ok? Apple TV for Family HTroom, MacMini for Basement HT room

[mtbdudex]

My 1st floor family room has 42" 720p HDTV with 5.1 sound system.
The recently done basement dedicated HT has 130" 1080p HDTV screen (via Sony VPL-VW60 projector) with full 7.1 sound system.

Here's my thinking:
Apple TV for Family HTroom, MacMini for Basement HT room.

I appreciated feedback/other viewpoints.

Usages:
Family room w/ AppleTV:
iTunes audio content, viewing family DVD's made with iMovie/iDVD, viewing iPhoto. Currently just Oppo DVD player in family room, no Blu-ray there yet.
Don't plan on surfing the web in family room. So, the Apple TV is a nice hub to my existing content stored with my basement iMac, that's it...
>>Family room is via wireless


Basement HT room with MacMini:
iTunes audio content, viewing family DVD's made with iMovie/iDVD, viewing iPhoto. I have PS3 for Blu-ray/games. Plan on using the MacMini for web browsing and viewing some HD online content. I'm not sure on the whole HTPC thing or not. Might get into that at later date.
>>I had wired cat5e for fast access to internet.


Other:
Just purchased a 2TB external hard drive to use with my 24" iMac (750GBHD, 4GB RAM), which is in the basement and connected to cat5e network. My thinking is that iMac is the organization/storage of everything, running 24/7. Content is streamed to AppleTV/MacMini as needed.


I've not bought these yet, but really soon based on feedback here.

 

[Undecided]

I didn't see any mention of iTunes rentals. From what I've seen, HD is more available on the AppleTV than the desktop iTunes. So, you may find yourself wanting to rent a movie in HD in the basement, but be unable to.

Also, it seems like the mini and the iMac are redundant. Both in the basement, both play DVDs, etc. You could either use the mini to host the content and organize it (instead of the iMac) or connect the iMac to the TV.

 

[Bye Bye Baby]

I would by pass the imac and put all content on the mini via the external HD. You can stream from the mini to either the iMac or the ATV. That is basiclly my setup.

I have the mini connected to the TV in the TV room with my MAc in the office and the ATV in the bedroom. My only disappointment is that I cannot access the itunes store from the mini through frontrow. All rentals have to be accessed through itunes and then played. Very uncool from apple.

I have a drobo attached to the mini via FW800 for all my conetnt- about 1TB at the moment between video/music and photos. It is all backed up.

Hardwire as much as you can with cat6 cables or use wireless-n. My setup is very stable and streams without problems.

 

[mtbdudex]

Thx for replies guys,

I would by pass the imac and put all content on the mini via the external HD. You can stream from the mini to either the iMac or the ATV. That is basiclly my setup.

I have the mini connected to the TV in the TV room with my MAc in the office and the ATV in the bedroom. My only disappointment is that I cannot access the itunes store from the mini through frontrow. All rentals have to be accessed through itunes and then played. Very uncool from apple.

I have a drobo attached to the mini via FW800 for all my conetnt- about 1TB at the moment between video/music and photos. It is all backed up.

Hardwire as much as you can with cat6 cables or use wireless-n. My setup is very stable and streams without problems.

So it's more "busywork" to get rentals on the MacMini than Apple TV?

don't know if this visual helps:

I'd like to have the 2TB hard drive near the iMac (750GB Int HD), as Time Machine. I created 2 partitions, 1 1.6TB sized for Time Machine and 2nd 0.2TB sized for "whatever".
I have 2nd 0.5TB also connected to it, both are FW800.
(reason bought 2TB is got sick of Time Machine full errors)

So, if everything streams off the iMac, the basement is Hardwired so thats fast, while family room is wireless speed for aTV. But, then the iMac will always need to "wake up" or not? Where I'm going is possibly I'll move the 0.5TB into the HT room next to the MacMini, so content stored there is "quicker" and no need to access the iMac?

Am I thinking too much about this?
If I just get the AppleTV, MacMini (plus BT keyboard/mouse), and connect then the software side will do it all and I don't need to worry things like access speed/etc?

Other Q:
MacMini was just refreshed, is the AppleTV overdue for a refresh??

 

[Bye Bye Baby]

Ok. I think I got you.

I would suggest that you keep all digital content in one place (if you haven't already) as it is much easier- the 2.0 TB HD seems best. Otherwise you end up having to look for stuff and remember where it is. That can be attached to the iMac or the Mini and accessed from anywhere.

What I would also recommend is keeping your TM backups on one disk. Perhaps a NAS. They work really well.

Yes- rentals without the ATV are a bit of a problem if you have to access them through iTunes.

I use a TC for my TM backups. The mini, the MBP and the iMac are all backed up to a TC. Plus I clone the iMac to the drobo with superduper. All documents are synced through my idisk- around 6GB. That way all documents/ projects etc available to all computers.