vague in some areas. It has 'Analogue RCA Audio Connection' - but is that an output? If so, does that simply work like AirTunes?

Also, if I play a TV Show, which is stored on my MBP, using iTunes, will that play on my TV via Apple TV or does it only display things I've downloaded and paid for?

It also has a USB port. Why? Is it possible to plug in an external HD and extend the capacity of the unit?
Click to expand...

You don't have to buy anything from iTunes. If you have the file and it fits the format, you can play it! :)
 
And will the Apple TV copy/store locally all my iTunes content/photos etc., or will it stream from my MacBook? In other words, does it matter if I get the 40GB version?
 
Mac Mini could do it.

Have your server mac share your iTunes library.
You can use Plex to play DVD.
Any computer with Leopard can act as a backup drive.
It can share files.
You can connect a device that make a Mac a DVR.
 
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