How well would this work? Airport Extreme- MacMini

[Cinab1mt]

Possibly in the market for a MacMini but was wondering how well it would work if I streamed video files, mostly .avi files from an external HD connected to my Airport Extreme. Does processor speed matter, or is more important to have a good wifi/internet connection?

I was going to buy a MINI and then upgrade the HD/RAM, but if I can get away with getting a base model and simply stream videos and other files from the drives that I have shared over the network, it would certainly save me a ton of money.

Has anyone tried this? Is it possible? Any advice would be great!

Cheers

 

[Cinab1mt]

Anyone.....anyone?

 

[mulo]

easy

 

[Cinab1mt]

Does hardware on the MAC mini make a difference here? I am trying to get as much info has possible...

 

[EvilC5]

I cant speak specifically for the mini, but streaming from an external connected to the AEBS works ok streaming, but adding anything to it is SLOW. I researched it and found the the I/O speed on the AEBS is limited by the limited processor power thats in the AEBS.

I have my mini wired to my AEBS and stream to 3 different apple tv's and soon to be a 4th. probably allot easier to hook externals to the mini and stream to the 99 dollar apple tv....just my opinion.

 

[Cinab1mt]

Wired via ethernet? USB?

 

[speedwaygirl]

I'm guessing that it has something to do with the way my 100+ year old house is built, but I didn't have luck streaming with the AEBS. I had lots of stuttering video and finally gave in and strung cable around the house. Now everything works great. The AEBS works great for me for our laptops on the internet, but not for streaming video around the house (we have XBox 360, PS3, a WD Live Plus, and the Mac Mini-all stuttered streaming video and music wirelessly).

Again, YMMV, as this is a very old house and I was warned that they can be tougher to stream through.

Another thing to mention is that a lot of the video I have is HD, but even the AVI and MP4 videos were stuttering. The only one not stuttering initially was the XBox360 that was using an Airport Express as a bridge.