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What is everyone using to host library now?

Mac Mini 2012 upgraded to 750GB SSD, 16gb of RAM running OSX 10.11.5 and iTunes, with a 5TB USB 3.0 Hard Drive attached.

Got two of this setup one at my house and one at my parents house, with RSYNC mirroring over night.

Runs flawlessly and I share the iTunes library over http so I can play remotely works a dream.
 
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-A newly built PC:
  • i7 6700K
  • 32GB 3400 RAM
  • 24TB HDD's in mirrored "Windows Storage Space" mode
-Plex Media Server
-250Mbps cable internet
 
A 2011 headless Mac Mini running Plex and iTunes, media is stored on a 4-bay 2nd Gen Drobo connected via Firewire (anyone remember this?). I used to use only iTunes and Home Sharing but after I got the ATV 4 I switched all my movies and TV shows to Plex. What a difference! Apple should be ashamed of their Home Sharing app, the interface has not been updated at all.

I still keep all my music in iTunes though as I listen to it via Airplay (controlled with the Remote app on my iPad). That works fine since I don't want to turn on my projector to listen to music. My iTunes movie purchases have all been made DRM-free and now also reside in Plex. It's really quite simple if you keep an old Snow Leopard partition around.

And although I love the Plex interface for browsing I do have Infuse as well, for the BD rips that I want to listen to in DTS-HD Master Audio. I don't have any problems with the audio quality that way, it just outputs it as PCM multichannel. But since a lot of my movies are Dolby Digital or even Mono (I love the classics) I don't have to bother with the inferior Infuse interface that often.

This setup works like a dream (everything is hard-wired) and is the best I ever had. I just wish I would've tried Plex earlier. I've been through so many "solutions" like Home Sharing, XBMC, Boxee, PS3 Media Server etc. and they all had their fair share of problems. Wonder what took me so long...
 
Late-2013 27" iMac (32Gb RAM; Intel Core i5; macOS Sierra 10.12) running iTunes 12.5.1.21 with Home Sharing to two TV3 & one TV4.
iTunes Library is distributed across two 12TB RAID arrays (18TB total available after redundancy) of 4 bay Mediasonic eSATA/USB 3.0 RAID enclosures (8 HDD total). RAID arrays are attached to iMac via USB 3.0 to Thunderbolt dock giving data transfer speeds approx. 6.5-8gbps. iMac and TV4 both ethernet connected in same large office/bedroom; 2 TV3 units are connected via wifi (5GHz ac beamforming). iMac and RAIDS powered on 24/7 (display usually set to sleep mode; all connected hard drives set to never sleep/spin down until iMac powers down). 3.5" HDD units are very affordable for 3-5 or 6TB capacities and hardware RAID array enclosures are like-wise in the cost department (each unit was $170 each = $340; eight 4TB HDD @ $80 each = $640; total cost for 18TB storage = $980 and the RAID enclosures were set up in about 15 minutes each and are hot swappable). I've been running this set up for almost 3 years and no issues with the enclosures, HDDs (but they are easily changed out if any of them takes a dirt nap and only takes about 40 hours to rebuild a full 12TB array with nothing but a disk swap out by you - so no effort or real knowledge needed and no stress or hours spent trying to re-download or restore files by hand). I started the setup with having the RAID arrays running off a 7 port USB 3.0 hub and even without the extra speed bump afforded by the Thunderbolt dock, media files of all types were served to all three TV units with little to no delays. I also run 2 4bay 3.5" HDD enclosures (software 4 disk 2TB RAID array setup on one for my Time Machine; other enclosure has 4 HDD units of varying sizes for work files) and a 3TB 3.5" HDD external drive as a bootable backup on the 7 port USB hub. Haven't had cable tv in my house for 7 years now and I don't miss it at all! With all the new shows and movies in killer definition, I plan to get another 4 bay RAID array enclosure and 6-8TB drives and go another 3 years just upgrading the TV units and/or TV displays.
Peach
 
rlu929s said:
Are you ever worried that the movies will vanish and not be available for streaming anymore? More than likely not, but just curious. Too bad they don't offer and iTunes Video Match service.

I used to be worried about a bandwidth cap, so that's why I downloaded. But my internet service just recently went to unlimited data if I get the 150MB down plan. Just $10 more per month.
Click to expand...
That is one of the reasons I chose Apple. Setting aside the fact that they're one of the only services that lets you download the movies on PC, they are sitting on a mountain of financial resources. In my opinion they are the least likely to leave their customers SOL. Even if it's a studio license issue, Apple's customer service record is pretty remarkable.
 
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Eat A Peach said:
Late-2013 27" iMac (32Gb RAM; Intel Core i5; macOS Sierra 10.12) running iTunes 12.5.1.21 with Home Sharing to two TV3 & one TV4.
iTunes Library is distributed across two 12TB RAID arrays (18TB total available after redundancy) of 4 bay Mediasonic eSATA/USB 3.0 RAID enclosures (8 HDD total). RAID arrays are attached to iMac via USB 3.0 to Thunderbolt dock giving data transfer speeds approx. 6.5-8gbps. iMac and TV4 both ethernet connected in same large office/bedroom; 2 TV3 units are connected via wifi (5GHz ac beamforming). iMac and RAIDS powered on 24/7 (display usually set to sleep mode; all connected hard drives set to never sleep/spin down until iMac powers down). 3.5" HDD units are very affordable for 3-5 or 6TB capacities and hardware RAID array enclosures are like-wise in the cost department (each unit was $170 each = $340; eight 4TB HDD @ $80 each = $640; total cost for 18TB storage = $980 and the RAID enclosures were set up in about 15 minutes each and are hot swappable). I've been running this set up for almost 3 years and no issues with the enclosures, HDDs (but they are easily changed out if any of them takes a dirt nap and only takes about 40 hours to rebuild a full 12TB array with nothing but a disk swap out by you - so no effort or real knowledge needed and no stress or hours spent trying to re-download or restore files by hand). I started the setup with having the RAID arrays running off a 7 port USB 3.0 hub and even without the extra speed bump afforded by the Thunderbolt dock, media files of all types were served to all three TV units with little to no delays. I also run 2 4bay 3.5" HDD enclosures (software 4 disk 2TB RAID array setup on one for my Time Machine; other enclosure has 4 HDD units of varying sizes for work files) and a 3TB 3.5" HDD external drive as a bootable backup on the 7 port USB hub. Haven't had cable tv in my house for 7 years now and I don't miss it at all! With all the new shows and movies in killer definition, I plan to get another 4 bay RAID array enclosure and 6-8TB drives and go another 3 years just upgrading the TV units and/or TV displays.
Peach
Click to expand...
Wow - how about formatting this so people can actually read it.
 
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JackieInCo said:
I do this. Every week I buy a few movies on iTunes and I decided last year that I would no longer spend money on storage to download and store movies and TV shows.

At one time, I had six HDs connected to my MBP. It was ridiculous. Even went with a 2008 Mac Pro back then just for the ability to put four drives in that. Gave up on that after a year and sold the MP.
Click to expand...

Totally. Same here. I've already gotten all my photos, home videos and music into the cloud (Google). My last big conversion is getting all my movies into iCloud. I check sales daily and swap out my own rips as I can. I'm about 50% rips/iTunes so far. When I get to around 70% I'll probably just call it good and finally be able to shut down the media/file server. I didn't mind managing all that when I was a bit younger without kids and had plenty of free time.
 
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fhall1 said:
Wow - how about formatting this so people can actually read it.
Click to expand...
Wow!⬅︎is a punctuation mark called an exclamation point and is used after an exclamatory remark.
How about you learn how to use punctuation before you piss on someone's stuff? ⬅︎is a punctuation mark called a question mark and it is used at the end of an interrogatory.

People in glass houses should learn to stop leaving rocks where other people can throw them back.
Peach
 
I use my 2012 quad i7 Mac mini for my media server. My current setup is:
1 older 1.5TB HDD connected via Firewire for Time Machine backups of my internal 1TB HDD
1 USB3 4TB HDD for my iTunes Library
1 USB3 4TB HDD for nightly CarbonCopyCloner backups of my iTunes Library drive
1 USB3 4TB HDD left disconnected for occasional manual CCC backups of my iTunes drive

The Mac mini and 3 external drives run 24/7 connected to a CyberPower UPS system.
I've been pretty happy with the setup so far, over 2.5 years old now.

I have tried Plex, and I plan to eventually switch my movies/tv shows to that. Homesharing the iTunes library works fine for my Apple TV 3 but it's crap on my iPads - taking 15+ minutes to load the library, if at all. Plex works right away. I do use Plex periodically for some things and have setup PlexConnect to get Plex on the ATV3 which works fairly well. I might eventually get a Roku or newer ATV so I don't have to worry about the PlexConnect workaround though.

Now I'm trying to plan for the future. I've been going through my media library and downsizing things I've already watched and likely won't ever watch again, or deleting things I never was really interested in to begin with. I've made some progress so far: library started out @ 3.6TB's now it's down to just above 2TB's. I was thinking of replacing drives in my Mac mini - a SSD for the OS and a 2TB drive for media - now I'm thinking if I can get my library smaller I might only swap in an SSD for the OS and keep the library on the internal 1TB HDD.

Eventually what I'm thinking I want to do is move to a laptop and be done with desktops entirely. I'm getting tired of the clutter required for a desktop: external hard drives, UPS system, mice, keyboard, monitor (I use a TV for my mini so that's not so bad), and all the space all of that takes up. My media server has sort of become obsolete as I've taken to just streaming from Netflix most of the time. I could probably get away with a 512GB MacBook of some sort with some room to spare if I only kept the "essentials" in my media library.
 
itsOver9000 said:
Homesharing the iTunes library works fine for my Apple TV 3 but it's crap on my iPads - taking 15+ minutes to load the library, if at all.
Click to expand...
For what it's worth the library seems to come up much faster between Sierra and iOS10. Not sure if it was an isolated case on my end or if there was a real improvement made. I've got the same setup as you (2012 quad i7, iTunes on external HD).
 
I'm sure a quad i7 mini works great… seems a bit like overkill just for iTunes though, isn't it? I use a base 2014 i5 4gb mini with the original slow 500gb HD, library is on a fast USB3 3TB disk. Works fine, don't see any need for a SSD, that would make it boot and load iTunes faster, but the machine runs 24/7 and goes months without a reboot. And I don't see where an i7 or additional cores would help. But I do envy you for having a 2012 quad i7 mini, wish they still made those, would be better for video editing than my other 2012 i5 mini. :)

Regarding home sharing with iOS devices, it was tediously slow on my iPhone 5s but my iPhone 6s Plus is quite responsive. I think this is due to the 802.11ac wifi which is so much faster.
 
iTunes library resides on Mac Mini internal 1TB SSD (just installed). This is backed up to external 2TB My Book Studio WD drive partitioned as 1TB for Time Machine and 1TB for SmartWare (taking duplicate backups). Kind of similar to OP's configuration.
 
I have my movies & tv shows on a Western Digital My Cloud EX2 with 4 tb. The media streams to my ATV4 via Infuse Pro on the main tv as well as 3 Roku's in the bedrooms. My wife & I can also watch on our iPads when we are on our screened porch.
 
fhall1 said:
How do you get them from the WD drive to the Rokus?
Click to expand...

The WD My Cloud is a nas that streams directly to the Roku's via the network. Alternately you could use a usb external hard drive that is connected to a router (that has a usb port).
 
Understood - I have a 4TB Synology NAS and a 16TB Seagate NAS at home and use Infuse and MrMC to feed my Apple TV, but how are you getting the files to the Roku - via Plex? If so, where is your Plex server running? If not Plex, how else are you doing it?
 
rlu929s said:
Looking for example of your setups in regards to how you are hosting your iTunes Library? My setup has been a 2TB SATA drive on my desktop Windows 10 PC that I then backup to a 3TB External HDD. My Desktop has been freezing lately, so I'm looking to replace.

I have the option to hookup wired or wireless...will shoot for wired.

Do I replaced desktop, which I use to work off of. For work use I just need something decently fast, but no bells and whistles.

Should I look at a NAS and migrate toward INFUSE?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
My library sits on my Synology DS716+ Nas. All my movies/TV shows sit on there too, and I use Infuse on Apple TV to play these files. Did not like Plex at all. Infuse is by far superior, and version 5 will be released on Monday.
 
fhall1 said:
Understood - I have a 4TB Synology NAS and a 16TB Seagate NAS at home and use Infuse and MrMC to feed my Apple TV, but how are you getting the files to the Roku - via Plex? If so, where is your Plex server running? If not Plex, how else are you doing it?
Click to expand...

I use "Roku Media Player". It is very basic and nothing at all like Infuse, but it does work. You can find it in Roku channel store. I also tried Plex on my ATV but find that I like Infuse better.
 
I was hoping you didn't say Plex because I don't want to always have a Plex server running somewhere. I like the way Infuse and MrMC can just find the files and play them. I'll have to look into the Roku media player and see if it'll play the formats I need.
 
I finished upgrading my Mac mini last weekend. I swapped out the 1TB HDD and migrated the OS to an SSD and also installed a 2TB HDD for my media. I'm now using Plex for movies and tv shows and iTunes just for music. I reconfigured my external hard drives - I now use 2 for rotating Time Machine backups and 2 for manually run clones of the 2TB data HDD. I only keep 1 TM drive connected all the time so I have a little less clutter and a lot less noise! (only the 1 external drive that I let power down instead of 3 or 4 running all the time).

I might see if I can order a Roku 3 from BestBuy during the Black Friday sales, looks like they'll have the best price ($50), to see if I like it enough to replace my Apple TV 3.
 
Great Thread all.

I am hoping you all can help me with some questions i have.

I think i understand what i need to do but i wanted to check with you all.

I have a 2008 Mac Pro it has 6TB of storage and it is almost all full of movies and TV shows. I currently have the MP connected to my TV and play stuff through Kodi which works but i would like to use something a tad simpler for the family by using a Apple TV 4. I can just upload or rip new content onto the drives and it will play to the ATV.
I am wondering how to stream the media to the ATV though.

What is the best thing to do with my current setup? Do i use plex / Infuse? Do i try to figure out how to connect a external array to my wifi? I would prefer just connect my MP to the ATV and stream that way, but how is the best to go about that? DO i use ethernet cable or??

Basically i am looking for a work flow of how to do this.

Thank you all for any help with this. I really appreciate it.
 
Nitro1 said:
Great Thread all.

I am hoping you all can help me with some questions i have.

I think i understand what i need to do but i wanted to check with you all.

I have a 2008 Mac Pro it has 6TB of storage and it is almost all full of movies and TV shows. I currently have the MP connected to my TV and play stuff through Kodi which works but i would like to use something a tad simpler for the family by using a Apple TV 4. I can just upload or rip new content onto the drives and it will play to the ATV.
I am wondering how to stream the media to the ATV though.

What is the best thing to do with my current setup? Do i use plex / Infuse? Do i try to figure out how to connect a external array to my wifi? I would prefer just connect my MP to the ATV and stream that way, but how is the best to go about that? DO i use ethernet cable or??

Basically i am looking for a work flow of how to do this.

Thank you all for any help with this. I really appreciate it.
Click to expand...

I can't comment on Infuse or Kodi as I haven't used them. Plex is really easy to setup. On your Mac install Plex Media Server and point it to the different folders that hold your Movies, TV Shows, Home Videos, etc. Install the Plex app on your Apple TV 4, sign in to your Plex server, and all your media is there. Your Mac and Apple TV need to be on the same network - either hardwired with ethernet (preferable) or over Wi-Fi. When adding or deleting media from your folders you need to update the Plex library - either manually or change the settings to have Plex update automatically when changes are detected, or every hour, day, etc.
 
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itsOver9000 said:
I can't comment on Infuse or Kodi as I haven't used them. Plex is really easy to setup. On your Mac install Plex Media Server and point it to the different folders that hold your Movies, TV Shows, Home Videos, etc. Install the Plex app on your Apple TV 4, sign in to your Plex server, and all your media is there. Your Mac and Apple TV need to be on the same network - either hardwired with ethernet (preferable) or over Wi-Fi. When adding or deleting media from your folders you need to update the Plex library - either manually or change the settings to have Plex update automatically when changes are detected, or every hour, day, etc.
Click to expand...


Thank you for the info. After many more hours of research I think I got it all figured out.

Is it possible to just connect my mac to the Apple TV over Ethernet and have it work somehow that way??

Thank you
 
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