Home Sharing and backing up movies!

[morphin1]

Hi everyone,
I am new to the Apple TV and Apple movies(Itunes). Just got into the Mac environment recently and have a few queries:
1. Can I stream movies from Apple Time Capsule to Apple Tv?
2. How do I backup and restore specific movies bought and downloaded from Itunes, which will enable me to watch that specified movie?
3. On my home network I have an additional router working as an extender to the Attic in my house, where the home theatre resides. I have one ATV in the Living room, will I have to buy another ATV to hook up to my home theatre?
4. Is there any NAS system which will act as a Media centre where I can browse and watch both movies bought on Apple and my own movies from other sources?
Thanks in advance guys.
Cheers

 

[Rigby]

Hi everyone,
I am new to the Apple TV and Apple movies(Itunes). Just got into the Mac environment recently and have a few queries:
1. Can I stream movies from Apple Time Capsule to Apple Tv?

Not directly. You can only locally stream from a computer running iTunes. You can, however, use the Time Capsule as a file server for that computer and move the iTunes library there, but the streaming needs to go through the computer.

2. How do I backup and restore specific movies bought and downloaded from Itunes, which will enable me to watch that specified movie?

Not sure what you mean. You can back up files in your iTunes library like any other file.

3. On my home network I have an additional router working as an extender to the Attic in my house, where the home theatre resides. I have one ATV in the Living room, will I have to buy another ATV to hook up to my home theatre?

Of course. An ATV can only be connected to one display at a time. If this "router" is actually set up as a router (i.e. you have created different IP subnets in the attic and the living room) you may encounter some connectivity problems. If it's just used as a Wifi extender it doesn't matter though.

4. Is there any NAS system which will act as a Media centre where I can browse and watch both movies bought on Apple and my own movies from other sources?

Using the Apple TV? No. It cannot stream movies from media servers other than iTunes when using Homesharing. You may be able to add your other movies to iTunes though if they are in the right format (AVC video, AAC and/or AC3 audio, in an MP4 container) or you transcode them.

 

[morphin1]

Not sure what you mean. You can back up files in your iTunes library like any other file.

Thanks for the info Rigby.
What I mean is, for EG:
If I have 100 movies backed up as a single backup of Itunes Backup but want to watch/transfer a specific movie or movies on a different mac(Iphone 6, Mac book) without having to restore all the 100 movies.

 

[Rigby]

Thanks for the info Rigby.
What I mean is, for EG:
If I have 100 movies backed up as a single backup of Itunes Backup but want to watch/transfer a specific movie or movies on a different mac(Iphone 6, Mac book) without having to restore all the 100 movies.

There are basically two options to get movies you purchased from Apple onto an iOS device: You can re-download it from Apple's cloud, or you sync it locally from a computer running iTunes. The latter can either be done using iTunes USB syncing, or wirelessly by using homesharing. In any case you have to find a way to get your backed up movie file into an iTunes library somehow.

What I'm doing: I have my iTunes library stored on my QNAP TS-451 NAS. I'm also running a Windows virtual machine with iTunes on that NAS, which acts as my iTunes server. I can access the content on the NAS from iOS devices, Apple TVs and computers running iTunes via homesharing. Of course a NAS is not really a backup. But for content purchased from Apple I rely on being able to re-download that if necessary, for other content I make regular backups using a USB HDD.

 

[Boyd01]

4. Is there any NAS system which will act as a Media centre where I can browse and watch both movies bought on Apple and my own movies from other sources?

Yes… any computer that is capable of running iTunes. It could be an older Mac or Windows Machine, as long as it can run a version of iTunes that supports home sharing. Just put your iTunes library on that computer and leave iTunes running all the time. I use a Mac Mini for this myself (as do many others) and it works very well.

This article will point you in the right direction: http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_set_itunes_home_server

For backup, I use Carbon Copy Cloner on the Mini. Every night it runs a script to clone my media drive (a 3TB USB 3.0 external drive) to an identical drive. I have two backup drives and rotate them regularly.

The Mini is located in a cabinet in the dining room and connected to an old 23" monitor that I can use to watch movies on. It is also connected to my home stereo system with speakers in several rooms throughout the house. Then I can also access my iTunes library on two hardwired AppleTVs and my MacBook Air over 802.11ac wifi through home sharing

 

[morphin1]

Yes… any computer that is capable of running iTunes. It could be an older Mac or Windows Machine, as long as it can run a version of iTunes that supports home sharing. Just put your iTunes library on that computer and leave iTunes running all the time. I use a Mac Mini for this myself (as do many others) and it works very well.

This article will point you in the right direction: http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_set_itunes_home_server

For backup, I use Carbon Copy Cloner on the Mini. Every night it runs a script to clone my media drive (a 3TB USB 3.0 external drive) to an identical drive. I have two backup drives and rotate them regularly.

The Mini is located in a cabinet in the dining room and connected to an old 23" monitor that I can use to watch movies on. It is also connected to my home stereo system with speakers in several rooms throughout the house. Then I can also access my iTunes library on two hardwired AppleTVs and my MacBook Air over 802.11ac wifi through home sharing

Thanks for the info Boyd. One last thing is it safe and ok to leave the Mac Mini running 24*7?
Will running it all day cause any slowdowns etc?
Thanks again guys.

 

[Boyd01]

Mine has been running 24/7 for a year and a half with no problem. Every now and then I restart it. You could set it to sleep and it should wake up when you access it from the Apple TV. But I prefer not to have that delay.