Whole home server setup, questions.

[AuroraProject]

I'm wondering if the Mac Mini server is what I should be considering. Here's what I want to do: I want all of my music, tv shows, and movies to be housed on one central computer. Then I want these files to be played on any of three tv's in the house, and accessible from 2 Mac laptops and an iPhone 4.

So I'm thinking of the Mac Mini server at the main tv, then Apple TV at the 2 other tv's. Once everything is transferred to the Mini I would share the library using iTunes home sharing. This would give the laptops and iPhone access right?

So basically one Mini with the media files, and all other devices stream directly from the Mini. One thing concerns me, I currently sync the iPhone 4 with a MacBook Pro for movies and music etc. If the media files are not on the local disk can I still sync them to the iPhone?

 

[jdreier]

Honestly for media sharing you'll just need a mac mini. It'll do the job just fine.

I've got a very similar set up to what you want to do. 1 mac mini that is connected to my living room tv. It shares all my movies, tv shows and music to two macbook pros and an apple tv connected to another TV in the bedroom.

The mini server is almost overkill for a home media sharing set up. It more useful for a business setting where you want to host multiple user accounts, host emails, calendars etc.

Another thing to consider is that with the forthcoming OS X Lion, apple is rumored to extend its OSX server capabilities to the normal OS.