Apple TV 3 and Home Theater Options

[johnowenrichard]

I have had a iMac and a Macbook for years, and recently upgraded to an iPhone. Playing audio and video has always been a bit of a hassle in the house, my Blu Ray DVD player had a USB socket and I have been using that. It only plays DivX and Xvid though.

So I went out and bought Apple TV, but only just discovered the new one hasn't been jailbroken yet. So I was wondering whats my best option now with my setup?
1. I either have to convert my entire library to work in iTunes to stream over airplay.
2. Use AirParrot and use a my laptop to play the video at the same time.
3. Some other method I haven't though of? I have a router with a network drive that stores all my audio and video currently. But I don't think Apple TV can make use of that.

Would love to have some guidance! Thanks

 

[zhenya]

I would suggest that you use something like Air Video or Plex on your iMac. The video files can then be stored anywhere the iMac can see them, and you point the server running on the iMac at those video folders. install the app on your iPhone, then navigate to the video you want to watch, choose play with live conversion, and then send it to the AppleTV with AirPlay. I've been using this method with Air Video for as long as its been available and it works great. Any file type plays instantly in great quality.

You might lose fancy audio formats with this method, but I'm not sure since I usually am watching tv shows, not movies.