Challenge... Time Capsule / Local Website / Any other solution

[dogmatixthedog]

Hi all,

This is my first post and I look forward to reading and posting many more

I didn't really know where exactly to post this, but here goes.

Having spent ages to figure out how to describe this as succinctly as possible, I hope this suffices:

The scenario

• I'd like to use Apple products to solve this challenge, whereas PC users on the network might only access content rather than create or modify any
• I have a large library of videos in various (browser compatible) formats - approx 1 TB. Most of these are instructional videos on share trading I have acquired over some years - some very similar to others at first glance. Some not immediately compatible with iTunes video formatting and codecs
• They are currently stored on a 3GB Time capsule
• I need only access the content from Mac/pc and not from appleTV
• The normal way one would access and view these videos would be to simply use Finder, find the right file, double click ...
• Alternatively, import 1TB to iTunes, place library on Time Capsule and still have the same problem - explained at painful length length below!
• With 1TB of data, acquired over a long period, one forgets what is where and also what you have - suffice for hunting file and folder names in Finder.

The armory (which I can't really afford to add to very much)

• 1 of newbie with little more than 10 brain cells, 8 spare hours a day and not much knowledge of networking
• 1 of 2011 model iMac 27" running Lion with
• 1 of 2008 Macbook Pro
• 1 of 3GB 2012 Time Capsule
• 1 of Netgear Rangemax DGND3300v2
• 1 of HP pc laptop (new-ish) spec
• 1 of Toshiba laptop new high-end spec
• Knowledge of Rapidweaver to create sites and pages easily (for newbies) and can upload to web servers via ftp

The Challenge

• To create a solution that would be accessible on the local network (not fussed about external access)
• Imagine a simple personal website, running on a local network that has a basic but efficient menu structure. Every page, with a screenshot, link to content (saved on Time Capsule), and customisable text description of videos
• Sort of like a web paged, browseable media server running on cocaine, XTC and steroids.
• It need not be a local website based solution. Any other solution where I can add screenshots and additional text content I'd like add would suffice perfectly.

What I've Tried, Ideas and problems encountered

• Rapidweaver exports/publishes the site together with video files (as would be normal if I was publishing to the web), but with site being run locally means the files would be duplicated. Even if I could, I don't know how I could link back to files locally on my networked Time Capsule
• Could use solution above and just publish site locally - BUT, it only publishes to the Sites folder and can't link back to video files on the Time Capsule.
• Could publish to the sites folder, but everything would be published onto the iMac which doesn't have enough space and hence defeats the purpose.
• Could use dark terminal magic to change Sites folder to network drive (but don't know how) but then videos would be exported to Time Capsule, instead of just linking to them - thus doubling the files and defeating the purpose.
• Could use another site creation tool but I know absolutely diddledy-squat about html

And at last ...

I'm not fussed at all whether I use rapidweaver, existing software I could download or any other solution. What's important is to be able to "browse through content" customised with screenshots and text, as opposed to the standard way of "browsing through files" in finder - previewing here, there and everywhere to check that the right file is being accessed.

I was hoping you could point me in the right direction or guide me as to how you would attack this as, alas, I am at a loss for solutions.

Thanks for reading and looking forward to replies.

Kevin