you've been helpful me in past , i'm reaching out again i'm thinking simple question variety of possible answers. here's situation:
replaced awful old router in house airport extreme & airport express repeating signal basement (five-bar wi-fi coverage everywhere, woo!) , picked apple tv (newest) while @ it.
while setting up, occurred me i'd prefer having itunes library accessible throughout house without me having have main computer on time — , since it's work machine, me regain useful disk space.
in short, i'd to...
1. make itunes library accessible without relying on machine it's on.
2. allow access library family on various devices , on our new apple tv (just worried access in home, really, not terribly concerned accessing other places on internet).
3. not compromise quality of media; videos have in 1080p, music in lossless (apple lossless).
i'm wondering is...what best solution accomplishing this? if move itunes library external hd connected airport extreme, best method in terms of performance/flexibility? there particular drive type? need explore nas option or basic external going trick? able access 1080p videos , extensive collection of lossless audio or stuck kind of optimized streaming conversion of degraded quality?
i'd appreciate feedback folks who've accomplished similar setup put smartest solution.
much!
if understand way airplay works, need leave computer somewhere on network itunes running. think apple offer "media server" time capsule don't. have old g4 mini in basement , i'm thinking of making our "media server" music sitting on network drive (synology) still leave itunes running on g4 "serve" music.
there alternative. it's called dlna. it's ugly compared apple tv comes preinstalled on nas drives , on tvs. why don't (yet) own apple tv. lg tv can see music, photos , movies sitting on synology network drive , play them directly there. there ios dlna apps can stream media dlna aware nas drives well. dlna network share allows anonymous access. it's simple. dlna can downright ugly @ times. 1 of our lg tvs resets @ end of each movie , have start on beginning. @ top menu, see movies, music , videos. pick videos have pick server guess what? you've got pick movies, music or photos again. seems dumb allow see movie mistakenly tossed in music or photo folder. there's resolution thing. many dlna servers send photos @ 640 x 480. yes, that's right. you've got awesome 12 megapixel photo took , want show aunt jenny photo in 1080p on 55 inch tv dlna software on nas sends across @ vga resolution. if you're willing put gimpyness, dlna "free" on televisons , non-apple network drives. advantage dlna can stream more 1 thing @ time. have 3 dlna tv's , 3 of them can on viewing different content @ same time. tend keep media "outside" of itunes , "outside" of iphoto. photos on nas drive , when import them iphoto, don't allow make copies. music in mp3 format , imported itunes rather purchased through itunes. movies ripped dvds. reason dlna works out me despite it's less perfect end user experience.
since own apple tv, seem best approach leave itunes running on 1 of macs. can still put files on nas drive such usb disk plugged in airport extreme, you'll need point itunes network drive share media around house such apple tv , ios devices can see using airplay.
No comments:
Post a Comment