What is your system set-up for Apple TV?

[katieparker]

I just bought an Apple TV and will be hooking it up once my HDMI cable arrives, but I'm curious about how other people have their systems set up for streaming and storage.

I bought the Apple TV primarily for watching the TV episodes I've bought and ripped, so that I don't have to keep connecting my MacBook Pro to my TV. I don't have a DVD player (I'm waiting for Blu-Ray prices to come down), so my computer seems to be tethered constantly, except when I'm watching something live or TiVo'd. I'm excited about cutting back on that by a lot, but because I have so many TV shows on DVD (99 seasons), it's certainly going to take a while (and a lot of space) to get my favorite shows converted and stored.

Right now, I have a small external drive (80 gigs) connected to my Airport Extreme, and many of the episodes in my iTunes library are stored on it. However, I haven't found a way to get my computer to automatically connect to that drive (although my Powerbook with Tiger did it just fine). I'd like to get a much larger drive eventually, but I'd like to resolve that issue first, if possible (any suggestions?).

What set-up works best for you? Does your Apple TV access content from multiple Macs? Multiple external drives?

 

[eeboarder]

I just bought an Apple TV and will be hooking it up once my HDMI cable arrives, but I'm curious about how other people have their systems set up for streaming and storage.

I bought the Apple TV primarily for watching the TV episodes I've bought and ripped, so that I don't have to keep connecting my MacBook Pro to my TV. I don't have a DVD player (I'm waiting for Blu-Ray prices to come down), so my computer seems to be tethered constantly, except when I'm watching something live or TiVo'd. I'm excited about cutting back on that by a lot, but because I have so many TV shows on DVD (99 seasons), it's certainly going to take a while (and a lot of space) to get my favorite shows converted and stored.

Right now, I have a small external drive (80 gigs) connected to my Airport Extreme, and many of the episodes in my iTunes library are stored on it. However, I haven't found a way to get my computer to automatically connect to that drive (although my Powerbook with Tiger did it just fine). I'd like to get a much larger drive eventually, but I'd like to resolve that issue first, if possible (any suggestions?).

What set-up works best for you? Does your Apple TV access content from multiple Macs? Multiple external drives?

There are several ways to do this. Whatever is in your iTunes goes to your AppleTV, so you can store those videos on an external airport drive and throw them in your iTunes if that works.

About your Airport Disk, I'm not sure what to tell you. Check for a firmware update. Mine works fine, and I don't remember any changes from Tiger to Leopard.

I modded my AppleTV and added a 1TB external to it. If you are interested, here is a link:

http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/Beginners_Guide

 

[thenetstud]

I just bought an Apple TV and will be hooking it up once my HDMI cable arrives, but I'm curious about how other people have their systems set up for streaming and storage.

I bought the Apple TV primarily for watching the TV episodes I've bought and ripped, so that I don't have to keep connecting my MacBook Pro to my TV. I don't have a DVD player (I'm waiting for Blu-Ray prices to come down), so my computer seems to be tethered constantly, except when I'm watching something live or TiVo'd. I'm excited about cutting back on that by a lot, but because I have so many TV shows on DVD (99 seasons), it's certainly going to take a while (and a lot of space) to get my favorite shows converted and stored.

Right now, I have a small external drive (80 gigs) connected to my Airport Extreme, and many of the episodes in my iTunes library are stored on it. However, I haven't found a way to get my computer to automatically connect to that drive (although my Powerbook with Tiger did it just fine). I'd like to get a much larger drive eventually, but I'd like to resolve that issue first, if possible (any suggestions?).

What set-up works best for you? Does your Apple TV access content from multiple Macs? Multiple external drives?

I was reading an article about 10.5.2 including CD/DVD Sharing for all Macs. http://babygotmac.com/a/leopard-105...tacks-translucent-menu-bar-and-remote-backup/Wouldn't it be nice if the Apple TV was able to take advantage of this feature so you could pop a DVD into your computer that's in the bedroom and it start playing on the Apple TV out in the living room?

 

[Avatar74]

What set-up works best for you? Does your Apple TV access content from multiple Macs? Multiple external drives?

I have two computers right now that stream content to the AppleTV. One is my laptop, and the other is a tower.

The tower, because of its internal storage (about a half-terabyte right now), acts as the main host for content whereas the laptop acts as the secondary. I leave my tower on all the time (with the monitor powered down) so I can access content without going from room to room every time I want to watch a movie or listen to music.

I have a 160GB external drive that I've been using. I'm thinking of getting a 1TB external USB drive that I'll mate to the tower for now until/unless network storage is at some point supported by AppleTV.

 

[bacaramac]

I was reading an article about 10.5.2 including CD/DVD Sharing for all Macs. http://babygotmac.com/a/leopard-105...tacks-translucent-menu-bar-and-remote-backup/Wouldn't it be nice if the Apple TV was able to take advantage of this feature so you could pop a DVD into your computer that's in the bedroom and it start playing on the Apple TV out in the living room?

Wow, never thought of the disc sharing thing. That would be great.

As for setup, hopefully the fix the Airdisk thing with Leopard. Either way, when I had Tiger I had all my external drives connected with a Hub and AEBS. Right now I just have it connected directly to Mac until they fix this. If they don't, atleast I have TC on the way and will move everything back to network storage when it arrives. Stream everything with now issues.

EDIT: To get around the sleeping issue on the MAC, I have a Mac Mini and selected never go to sleep, but enable the screen saver. I bought the three year warranty so no issues becuase by that time I will be ready for a new Mac.

 

[MikieMikie]

My Setup

I have my iTunes Library (as well as my iPhoto Library) on an external drive. I have a second external drive for all of my movies and TV shows.

I sync all of my photos and music from the external drive directly to my TV. This lets me do slide shows, play music, etc., without having to worry about whether or not my computer has taken a nap. I have also been syncing my podcasts, but this will be open to review after the software update happens.

All films and TV shows are streamed from the second external drive using my iMac.

So far, so good.