Looking to have a true wireless media library in the house

[Brian Mage]

Hello,

Hope you guys can help.

After years of having different laptops, ipods etc in different rooms so we can listen to music, watch film etc without having to carry equipment around, I've come to the conclusion that we need to have some form of Wireless storage in the house. My MBA currently has it all on, baring the HD movies which are on an old(ish) sony external enclosure.

What I would like to be able to achieve is to have one V Large HDD hooked into my existing wireless router. This would obviously house all the media. (The MBA will probably also keep the MP3's too.) From this central point i would then like 3 laptops (2 windows, 1 mac), an Ipad 3, 2 iphones and if possible and an Android phone too (this is secondary tho) to be able to play the content via itunes as if it was in the existing library (i.e. stored on the device in question). If at all possible i'd especially like the iPad to be able to get access to all the photos too

I've seen airplay on demonstration in a store, but that was from an iMac which was always on. I don't want to keep the MBA on all the time, solely for battery preservation reasons.

Firstly, is this possible?
Secondly, what equipment would i need?
Then, would i require any additional software? airfoil etc?
Finally, by using the IP address of the router, could i access this content from anywhere in the world? effectively making my own personal dropbox?(I assume this would not work the same as if i was in the room?)

In short, I'm no Tekkie (obvs) but like to learn and get involved

 

[robgendreau]

You need a media server of some sort. It's probably not enough to simply have file storage (a hard drive connected to the router or equivalent), although that would work in the sense that some devices could access a file there. You want something, it seems, that would distribute something like an iTunes library, iPhoto library, etc. That means some computing power, which means either a computer or some sort of home media network drive (IOmega makes one, for example). You probably won't be happy with just a hard drive.

Since you seem to have other computers about, the easiest thing to do is assign one of those to this task. You can still use it for other stuff, and you don't necessarily have to get ML Server or other fancy stuff, you just need to have it available. Good use for an older computer.

 

[Flux.Capacitor]

What I do is I have an old PC always on, connected to the network, with a running iTunes with a large external HD connected to the PC. All my media is loaded onto itunes. I then use the iTunes home sharing and I'm able to view the content on my AppleTV, or devices. I even have photos stored on the HD that I can view thru my ATV. Works pretty well.

 

[drsox]

For Music get a Sonos system running from a NAS.
See : http://www.sonos.com/system

I have a 4 story house with stuff on each floor. All the stuff is wireless linked together and I can hear the same audio all over - in sync, controlled by my iPhone.

For Video get a Media server, also running from the NAS.
I have 3 Netgear NTV550 units, one for each TV. These play all the videos that I have when I want to.

For the NAS, if you have an old PC, then you can turn this into a NAS. If you don't, then there are many brands. Synology is popular among Mac folks - I have Netgear units.

 

[Orlandoech]

Synolpgy NAS. THE END.

It can do all this, makin it easy for you.

 

[Brian Mage]

Thanks guys for your help. So far I seem to have managed to have sorted the music and videos. I had an old laptop that I,ve stripped right back and transferred all the media onto it.

The issue now... How do I get the iPad to see the photos?
If possible I'd like to avoid using photo sync, or photo transfer app. While these seem like great little products, they seem to not really deliver what I want, if it's at all possible. I.e. iPad photo library to show what is on the network drive/laptop

 

[Orlandoech]

http://www.synology.com/dsm/dsm_for_home.php?lang=us

 

[Ifti]

A Synology NAS would solve your problems! Well, in fact any make NAS would, but Synology is the most recommended.

 

[Primejimbo]

What I do is I have an old PC always on, connected to the network, with a running iTunes with a large external HD connected to the PC. All my media is loaded onto itunes. I then use the iTunes home sharing and I'm able to view the content on my AppleTV, or devices. I even have photos stored on the HD that I can view thru my ATV. Works pretty well.

I am doing the same except using a Mac Mini with a 2TB external hard drive holding all the music and movies.