First I'll tell you what I want to accomplish, I'll tell you what I have, and then I'll tell you what I'm thinking. Then I want your suggestions, of course!
I do a lot of graphic design, photography, and video editing - some of it professionally. I do most of this stuff on PC, but am looking to start doing it on a mac. I currently have a PC laptop, and I need it for my job (I do things that macs are not used for), so thats staying, and I don't really want another laptop to do my edits (do 95% of it at home anyway). I want to setup my home network to be able to play music, ripped movies, DVDs etc on my HDTV either through my mac editing computer or some type of HTPC/mac mini (using FrontRow or the PC equivalent). I have ripped my DVDs in Xvid format because they are so good on PC. I really hate quicktime movies, so I really don't want to convert them just for a mac. If I get both an editing and an HTPC I need to be able to share the iTunes library (is this possible). I have an iPhone to sync up with that library. My PC laptop will also be connecting to whatever the file server is to get/put files.
So I guess what I am asking is what is the best way to do this? I have an Xbox 360 as well that will be attached to this network, but don't really like how it is not synced up with iTunes (so I think I would rather have some kind of HTPC). I was thinking about the 24" iMac with 4GB of ram for the editing computer, but wasnt sure if it would be the best to run with my HDTV for front row. What would be suggested in terms of network storage?
What are your suggestions? You know what I need, now its your turn to be creative! I have advanced tech skillz, so don't worry about me not understanding... haha
I do a lot of graphic design, photography, and video editing - some of it professionally. I do most of this stuff on PC, but am looking to start doing it on a mac. I currently have a PC laptop, and I need it for my job (I do things that macs are not used for), so thats staying, and I don't really want another laptop to do my edits (do 95% of it at home anyway). I want to setup my home network to be able to play music, ripped movies, DVDs etc on my HDTV either through my mac editing computer or some type of HTPC/mac mini (using FrontRow or the PC equivalent). I have ripped my DVDs in Xvid format because they are so good on PC. I really hate quicktime movies, so I really don't want to convert them just for a mac. If I get both an editing and an HTPC I need to be able to share the iTunes library (is this possible). I have an iPhone to sync up with that library. My PC laptop will also be connecting to whatever the file server is to get/put files.
So I guess what I am asking is what is the best way to do this? I have an Xbox 360 as well that will be attached to this network, but don't really like how it is not synced up with iTunes (so I think I would rather have some kind of HTPC). I was thinking about the 24" iMac with 4GB of ram for the editing computer, but wasnt sure if it would be the best to run with my HDTV for front row. What would be suggested in terms of network storage?
What are your suggestions? You know what I need, now its your turn to be creative! I have advanced tech skillz, so don't worry about me not understanding... haha