I've spent a lot of time searching this and other forums, but the effort has done more to confuse me than help. I would like to explain what I want to accomplish and hope to get some wise advice from the mavens on this forum.
I have a home theatre setup that works well, and I recently replaced the ATV 3 with the new Apple TV 4 so I could run the Plex app. I also picked up a Mac Mini to use as a media server and am about to set that up. Here's what I want to accomplish:
I would like to rip my DVDs and BluRay disks and store them on the Mini, then use Plex to serve them to the Plex app on the ATV4. I would also like to be able to move my iTunes library off my MacBook Pro and onto the Mini's disk (2TB fusion), but still access it from the MBP. It would also be handy to have the Mini as a file server (NAS) for occasional use, not for time machine backups or anything like that. The file server function would be icing on the cake however, and if it would be difficult to set up or manage, I would skip it.
Do I need to run OS-X server on the Mini? How does this work with El-Capitan? I assume that Server is now part of OX-S instead of a separate OS as it used to be. How do I enable it and can I get away from using it at all?
Although I could connect the Mini up to the TV, it would make more sense to run it headless.
I think the video server part would be fairly straightforward. Install Plex server on the mini according to the directions on the Plex site. The Plex client on the ATV should be able to see it and control it. I'm not sure the best way to set up the video files for Plex, as it is still a bit unclear to me how Plex finds and organizes the files. Does it create a library file that points to the actual media files? Can it refer to the files in an iTunes library or does it need them separate? Does it convert or change them in any way?
The iTunes library relocation is a bit less straightforward, I think. I am assuming that I can essentially move my existing library media files intact to the mini and point iTunes on the MBP to use them. Should the iTunes library file be on the MBP or the Mini? At one time in the past, I attempted to move the library and media files to a NAS but this was disastrous. Almost every time I tried to run iTunes, it said that the library was corrupt and had to be rebuilt. Of course, this never quite fixed things either. I ended up with tons of "corrupt" library files. Of course, this was quite a while ago, and things may work differently nowadays. What is the best way to make the move? What happens if I open iTunes on the MBP when I'm not on the local network and it can't find the library or media files? Can Plex grab the movies out of iTunes or does it need separate copies. If separate copies are needed, what is the best way to move them. (I wouldn't need them on iTunes anymore) How do I handle the occasional movie that I purchase from the Apple store? I can download a copy to iTunes, but can it then be moved or made available to Plex?
Would moving the iTunes stuff to the Mini work for music, movies, and things like iPhone backups? Where are the backups stored, and are they treated as part of the iTunes media library? I would like to offload all the music, home videos, BR and DVD rips, iTunes U, iPhone/iPad backups, and other junk to the mini.
If the mini were set up as a file server, can it use the internal hard disk or do I need to attach an external drive? Apple support docs seem to indicate that it needs an external drive, but I can't imagine why.
What is the best way to control the headless mini? My hope is that it would run pretty much without attention, but occasionally would need some management. Can I use my MBP or iPad as a remote screen/keyboard? What software is needed to do this? I might want to put the BluRay reader on the Mini and move the ripping operating to the Mini to free up my MBP while ripping.
What do you recommend as a backup strategy? I suppose that I could run Time Machine and back up to a NAS, although the amount of storage for that would be quite high. I don't really need full incremental backups -- a full copy every couple of months would be OK. Losing a few months worth of rips would not be the end of the world.
I will probably rip the disks to .mkv using MakeMKV. This would seem to be the simplest way to preserve video quality and some of the features such as subtitles. I believe that Plex can recode/transcode/demux/remux or whatever is needed from a plain vanilla .mkv out of MakeMKV. The whole business of containers and codecs is extremely confusing! I expect that .mkv's may not be the most efficient use of storage, but I can live with that in order to simplify life until I understand what I'm doing a bit better.
Any other advice? Anything that I missed or overlooked?
It's a lot of questions and clearly I'm quite the video idiot, so I appreciate your patience and indulgence.
Thanks.
I have a home theatre setup that works well, and I recently replaced the ATV 3 with the new Apple TV 4 so I could run the Plex app. I also picked up a Mac Mini to use as a media server and am about to set that up. Here's what I want to accomplish:
I would like to rip my DVDs and BluRay disks and store them on the Mini, then use Plex to serve them to the Plex app on the ATV4. I would also like to be able to move my iTunes library off my MacBook Pro and onto the Mini's disk (2TB fusion), but still access it from the MBP. It would also be handy to have the Mini as a file server (NAS) for occasional use, not for time machine backups or anything like that. The file server function would be icing on the cake however, and if it would be difficult to set up or manage, I would skip it.
Do I need to run OS-X server on the Mini? How does this work with El-Capitan? I assume that Server is now part of OX-S instead of a separate OS as it used to be. How do I enable it and can I get away from using it at all?
Although I could connect the Mini up to the TV, it would make more sense to run it headless.
I think the video server part would be fairly straightforward. Install Plex server on the mini according to the directions on the Plex site. The Plex client on the ATV should be able to see it and control it. I'm not sure the best way to set up the video files for Plex, as it is still a bit unclear to me how Plex finds and organizes the files. Does it create a library file that points to the actual media files? Can it refer to the files in an iTunes library or does it need them separate? Does it convert or change them in any way?
The iTunes library relocation is a bit less straightforward, I think. I am assuming that I can essentially move my existing library media files intact to the mini and point iTunes on the MBP to use them. Should the iTunes library file be on the MBP or the Mini? At one time in the past, I attempted to move the library and media files to a NAS but this was disastrous. Almost every time I tried to run iTunes, it said that the library was corrupt and had to be rebuilt. Of course, this never quite fixed things either. I ended up with tons of "corrupt" library files. Of course, this was quite a while ago, and things may work differently nowadays. What is the best way to make the move? What happens if I open iTunes on the MBP when I'm not on the local network and it can't find the library or media files? Can Plex grab the movies out of iTunes or does it need separate copies. If separate copies are needed, what is the best way to move them. (I wouldn't need them on iTunes anymore) How do I handle the occasional movie that I purchase from the Apple store? I can download a copy to iTunes, but can it then be moved or made available to Plex?
Would moving the iTunes stuff to the Mini work for music, movies, and things like iPhone backups? Where are the backups stored, and are they treated as part of the iTunes media library? I would like to offload all the music, home videos, BR and DVD rips, iTunes U, iPhone/iPad backups, and other junk to the mini.
If the mini were set up as a file server, can it use the internal hard disk or do I need to attach an external drive? Apple support docs seem to indicate that it needs an external drive, but I can't imagine why.
What is the best way to control the headless mini? My hope is that it would run pretty much without attention, but occasionally would need some management. Can I use my MBP or iPad as a remote screen/keyboard? What software is needed to do this? I might want to put the BluRay reader on the Mini and move the ripping operating to the Mini to free up my MBP while ripping.
What do you recommend as a backup strategy? I suppose that I could run Time Machine and back up to a NAS, although the amount of storage for that would be quite high. I don't really need full incremental backups -- a full copy every couple of months would be OK. Losing a few months worth of rips would not be the end of the world.
I will probably rip the disks to .mkv using MakeMKV. This would seem to be the simplest way to preserve video quality and some of the features such as subtitles. I believe that Plex can recode/transcode/demux/remux or whatever is needed from a plain vanilla .mkv out of MakeMKV. The whole business of containers and codecs is extremely confusing! I expect that .mkv's may not be the most efficient use of storage, but I can live with that in order to simplify life until I understand what I'm doing a bit better.
Any other advice? Anything that I missed or overlooked?
It's a lot of questions and clearly I'm quite the video idiot, so I appreciate your patience and indulgence.
Thanks.