Mac Mini Wireless Media Center

[camination]

So here's the plan - to hook up a mac mini to a 32 inch LCD in my bedroom on the 2nd floor.

What I have right now - DSL, Netgear Wireless G Router, and a iMac with both my external hard drives hooked up to it.

What I want to do: I want to be able to watch High Definition Shows I have recorded or purchased from itunes that are stored on my hard drives downstairs on my LCD upstairs.

Question - do I have the components necessary to make this work? If not, what can I do to make it work?
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iMac Fans Unite

Agloco got me too . . . damn John Chow!

[lojo]

The answer to your question is "basically" yes. Another member named "poisonfist" answered this same basic question on the forum on Feb. 13th but I cannot find his post. I did make a copy of his response and I have it as follows (paraphrased):

"If you are on a shared network and want to access your library from another computer on the network here is what you need to do. Once you have enabled your iTunes Library to be shared in your iTunes Preference, you can see your Library on your iTunes side bar on the other computer."

See Apple Tutorial

http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/tutorial/segment102094b.html


I have used the above information successfully for my recorded music, however, I cannot see my purchased music or videos on my network. I am utilizing Mac and PCs. Hopefully someone else on the forum can help with that issue.

The guys will come on board with more detailed answers once they get home from work or get a chance to jump on the forum at work.

Good Luck.
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1.42 GHz Mac Mini/ 1GBCrucial RAM/WiFi BT
60GB 5G iPod 160GB 6G iPod classic
Belkin Wireless G Router F5D7230-4
Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mighty Mouse
Sony 32" LCD HDTV Monitor-Bravia
Apple iPod Hi Fi
LaCie mini HUB 500GB

[camination]

Does anyone on this board have a setup similar to the one I explained?
_________________
iMac Fans Unite

Agloco got me too . . . damn John Chow!

[blazer]

Assuming both of your Macs have AirPort Extreme cards, you have everything to make this work. Just turn on File Sharing on the iMac and Mac mini in System Preferences > Sharing. Go to your Mac mini and open the Finder and go to Network > My Network. Click on the iMac. It will ask you for your password for the iMac. Then it will ask you want volumes you want to mount. Your external drives connected to the iMac should show up. Just select the drive.

The drive should now be on your mini's desktop. Open DVD player and selected the Video_TS or MPEG files on the external drive and press play. You will need to turn on Sharing in iTunes for the TV Shows. I never really monkey around with TV shows. The quality just look horrible at full screen.

Video quality will vary with Video_TS files. You can get some lag here and there. It really depends on how good your network is. You definitely want a G or Pre-N router. It's also better that your external drives are connected with firewire.

I'm sure there are other ways, but this works out best for me.
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1.42GHz Mac mini
2.0GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini
2.0GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini (2009)
2.5GHz Core i5 Mac mini (2011)
24" Dell LCD & 42" Sharp TV
EyeTV 250 Plus
1G, 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G iPod nanos
16GB 3G iPhone

[bruintoo]

You can do this now if you install the Front Row 1.2.1!!!!! You can access SHARED songs and movies from iTunes.
-Bruin

[g5g5]