Can the AppleTV do this?

[ftaok]

Hi,

I'm about to pull the trigger on the new Apple TV and I wanted to get a feel for how it'll work.

I realize that streaming local content will be through iTunes, so I'll put all of my DVD rips on a spare Dell laptop in the basement. That's no problem.

I want to know if the aTV will stream photos from a Macbook's iPhoto library and home movies from an iMovie library. In these situations, I will have the Macbook turned on. Or do I need to have iTunes stream the photos and home movies?

Are there issues with having the AppleTV "connected" to many computers (Macs and PCs) at once?

Thanks.

 

[dXTC]

Yes for photos in your MacBook's iPhoto library, as well as selected picture folders on a PC; iTunes for Windows allows the user to select the folders. iPhoto libraries can be selected and browsed by Events, as expected.
I'm afraid, however, that the answer is No for iMovie library movies. You'll have to import them into iTunes before tv can show them. (Anyone else can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.)

There are absolutely no problems with multiple iTunes sources. My wife's PC and my iMac are simultaneously accessible. I'm thinking about repurposing an old Toshiba laptop with an external drive as an always-on iTunes server myself.

You won't regret it. I really like my tv. The YouTube client is very neat; most importantly, it gets rid of those annoying pop-up banner ads that normally cover the lower third of the video clip when viewed on a computer.