Apple TV Question

[secret squire]

Hello all,

I'm trying to find a way of playing films from my hard drive on my tv. The Apple TV looks like an awesome idea, however I have a couple of questions if anyone who has one knows? (I have looked on the apple website, but can't work it out!)

Firstly, the computer and tv are on opposite sides of the room - I don't have a wifi hub, as I connect directly to the network with a cable... can I connect direct to an Apple TV, or would I need a server (bearing in mind that my ethernet port is permanently in use already)

Secondly, I have films in just about every format going - some of which don't seem to want to import into iTunes - are there limitations on what files I can or can't play via an Apple TV?

Also - I have a mere PC, not a Mac - will this cause any issues?

Many thanks, and apologies if this is written somewhere obvious!

SS

 

[PardonTheWait]

The Apple TV needs to connect to a machine running iTunes - Mac or PC. The machine needs to be on, awake, and with iTunes open. The files themselves can be anywhere, as long as the computer can see them it's fine.

The Apple TV will only play iTunes formats, so it would mean some re-encoding to get it to work. It's up to you wether you can be bothered, and obviously it depends how much stuff you've got!

The Apple TV is a great bit of kit but you have to make your setup work with it, which if you already have an established media collection can be a bit of a pain. Have you looked into the WDTV and the Lacie Cinema drives? You might find they suit you better as they play a wider range of formats and store the files on themselves as well as being able to access stuff on your network.

Another option is to hack up your Apple TV and put XBMC on it, but that's another story.