Streaming Media for remote hard drives

[malfromcessnock]

Hi members - what's the best way to stream media (videos) from hard drives (connected to my iMac) to my Mac Book Pro?

Is Apple TV the answer or is there a better way?

Cheers, Mal

PS I hope I've posted in the right forum

 

[EvilC5]

Hi members - what's the best way to stream media (videos) from hard drives (connected to my iMac) to my Mac Book Pro?

Is Apple TV the answer or is there a better way?

Cheers, Mal

PS I hope I've posted in the right forum

For ease of setup, yes. If you have a new 2012 Mac, the airplay mirror will work nicely.

 

[malfromcessnock]

Thanks EvilC5 for your response.

My MBP specs are :
15-inch, Late 2011
Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6770M 1024 MB
Serial Number C02H52E6DV7P
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G63)

So it's not 2012 - will Mac TV still work for streaming media as described?

Alternatively - how can I set my hard drives up so they are connected to the network without being connected directly to either my iMac or my MBP?

What I really want is to keep my MBP; sell my iMac and get an iPad and view all my media through either device.

Can you help me with what I need to do this? Do I need a Mini Mac?

Not as savvy as I'd like to be

Cheers, Mal

 

[Frankydan100]

In my set up I have a 2tb hard drive that is connected to an Apple Airport Extreme. I use a jailbroke Apple TV 2 to stream all my media from it over my network. It works flawlessly even with large movie files, the biggest I had was around 9.5gb.
You can also stream any media on your Mac to the apple tv, regarding it is in itunes format. To stream any file such as avi etc you need a jailbroke device, which in my opinion is far superior!

 

[malfromcessnock]

Thanks for your response Frankydan100

Your advice has closed the case I reckon.

If you can review this I'd appreciate it...

So I'll get an Apple Airport Extreme and an Apple TV2 - connect the latter to the AAE, Ok. Connect my HDs to the AAE and be able to view media from them on my MBP and iPad?

Have I got that right?

Cheers, Mal AU

----------

Oh! Frankydan100 - can you direct me to source that will help me jailbreak the AAE?

Much appreciated. Mal

 

[Frankydan100]

Yes that will work, with a HD connected to the Airport extreme it basically turns it into a NAS so whatever is on the drive will be able to be accessed over the network.

There is also the option of buying a Apple Time machine which is a Airport extreme but with a HD already built in but this will probably be more expensive!

You would need to have an Apple TV 2nd Generation as the 3rd Gen cannot yet be jailbroke.

All the tools and software plus guides etc are available from http://support.firecore.com/categories/4919-atv-flash-black-2nd-gen-apple-tv

 

[lostgear]

In my set up I have a 2tb hard drive that is connected to an Apple Airport Extreme. I use a jailbroke Apple TV 2 to stream all my media from it over my network. It works flawlessly even with large movie files, the biggest I had was around 9.5gb.
You can also stream any media on your Mac to the apple tv, regarding it is in itunes format. To stream any file such as avi etc you need a jailbroke device, which in my opinion is far superior!

Just checking, can you stream from your "NAS" direct to your aTV, ie not via your MBP? What acts as the media server?

 

[Mrbobb]

Wow - wow - wow.

There seems some sort of conversation here and yet am going waaaa?

OP's dipslay is his MBP, there is no mention of a stand-alone HDTV.

Why do you need a ATV? ATV hooks up to a stand-alone HDTV.

 

[CocoaPuffs]

Just checking, can you stream from your "NAS" direct to your aTV, ie not via your MBP? What acts as the media server?

Nothing actually. ATV2 jailbroken with XBMC can pretty much stream anything directly from NAS, but obviously you need a shared network, which is created by Airport Extreme.

 

[malfromcessnock]

Thank you to everyone for your input.

I have endeavoured to assimilate what has been proffered and think I'm going to do the following...

Condense all my data to a 4TB NAS Drive, connect it to my router and view media on my iMac or MBP and at a pinch get an app so I can also view it on my iPad.

(Back-up the 4TB NAS to USB Drives and my computers to USB attached HDs via TimeMachine)

What's the consensus fellas?

Cheers, Mal AU

 

[Frankydan100]

Thank you to everyone for your input.

I have endeavoured to assimilate what has been proffered and think I'm going to do the following...

Condense all my data to a 4TB NAS Drive, connect it to my router and view media on my iMac or MBP and at a pinch get an app so I can also view it on my iPad.

(Back-up the 4TB NAS to USB Drives and my computers to USB attached HDs via TimeMachine)

What's the consensus fellas?

Cheers, Mal AU

Sounds like you have a good setup planned there then!

I would highly recommend purchasing an Apple TV if you have a HDTV of course!

Good Luck!!!

 

[malfromcessnock]

I've just rung Apple and talked to a consultant - he tells me there's no you can stream video from a NAS drive - it will still buffer!

He also said you'd never connect to a network with an iPad!

Is he right or wrong. You'd expect him to know what he's talking about wouldn't you?

 

[mic j]

I've just rung Apple and talked to a consultant - he tells me there's no you can stream video from a NAS drive - it will still buffer!

He also said you'd never connect to a network with an iPad!

Is he right or wrong. You'd expect him to know what he's talking about wouldn't you?

He's wrong. I have a 2TB drive connected to my AEBS. I also have an aTV3. Movies (even BR) play fine on everything.

 

[Cinephi1e]

I've just rung Apple and talked to a consultant - he tells me there's no you can stream video from a NAS drive - it will still buffer!

He also said you'd never connect to a network with an iPad!

Is he right or wrong. You'd expect him to know what he's talking about wouldn't you?

I think he may have meant that you cannot do this only with a NAS drive, and that is correct. You will need to have a Mac or PC running iTunes and connected to the media in the NAS drive for this to work. If the Mac/PC is shut down then the iPad cannot access the NAS drive.

Another point to consider is that it is better to just connect the drive directly to the Mac/PC rather than to the AEBS, particularly if you are using WiFi. This improves the load on the network and will minimize buffering. If you have a wired network this should not be an issue.

 

[mic j]

I think he may have meant that you cannot do this only with a NAS drive, and that is correct. You will need to have a Mac or PC running iTunes and connected to the media in the NAS drive for this to work. If the Mac/PC is shut down then the iPad cannot access the NAS drive.

Another point to consider is that it is better to just connect the drive directly to the Mac/PC rather than to the AEBS, particularly if you are using WiFi. This improves the load on the network and will minimize buffering. If you have a wired network this should not be an issue.

If he mentioned the problem with the setup was stuttering, then I assumed, he knew that it was not an issue of iTunes not being able to run natively on an NAS.

Ideally, I agree with you, wifi is never the best solution. Unfortunately, many of us are saddled with the inability to have everything hardwired. For those, like me, who do not have that hardwire option, it is possible to have a very good experience with a HDD connected to the router.