MacMini Media Center update III
By rhett ~ April 21st, 2009. Filed under: 411zone, EntertainmentZone |
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So I have been playing around with sharing my iTunes and iPhoto libraries from my main computer to my MacMini that is hooked up to my TV downstairs. I have had some successes but many more failures. While if you treat the MacMini as an AppleTV you are fine but you do have to keep iTunes up and running on your main machine at all times, a pain if you ask me. You are able to see all of your music and video content. iPhoto has been another story, there are ways to share your library from computer to computer but each one brings its own problems and issues but the largest is the risk of corrupting all of your pictures and losing your library all together. While this may seem remote it is always a real possibilities hence my final decision. I am putting all of my iTunes and iPhoto libraries on an extra external HD that I have laying around and going to hook it directly to my MacMini Media Center. This has two great benefits over streaming.
1. There is no delay or lag time when viewing any of my content, my only limitation is my MacMini. I am no longer at the mercy of my crazy Wifi signal that can go at the worst possible time. I also no longer have to use of RAM on my main computer for iTunes or worry about it going to sleep, I can save electricity this way as well.
2. There is less chance of losing my libraries alltogether. I now have two copies of each library so if by some miracle one does go out I have another handy that I can use as a restore option.
The only drawback I have to this set up is when I add content. Each time I add pictures or video or music I must remember to update the library that I have on my desktop computer as well. This to me is a small price to pay for a truly smooth and seamless experience enjoying my photos and videos on my great big huge TV :O) Let me know what you think of my set up.
Tags: electricity, final decision, iphoto, itunes, macmini, media center, seamless experience, successes, tv downstairs
The installation is just sick. Do you just use keyboard and mouse? or do you use front row? or something else?
This is not my exact install but very similar. I do not use a keyboard or mouse presently I prefer the Apple remote for Front Row, and Air Mouse on my iPhone. I also use remote desktop for software upgrades and installs.
I’ve got a similar setup, I copy my iTunes & iPhoto libraries to the external HD connected to my mini. (Note: my iTunes library is in /Music and my iPhoto library is in /Pictures on my laptop.) First I had to create a public key for SSH and install it on the mini. I’ve got scripts that do all the rsync stuff for me…here’s the contents:
iPhoto:
#!/bin/bash
rsync –archive –verbose –rsh=ssh –delete /Pictures/ mini.local:/Pictures
iTunes:
#!/bin/bash
echo “BEGIN: Syncing /Users/dean/Music/iTunes”
rsync –archive –verbose –rsh=ssh –delete /Users/dean/Music/iTunes/ mini.local:/Users/dean/Music/iTunes
echo “END: Syncing /Users/dean/Music/iTunes”
echo
echo
echo “BEGIN: Synching /Music”
rsync –archive –verbose –rsh=ssh –delete /Music/ mini.local:/Music
echo “END: Synching /Music”
Wow dean that is a great way to have your setup. I am still trying to figure out the best way I want to sync my stuff. I am not entirely happy with what I have yet but it is a step in the right direction.