ATV Plex Client vs Airplay Mirroring

[mopatops]

I'm looking to digitalize my parents DVD collection ready for the summer when I'm planning on buying them a Mac Mini along with an Apple TV in order to use the Plex client on the jailbroken ATV or Airplay Mirroring from the Mini to the ATV.

The question is:

Assuming I'm ripping using the ATV2 preset on handbrake, will the picture quality vary between Airplay Mirroring and the native Plex Client? As far as I understand, mirroring requires the Mini to encode on the fly but I don't know if this would affect quality?


Also, if it's better use Airplay, is there any reason to rip using settings other than the ATV2 preset?

 

[d21mike]

I can't directly answer your question but based on what you want to do, why do you want to use either Plex or Airplay, and no need to Jailbreak.

I converted 180 DVD's and I use iTunes to serve them from my Mac Mini "directly" to my AppleTV. They show up under "Computer" on the Apple TV Menu.

 

[mopatops]

I can't say I've used iTunes as the media server before but I like the Plex interface and it's ability to pull all the metadata/synopsis etc down from IMDB. Does iTunes make a decent media server?

Thanks for your reply.

 

[d21mike]

Works well for me. However, I added all of the META Data to the files with another program (not sure which one now). I did this a few years ago. I have decided to no longer do this. I found that of the 180 movies I only watch about 10-15 on a regular basis and mostly while traveling. I have since re-purchased a number of my movies from iTunes in the HD Format. I can then re-download to my other devices as needed. That just works better for me now.

Good Luck. It does take a lot of time and disk space.

 

[mopatops]

Yeah, the plan is to put them all on to an external drive connected to the Mac Mini which is then set to wake for network access. The ATV and and any future iPads/Macbooks etc I convince them to buy p) can all stream from the Mini. I was also hoping to take a look at Plex's remote access feature in order to consolidate mine and my parents DVD libraries.

 

[CocoaPuffs]

Consider purchasing a wireless router that supports external hard drive, and along with a jailbroken ATV2 with XBMC, together they can pretty much accomplish the same thing at less than half of cost of Mac mini.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003B48UQ8 is a workable solution.

 

[mopatops]

Thanks for the suggestion but the Mini is also going to be their main computer. Their current windows PC is getting rather long in the tooth!