Ethernet to link two macs?

[aaronthomas]

Happy holidays all! Have a question Im hoping one of you could answer. I just remodeled a home and long story short.... the Home Theater Expert told me to run the wrong lines in the wall! No idea how that even happened. What I would like to know is.... Can I use an ethernet line from my Time Cap Router to my new Mac Mini in order to link my Mac Pro with the Mac Mini to axcess the movies on my externals? I made a diagram that I hope explains it better.

 

[Matthew Yohe]

Yes.

Also, what lines did you run in the walls that are the "wrong" kind?

 

[aaronthomas]

Yes.

Also, what lines did you run in the walls that are the "wrong" kind?

Hi Matthew!
I told the guy I wanted to watch the movies on my computer on my living room tv.... He told me to run 3 cat 6 wires.... which I guess are not the really the wrong wires.... but finding out now I could have run an HDMI line from Mac Mini to tv (Mac Pro Has no hdmi out).

How do I do it?

 

[aaronthomas]

I tryed to enable file sharing but cant seem to get it to work....http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh914.html

 

[DoFoT9]

oh - i see what you are trying to do here. you would like to display the MacPro screen on the TV?

this would work, but its not optimal in my opinion. the electrician was correct in his guidance. you setup sharing from your MacPro - then connect to the shares from your MacMini. the MacMini then plays the movies from the MacPro and sends them to the TV screen.

so first, setup screen sharing. "Get Info" on the individual mybook drives and tick the "Shared Folder" tick box on all of them.

next, connect to the Mac Pro FROM the MacMini - the shares will come up.

from there, you open the movie with an appropriate video player (VLC, QuickTime, Plex, etc).

 

[aaronthomas]

oh - i see what you are trying to do here. you would like to display the MacPro screen on the TV?

this would work, but its not optimal in my opinion. the electrician was correct in his guidance. you setup sharing from your MacPro - then connect to the shares from your MacMini. the MacMini then plays the movies from the MacPro and sends them to the TV screen.

so first, setup screen sharing. "Get Info" on the individual mybook drives and tick the "Shared Folder" tick box on all of them.

next, connect to the Mac Pro FROM the MacMini - the shares will come up.

from there, you open the movie with an appropriate video player (VLC, QuickTime, Plex, etc).

Im not sure I want to access the Mac Pro Screen as much as I would like to access the info on the externals....
IYO what would be the most optimal way to do this? Thanks for your help

 

[DoFoT9]

Im not sure I want to access the Mac Pro Screen as much as I would like to access the info on the externals....
IYO what would be the most optimal way to do this? Thanks for your help

the most optimal way to do this is to follow the instructions i posted in my previous post you will need to setup sharing on the mac pro to share the drives, then access the files from your Mac Mini.

 

[aaronthomas]

the most optimal way to do this is to follow the instructions i posted in my previous post you will need to setup sharing on the mac pro to share the drives, then access the files from your Mac Mini.

OOPS.... LOL! Thanks.... Will this mess with the quality much? How about if I use Front Row... Can I access my movie folders on my Mac Pro?

 

[DoFoT9]

OOPS.... LOL! Thanks.... Will this mess with the quality much?

haha. it will not mess with the quality one tiny bit.

 

[aaronthomas]

haha. it will not mess with the quality one tiny bit.

SO excited! OK last question! Promise lol
Will I be able to access Front Row on my mac pro and use it on the mac mini? I use Front Row and link TS folders from external drives....
THANKSSSS

 

[DoFoT9]

SO excited! OK last question! Promise lol
I will I be able to access Front Row on my mac pro and use it on the mac mini?
THANKSSSS

if your movies/tv shows/etc are in iTunes on your Mac Pro - YES!

if not, then no, you will have to either put them into your Mac Pro iTunes library or connect in an alternate method.

 

[aaronthomas]

if your movies/tv shows/etc are in iTunes on your Mac Pro - YES!

if not, then no, you will have to either put them into your Mac Pro iTunes library or connect in an alternate method.

NUTS!!!!
Thanks for the info!

 

[DoFoT9]

NUTS!!!!
Thanks for the info!

no problems, feel free to ask any further questions

 

[aaronthomas]

Ok then.... I lied.... If I put an HDMI card in my mac pro..... I could just use an HDMI cable directly from the Mac Pro To the TV? Its about a 60foot run.

 

[DoFoT9]

Ok then.... I lied.... If I put an HDMI card in my mac pro..... I could just use an HDMI cable directly from the Mac Pro To the TV? Its about a 60foot run.

the max length of a HDMI cable is 49ft. im not sure if you can get extension cables

 

[gtmac]

the max length of a HDMI cable is 49ft. im not sure if you can get extension cables

True but you could use an extender.

You can use two of those cat6 cables and have HDMI on each end.

 

[DoFoT9]

True but you could use an extender.

You can use two of those cat6 cables and have HDMI on each end.

thats a great idea that would allow +100ft if you wanted, thats a possible solution

 

[Omne666]

OK...Im in pain now. Guys...isnt what your describing hard work? He's got the network in place.

Share the externals from the Mac Pro, hook into them from the mini, drag them (the movies etc) into your movies folder on the mini as shortcuts/alias', and boom boom, front row on the mini has them.

Im actually doing this with a mini to a mini setup until I can replace my bedroom projector with a TV that slides out from under the bed, because I hate front row compared to the apple TV interface, and the projector doesn't support HDMI. Already have an atv1 waiting to go.

 

[DoFoT9]

OK...Im in pain now. Guys...isnt what your describing hard work? He's got the network in place.

Share the externals from the Mac Pro, hook into them from the mini, drag them (the movies etc) into your movies folder on the mini as shortcuts/alias', and boom boom, front row on the mini has them.

Im actually doing this with a mini to a mini setup until I can replace my bedroom projector with a TV that slides out from under the bed, because I hate front row compared to the apple TV interface, and the projector doesn't support HDMI. Already have an atv1 waiting to go.

copying/aliasing them into the movies folder should be ok from what i can imagine. i dont see any problems with that, provided they are in a compatible format (h264/mpeg4 etc and not avi).

 

[gtmac]

thats a great idea that would allow +100ft if you wanted, thats a possible solution

Thanks only piggybacking off of you. Since there are three Ethernet cables run I assume that his electrician may have had something like that in mind.

To the question of this being difficult. Since the cables are run this is almost plug and play if he puts the HDMI card in the pro.

Just search "HDMI Ethernet extender" on amazon to see how many easy products there are.

 

[aaronthomas]

WOW... Ok so If I put an HDMI out in my Mac Pro and use the HDMI Ethernet extender.... I actually could just nix the mac mini all together? The electrician told me I would need to buy baluns (sp?) and a couple of converters... cost around $1200. Thats why I got the mac mini.... Figured I could just put that in the closet. As i mentioned the My Books contain all the ts folders which are aliased in my movie folder. I would love to by pass the mac mini all together if possible!!!

 

[aaronthomas]

OK...Im in pain now. Guys...isnt what your describing hard work? He's got the network in place.

Share the externals from the Mac Pro, hook into them from the mini, drag them (the movies etc) into your movies folder on the mini as shortcuts/alias', and boom boom, front row on the mini has them.

Im actually doing this with a mini to a mini setup until I can replace my bedroom projector with a TV that slides out from under the bed, because I hate front row compared to the apple TV interface, and the projector doesn't support HDMI. Already have an atv1 waiting to go.

Second option... If I put the Alias of the movies on the mac mini.... do the externals have to be connected directly to the mini... or will it pull the movie using front row directly for the externals in the other room on the pro?

 

[gnasher729]

the max length of a HDMI cable is 49ft. im not sure if you can get extension cables

49 feet is the longest _certified_ length of an HDMI cable. That means if you have the worst possible HDMI connector on your computer, that is just barely good enough to qualify for the HDMI standard, and then add 49 feet of this top quality cable, and then have the worst possible HDMI connector on your TV, that is again just barely good enough to qualify for the HDMI standard, then it will work. If your connectors on the Mac and on the TV are better than the worst that HDMI allows, then the same cable will work over a greater distance. For example, eighty feet of this cable would not meet the HDMI quality specs anymore, but if the connectors on both ends are good, it can still work.

 

[GoodWrites]

Alternative Solution

Have you considered HomeSharing? I use iTunes to manage my movies on my external hard drives. I use "referenced" movies in iTunes by unchecking the "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to my library".

Now, all of my movies remain on my external hard drives that are connected to my iMac. I then enable HomeSharing on my iMac and my MacMini over the wireless network.

I enable HomeSharing on the MacMini and have it share the HomeShare from the iMac and WALLA!, the MacMini can see all the movies in the iTunes on my iMac.

I still connect my iMac to the ethernet port on my TimeCapsule for speed in surfing, but I think the HomeSharing requires wireless connectivity.

This method works beautifully for my purposes, especially now that I have also added an AppleTV to one of my TVs.

Oh. The MacMini is basically a home theater PC connected to my primary HDTV.

Best.

 

[aaronthomas]

49 feet is the longest _certified_ length of an HDMI cable. That means if you have the worst possible HDMI connector on your computer, that is just barely good enough to qualify for the HDMI standard, and then add 49 feet of this top quality cable, and then have the worst possible HDMI connector on your TV, that is again just barely good enough to qualify for the HDMI standard, then it will work. If your connectors on the Mac and on the TV are better than the worst that HDMI allows, then the same cable will work over a greater distance. For example, eighty feet of this cable would not meet the HDMI quality specs anymore, but if the connectors on both ends are good, it can still work.

But what about using the Cat5.... that should work with longer lengths?