With streaming, does your Mac never sleep?

[jersey10]

Most people on here seem happy with the fact that they now don't have to sync anything but can just stream all their content from their computer to the Apple TV.

Considering that it would really reduce the convenience factor if you had to go wake up your computer (which is usually in another room) and open iTunes each time you want to use Apple TV, I assume that everyone is just leaving their computer on and iTunes open all the time. Is this correct? If so, isn't it bad for your computer for it to never go into sleep mode?

 

[bacaramac]

I have my Mac Mini to never sleep, just turn the display off after 10 minutes. Figured I have the 3 year warranty, don't really care if it is bad for the Mac.

 

[darkpixie08]

I have my mini set to automatically shut off every night at 1am and turn back on at 7am, and to automatically run Itunes at startup. I also have the display set to sleep after 10 minutes.

 

[jersey10]

I have my mini set to automatically shut off every night at 1am and turn back on at 7am, and to automatically run Itunes at startup. I also have the display set to sleep after 10 minutes.

I think I may try something similar. How do you set it up to automatically open iTunes at startup?

 

[darkpixie08]

Go to system preferences, then accounts, then on your account click on the tab for login items. Then just add whatever app you want to startup.

 

[jeremy.king]

I leave mine on 24/7. Its not good for moving parts such as Hard drives and not very energy efficient, but I guess this is why I have backups and a RAIDed setup.

 

[batistuta]

and not very energy efficient

This is exactly my main problem with the Apple TV - having to run a Mac (and iTunes) all the time is a) Expensive as it uses an excessive amount of electricity just for this and b) not very convenient (say you want to bring your laptop...no one else can listen to music).
Why can't I just stream from a Time Capsule?? - which also has more capacity than most other Apple products, unless you pay Apple's ridiculous prices for larger harddrives.
Or give me an Apple TV with lots more capacity (not hacked and using an external drive). But I would prefer the streaming from a Time Capsule or AirDisk - ideally to an ATV with no harddrive which would just store rented movies (whenever they come to Europe at reasonable prices...) on that streaming drive as well.
Or open up the ATV to be used with my Synology NAS