I think I've driven a few people crazy over the last year or so, asking about NAS, HTPCs, ATVs and things.
I've finally taken my first step towards my intended media centre, without having to spend the crazy money I was first thinking about.
This weekend culminated in the following all coming together:
I've now got all my media in once place, easily accessible through my TV and backed up across on the old storage drives I was using. I've given my ageing MBP a new lease of life and it will hopefully last me another few years before it needs replacing. I've also tripled my broadband speed which will be doubling again in less than six months!
Because I was prepared to do a bit of surgery on my Time Capsule and MBP, the total came in under £500, which is less than I had intended to spend on the NAS alone.
I know Apple get criticised for using 'cheap' parts in their 'expensive' products but the 1TB drive I took out of my TC was a Western Digital Caviar Black which surprised and impressed me.
The only snag I've come across is that all of my CD rips are in AIFF format and for some reason XBMC won't read the ID3 tags, so I can't add them to my library.
I was going to convert all my music to mp3 anyway, so that it doesn't take up all the space on the MBP, so until XBMC can sort out the ID3 tag issue I'll still be able to add my music to the library.
This has scratched the itch for a while. Stage two will comprise of adding a Mac Mini as HTPC in the living room, moving the ATV2 into the bedroom (which will also require another TV) and eventually buying that NAS that I've been thinking about for over a year!
Happy days.
I've finally taken my first step towards my intended media centre, without having to spend the crazy money I was first thinking about.
This weekend culminated in the following all coming together:
- Upgrading Virgin broadband to 30Mbs (which will be 60Mbs in the summer)
- Purchasing an ATV2 and sticking XBMC on it
- Upgrading the 1TB HDD in my 2nd generation Time Capsule to a 3TB drive
- Upgrading my MBP 3,1 to a 128GB Crucial M4 SSD
- Upgrade the MBP to OS X Lion
I've now got all my media in once place, easily accessible through my TV and backed up across on the old storage drives I was using. I've given my ageing MBP a new lease of life and it will hopefully last me another few years before it needs replacing. I've also tripled my broadband speed which will be doubling again in less than six months!
Because I was prepared to do a bit of surgery on my Time Capsule and MBP, the total came in under £500, which is less than I had intended to spend on the NAS alone.
I know Apple get criticised for using 'cheap' parts in their 'expensive' products but the 1TB drive I took out of my TC was a Western Digital Caviar Black which surprised and impressed me.
The only snag I've come across is that all of my CD rips are in AIFF format and for some reason XBMC won't read the ID3 tags, so I can't add them to my library.
I was going to convert all my music to mp3 anyway, so that it doesn't take up all the space on the MBP, so until XBMC can sort out the ID3 tag issue I'll still be able to add my music to the library.
This has scratched the itch for a while. Stage two will comprise of adding a Mac Mini as HTPC in the living room, moving the ATV2 into the bedroom (which will also require another TV) and eventually buying that NAS that I've been thinking about for over a year!
Happy days.