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stuckinstuff

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 27, 2008
3
0
Hello everyone. First I will do my best to describe what I am trying to do, and hopefully there is a way to do it.

I have a 1TB timecapsule that I use for Time Machine backups, as well as a storage for my music files. I access these files through an alias in iTunes so that I can play them on my Macbook.

The 2nd element: I have a LG HDTV/Surround Sound set up. I can plug my iPod in through the dock connector to the theater and play music that way. Theater will also accept any USB devices such as a jumpdrive, etc.

What I want to try to do is devise a way to play music through these speakers without having to use my iPod. It is tedious to use my iPod in this manner. I want a more efficient way to play music through my surround sound speakers.

Is there any way to hook the time capsule to the either the TV or Theater system and access files directly?

If this is not an option, what about any way to wirelessly feed music to the theater system?

If worse comes to worse, I could hook my Macbook to the tv and use it this way, streatming audio into the tv, and to the surround sound. I thought about this, however, I was hoping there may be a way to stream the music without requiring my computer to be stationary.

I appreciate any help you guys can give. Please don't flame, I do a sufficent amount about computers, but am not familiar with any mods to Mac firmware/software yet. I converted only a few months ago. Thank you
 

joshjohnson

macrumors member
Mar 16, 2004
88
20
Re: Is this Timecapsule/Hometheater/HDTV Setup Possible?

The best soulution, from my perspective, especially if you bought DRMed content from iTunes is to use an AppleTV.

Another solution is an Airport Express, which has analog and digital out, though it does not have a display or remote control. You can buy a remote from Keyspan called the URM-17A Express Remote that you can plug in to the Airport Express USB port to change tracks, play and pause. The Keyspan Remote will also work with any computer. Airport express can also be made to play sound from any application including web pages and streaming audio players with a program called Airtunes.

A device you might also consider if you have no iTunes purchased content is the Roku Soundbridge. This device only plays audio, but it also has a built-in display and includes a remote control, which the Airport Express lacks. There are other devices that may suit your needs, but the Apple ones are probably easiest to use.

If you want to play absolutely anything, nothing beats an older Mac laptop or a Mac Mini. Being computers, they can be made to play any media you can put on a hard disk, or even live/recorded TV if you buy a tuner from El Gato, the trouble is they ARE computers and the WAF (wife acceptance factor) can be low depending on what and how you play back those files, also, you will need a keyboard and mouse to set them up, the advantage goes to a laptop here because you can use the built-in keyboard and trackpad. An Intel Core Duo or better will work here, as all Core Duo based macs can play back 1080i video fine, though you might need a Core 2 Duo for 1080p. The G4 based Mac mini is fine if you do not have any HD video to play back, but it does not have the ability to use the Apple Remote and you will have a noticeably slower Front Row experience, and OS X in general runs much slower on a PPC G4 than it does on Intel CPUs.
 
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