If I wanted to do whats laid out here: http://osxdaily.com/2010/03/22/how-...-media-center-server-and-remote-torrents-box/ would it be best to get the server edition mac mini or the normal one?
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If I Wanted to Do This.....
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Looks like either will work. The article says "the newer the better" which means the quad core model will work best, the only difference aside from hardware being OS X Lion Server.
What is the difference between Lion server and the normal Lion? I mostly want this to stream movies from my house when Im at school or at a friends, etc. Am I able to hook up an external hard drive for the streaming also?
What is the difference between Lion server and the normal Lion? I mostly want this to stream movies from my house when Im at school or at a friends, etc. Am I able to hook up an external hard drive for the streaming also?
Lion server lets you do remote user management, more robust hosting, etc... For your purposes the normal install will be more than enough. The guide that you linked is pretty good. And yes, you can include external drive files on your Plex library. Be aware that if you use full-quality BR rips on a USB external drive, you might have some buffering issues. If they're Handbraked to a reasonable quality/size though, it'll be fine.
Am I able to stream the movies to my MBA/iPad/iPhone if Im not on my home network such as at college/friends/vacation?
Yep, sure are. I'd recommend Plex for this. I believe the iOS app is $5, but the server client to install on the Mini is free. Another popular streaming app I see advertised around here is AirVideo.
One limiting factor to streaming is going to be your ISP upload speed. Try running speedtest.net to look at your upload speed. Anything less than 1Mbps will lead to bad quality. Higher is pretty good.
Edit: Forgot that you were considering Plex already haha. You'll need to forward port 32400 on your router to the Mini to be able to access it from outside of your network.
Yep, sure are. I'd recommend Plex for this. I believe the iOS app is $5, but the server client to install on the Mini is free. Another popular streaming app I see advertised around here is AirVideo.
One limiting factor to streaming is going to be your ISP upload speed. Try running speedtest.net to look at your upload speed. Anything less than 1Mbps will lead to bad quality. Higher is pretty good.
Edit: Forgot that you were considering Plex already haha. You'll need to forward port 32400 on your router to the Mini to be able to access it from outside of your network.
Thanks, you seem very knowledgeable on this have you done it? I have an airport extreme so I would find the port settings under airport utility right?
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