We just bought a mac mini with 2.5 GHz to act as our media server. We wanted to be able to stream, which it handles nicely. But now our desktop has fallen to disrepair and I am tempted to take the 2.5 Ghz mac mini as our desktop and buy a cheaper mac mini for our server. Will this work?
View 1 RepliesCurrently I stream media (videos only at the moment) through my older MBP C2D Laptop using PS3 Media Server. I find the PS3 is loud and annoying so thinking of picking up a new generation Mac Mini to run my Media Serving Needs. My Equipment list is:
Pioneer 5080HD 768p Plasma
Yamaha RX-V3900 AVR
The rest of the equipment does not really matter. Thinking of hokoing it up by HDMI through the AVR to the plasma. Want to run Plex as my media front end. Now I also have an Acer Windows Home Server box kicking around with 1TB drive in it. Is it possible to use that on the network as a type of Media Storage that can be accessed by the Mini through Plex? Should I just use the WHS box as an archive unit? I know I will fill up the mini's HD fairly quickly.
Also I usually watch 720p MKV files through my PS3 so would I be fine doing that on the mini as well using Plex?
I'm looking to centralize the media storage in our home and would love some feedback on which Mac Mini would best suit my needs, which are pretty modest. The goal is a machine that will:House all our media (iTunes, movies/tv) for streaming to two MBPs & one TV
Be the central location for Time Machine backups on all 3 computers
Run Air Video Server live conversion for streaming media to iPad
Run Plex for viewing media on attached HDTV
Ability to simultaneously stream media to TV in one room while live encoding HD source material for playback on iPad
Regardless of which Mini I end up with, my plan is to remove the Superdrive and install two 500GB Momentus XT hybrid hard drives (Raid 0?) with Time Machine backups for all the computers on external FW800 drives that I have. That said, will an early '09 Mini with the 2.0 C2D have enough horsepower, or do I need a current gen model?
I'm thinking of getting a Mac Mini as an HTPC and for holding my iTunes library and AVI's. I currently have an upscaling DVD player that also has a USB socket for DivX stuff and would like access to my iTunes library also. I was thinking of simply adding an AppleTV to the set-up but I've been considering a Mini also. My questions are:
1) If I have a Mini in the living room with all my AVI's and iTunes stuff on it- can I Wake-On LAN it using a Mac laptop, my iMac or an AppleTV in another room to access my library if it's sleeping? If I wanna watch a movie in bed on an AppleTV I don't want to have to nip downstairs to wake my Mini 'cause it's power-saving.
2) Would a Mini work well as an iTunes media server? Not bothered about accessing it from the internet, just want access through wired and wi-fi within the house.
3) Could I control the Mini remotely from the iMac or laptop over the network to save connecting a keyboard/mouse to it? For example if I need to perform a software update or move some files? I can do that over the network with another Mac, right? Sort of remote desktop?
4) Could I control the Mini, purely for playback, from Remote on an iPod Touch?
5) Is there a hack/fix/workaround to add AVI's (DivX and xVid) to Front Row? I understand these wouldn't be playable on the AppleTV.
I've tried searching for individual answers to the above but it's a bit confusing. I'm not sure of the difference between Back To Mac or Apple Remote Desktop. And I'm not sure about the WOL stuff either.
If you can stream the Mac as a media server on your PS3 just like how it does on Windows for Windows Media Player....
View 11 Replies View RelatedI have a Mini Media center that I installed Front Row onto. When I updated to 10.4.11 I found that Front Row was broken and I finally figured out how to get it going again. I'm posting this simply for the spreading of knowledge. What you'll need:
Enabler [URL]
Front Row 1.3.0 [URL]
Front Row 1.3.1 [URL]
Pacifist [URL]
Installing: Put Front Row 1.3 package on desktop. (don't open) Open Enabler and Install Front Row. Enable Front Row (if you get an error you probably already have it enabled). <Restart> Use Pacifist to open FrontRow 1.3.1 package. Find Front Row App (System>Library>Core Services) Install the app and Replace when prompted.
currently using mac mini server for sharing files and folders. Would like to setup VPN to get access to files remotely.
-Model identifier: Macmini 3.1
-Mac OS X Server version 10.6.8
I am not sure if this version supports VPN.
Info:
Mac mini
I work in litigation support, and I end up working overtime a lot, and I also work weekends fairly often, and there are times when I am sitting around waiting for the machines to finish processing the data I give it. This could take hours, so I end up with a lot of time just waiting. I have been looking for a media server that I could use to watch movies on my Mac that I have in my apartment from the computers at work. I have not had any luck finding any. All the ones I found were just for home networks for streaming to another computer on the network or a PS3 or 360. I do know that VLC is capable of doing what I want, but I'm having a b*tch of a time getting it to work.
View 10 Replies View RelatedThe last PC left on my network has been relegated to being used solely as a media server which I use tversity to push media to my PS3 wirelessly. Now its been working out relatively well but I would like to be able to be rid of the PC and simply integrate this function into my Mac. Also, my PS3 only contains an 80GB HDD so its a constant issue of manually moving and erasing content on the PS3. Doing research on how to accomplish this is making my head spin with all the different ways I could do this. I also have a separate issue of backing up all the macs manually every week via a USB HDD. Ideally I would like to just add a bunch of external storage to the PS3 and stream the content once and be done, but then I'm still stuck with the PC and it still does not address the backup issue. I know time capsule would work, but I already have plenty of storage and a good router. I'm willing to spend the money on whatever I need but would like to do this as efficiently as possible with the hardware I already have if possible.
View 1 Replies View RelatedI am a web developer using Mac to develop and Ubuntu Server to deploy. It's a pretty standard setup nowadays.The time came to replace my staging server ( which I keep at my home on a dedicated IP ) and I could not resist the allure of the new Mac Mini Server. So I bought one and tried to do a Ubuntu install and thought I could sell my OSX server license as I have no need of it.I imagine a lot of people not used to Apple's policies might think like this. So how did it go? Bad and then good.As far as I have been able to ascertain, it's impossible to install Ubuntu on a Mac Mini Server ( at least without the additional DVD-ROM drive which I refuse to buy ).What's more, the OSX Server license I bought is not transferable to non-Mac Mini Server computers so I can't really sell it anyway.
View 6 Replies View RelatedDoes anyone know if there is a good media server program for OS X that is like the TVersity program for windows?
View 24 Replies View RelatedI am looking to pick up an old Power Mac G4 and use it as a media server. Right now I have a 1.6 AMD Athlon doing this running Windows XP. I will only be using this to stream movies to my tv. The Athlon does perfectly fine, but a few hundred bucks is worth getting windows entirely out of my house.
I want to make sure to pick up one of the Power Macs that can address a drive larger than 128gb, which I believe puts me at about an 800mhz G4.
My question is... Who else is using a G4 as a media server to stream videos over to their tv? If you do have a setup like this how well is it running and please post the specs.
Has anyone seen this doc?
Anyone managed to do this with a macbook pro, snow leopard and a new time capsule?
[URL]
At the moment my setup is as follows:
MacBook acting as a media server with my iTunes library on it
MacBook Air with no content on it
Apple TV (2nd Gen)
At the moment, I've redirected iTunes on my MBA to use the shared folders on my MB for the iTunes library. This works in theory, but actually, it has turned out rather badly - playing video is a nightmare! It keeps stopping and starting, iTunes stops responding, etc, etc. However, I think this is an iTunes issue, as there's no such problems on the Apple TV or if I use QuickTime Player to play the video instead.
So, is there something else I can use on my MBA to "receive" the stream? I don't really care about other bells and whistles (I don't live in the US, so things like Hulu that are built into apps like Boxee aren't much use to me), I just want to be able to play my iTunes content fluidly, but not in iTunes.
As I'm sure you're aware, I want to setup a server with my 733 MHz DA G4.
Until I can get my hands on a copy of Tiger Server, I'd like to have an iTunes server to centralize my media. I've done some searches and couldn't find anything relevant.
I know I can just copy all the stuff to the G4 and make a shared library, but I'd like to be able to have the media transferrable from the client computers, i.e. putting it on an iPod because the G4 is in the basement which is a hassle to get to and a bit of a ***** shack.
My G4 has the following specs:
733 MHz G4
1 GB RAM
1x 60 GB HDD, 1x 40 GB HDD
Mac OS X 10.4.11, not server
The latest version of iTunes 8
A gigabit ethernet connection
I am a recent convert to mac and loving it. I do however want to set up a media server - to serve movies to each television via xbox and playstation. I am currently using HP MediaServer. I have had issues with it and want to explore the mac route. If I have a time capsule can i serve movies to xbox etc anywhere in the house? Or would it be better to have a mac mini to do it or even both?
View 6 Replies View RelatedI have a couple questions
1) I have a mb and a desktop. I have media server on both of them. When I run it from the desktop, i get a loop saying that the upnp address is used and goes in an indefinite loop
When i run it from my mb, it is able to find the ps3 no problem
whats going on?
2) Also, is there any reason why my .mp4 and .m4v files are unsupported (some of them) and the ones that play stutter like a lot?
I would like to set up a home media hub. I have the following devices I would like to be able to access the media:
Powerbook (1.5Ghz)
Mac Mini (Core 2 duo)
PS3 -> HDTV
Old Pentium3 PC to an old Sony tube tv.
I also have an old Pentium4 PC which I was planning to use as the server. I was planning to throw in a 750gb HD instead of running this all off my external (which is what I use now hooked up to the Powerbook). How would I go about doing this? The router is hooked up to the mac mini at the moment.
We've got two laptops in the house (my Powerbook 12 and wife's Macbook) and I've just bought an old 500Mhz AGP Power Mac G4 from eBay, partly to mess around with, partly because it was a great deal, and partly because I want to use it as a media server. What I'd like to do is have:
- iPhoto running on the server - cameras would be plugged in there, photos downloaded etc and photos streamed to the Apple TV
- iTunes running on the server - other machines in the house plus the Apple TV accessing the shared server
- printer sharing running through the server
- Time Machine partitions set up on the server for both my wife and I - set up as double our raw drive space (so 160GB and 320GB)
I've already upped the RAM to 1.25GB and swapped in two 120GB IDE drives. I'm looking to add a Sonnet PCI SATA card and a couple of 1TB Samsung drives, one to host the media and one to host the Time Machine partitions. The media drive would then be backed up weekly to an offboard brick.
So before I go ahead with this grand plan, I thought I'd solicit views on whether it's likely to work, where the bear traps are etc. I guess some of the specific questions I have include:
- is there likely to be a performance issue with the PowerMac in this role?
- can I stream photos to an Apple TV? I know it works with iTunes but thought I'd check on iPhoto
- would Time Machine work OK over a network? Any issue with hosting two TM partitions on the same drive?
The Power Mac is running Tiger, the others are running Leopard.
In the future, I will be looking for a Media Server, namely a Mac. I want to use it to store all my iMovie projects - mainly iSight or DV format, very little HD, stream them to my Main Mac and also to a couple of Windows PCs (not mine), and maybe preview a smaller version (640*480 or 720*480). I am thinking that Mac OS X 10.3.9 or 10.4.11 will do. Especially as I use iMovie '06 and might use an older version of iTunes. I want to use an older PowerPC PowerMac to do this, can I get away with a G4 running at 400Mhz with 512 MB RAM, or do I need a faster G4/G5?
View 7 Replies View Relatedwe have 3mac laptops / 1 dell laptop and am in searching for a user friendly media solution. I am looking to share/stream the usual itunes/photos/movies.
I was reading about the HP media smart (and its issues with macs) and then saw the drobo but seems way overkill. Current router is airport extreme w/N
I'm not sure if this is intended behavior or not. I just installed PS3 Media Server on my Mac Pro (Snow Leopard 10.6.3) and under Navigation/Share Settings under shared folders when I click add I can only select folders on my OS/boot drive and nothing else.
I've never used this on a Mac before but when I was running it on a Windows box I could just go there and hit add and pick whatever folder I wanted on whatever volume/drive I wanted.
Is there some config/change I need to do so it can view other drives/volumes?
I'm trying to turn an old Windows machine into a media server and file server, but not sure which Windows apps are Mac compatible. This is sort of hit and miss to post here, as it mainly involves looking for Windows applications, but the mac would be using them so it's sort of suitable.
I have setup a DLNA server for PS3 already which is working correctly. I've setup a UPNP server called Air Video for use with media for the iPhone and iPad.
I tried to setup an FTP server for use with files from both machines but the mac would not connect to it. It kept saying the login was wrong but it was right. I also setup a VNC server which the iphone using iTeleport could connect to but the Mac just would not connect.
So the main question is: Is there a FTP and VNC server for Windows which works 100% with a Mac as the client? After these two are working the server is completed.
I have a 2009 Mac Mini Server with iStat Server installed. When I connect to iStat server with the iPhone app, I see no network usage (even though it is being used). iStat Pro widget will show the usage just fine. Any ideas on why its not showing up with iStat Server?
View 3 Replies View RelatedI don't use any of it and would like to update to lion with out the server portion.
Info:Mac mini Server (Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.6.8)
I'm considering getting the base Mini and using it as a media hub to replace my AppleTV. I've hacked my AppleTV to run Netflix, Boxee, etc., but playback in Firefox can be slow. The only issue is the lack of Blu-Ray in the mini which would mean getting a Blu-Ray drive and cracking the mini open. Seems like a lot of work but it could replace my Sony Blu-Ray DVD player leaving only my Denon receiver, Cable box and Mac Mini.
View 4 Replies View RelatedHere's what we have: I have a MBP with 250GB drive and an iPhone, my partner has the same. We have about 800CDs in a case and 300 DVDs. We have no room for an iMac.Currently we stream our personal music to our hifi in the lounge using an Airport Express. I want to be able to burn all the CDs and DVDs to a so we need never use physical discs.
View 8 Replies View RelatedI'm considering using a Mac Mini as a media centre computer and supporting it with a eyetv dongle. Does anyone have an opinion on it's ability to do so. eg. Noise, speed, Graphics power? If it's not going to cut it, is there an alternative? I'm not keen on the Apple TV given it's limitations out of the box.
View 7 Replies View RelatedJust wondering how many of you guys here have been using the new Mac Mini as a Media Centre mac, and what your general opinions of it are? I'm fairly sure there is HDMI, but is the media playback up to par, and how easy is it to use from the couch?
View 24 Replies View RelatedI just got a new 2010 mini to use for some web development, as well as a media streamer for my TV. I want to be able to stream standard and HD mkv/h.264 video from either the internal HD, external HD, or my server. Obviously, the internal HD should work well. My question is, would it be faster to stream from an external HD or my server? The server and mini are wired into the network via Gbit ethernet, and the external would be USB (or it could be FW800 if that would make a difference).
View 1 Replies View Related