Talk To Me About Big Storage
- Thread starter Irish_Tom
- Start date
Have you actually read any of my posts? I own a MBP, an iPhone and a Time Capsule.
From my Last post in this thread said:
EVH, how do you get the mini to rip a Blu-Ray?
The ATV is only really necessary to rent HD films but it does make for a nice neat little box under the TV without the fuss of installing Plex etc.
If I could rent HD films through a normal Mac I would just get a Mac Mini as suggested but Apple don't think us Brits deserve the same treatment as our American cousins.
It may well be down to Licensing and/or the publishers of the content but it seems odd that they can do it in the US but not internationally.
If the ATV could read an iTunes library on a NAS without a separate Mac through-putting the media I'd be even happier as an ATV is cheaper than a Mini.
Well this was my latest thought.
I could build a Mini ITX HTPC/NAS using an Asus AT3IONT-I DELUXE as the base.
It's got HDMI and optical out, it's got 4 SATA ports and a PCIe expansion slot to add further SATA if needed. It covers both the Storage and the media playing in a nice neat package. I could even have a Blu-Ray drive in there.
The only stumbling block I've run into is that Windows Home Server doesn't seem to like running iTunes and Windows 7 or Windows Media Centre doesn't seem to have the HDD management tools that WHS has.
If I could overcome either of those two problems I think I would have a reasonable solution. It would certainly be a lot cheaper than the ATV+Mini+Drobo idea.
The only downside is, it's based on Windows and would need to be built, setup and maintained. I moved over to Apple to avoid all the hassles involved with self-builds.
Just to annoy everyone further. 
I think I'm going to get a Drobo FS (which I didn't know about before) as at the moment I don't need the extra 3 HD spaces on the Drobo Pro and the saving I'd make on the FS over the Pro makes the cost a bit more realistic.
I'll then get an ATV as I first intended and use my Laptop for the time being as the iTunes host.
Might wait for some reviews of the FS before I commit but it seems to be the best option at the moment.
I think I'm going to get a Drobo FS (which I didn't know about before) as at the moment I don't need the extra 3 HD spaces on the Drobo Pro and the saving I'd make on the FS over the Pro makes the cost a bit more realistic.
I'll then get an ATV as I first intended and use my Laptop for the time being as the iTunes host.
Might wait for some reviews of the FS before I commit but it seems to be the best option at the moment.
Soldato
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It rips them, and can play them with no issues
One presumes with a USB or FireWire BluRay drive?
Do you guys really watch that much TV?
Drobos are great though!
I did think about getting a 4-bay Drobo and Drobo Share but for the sake of £60 or what ever it is, you can get an FS with an extra bay and an all-in-one device.
Not sure about the two drive issue though.
Yeah I did a bit of research and found out that it is possible to rip Blu-Ray onto a Mac.
I've filled a 1TB Time Capsule, my 160GB Laptop HDD and an external 500GB HDD with iTunes TV shows and DVD rips.
One thing about iTunes HD content is that you get a separate SD version aswell (for iPhones/iPods). This means that on top of the 1/1.5GB file (for a standard 45min episode, you also get a 500Mb version as well. 2GB an episode for a twenty four episode series requires some serious storage.
Cheers for confirming Tunney.
I've just spotted this on the aTV Flash for Mac website:
It's quite expensive $50 + $30 for unlimited version updates.
However, if I got a second hand 40GB ATV (about £100) and this, it would work out cheaper than a new 160GB version.
I'm most tempted!
I've just spotted this on the aTV Flash for Mac website:
aTV Flash for Mac said:
It's quite expensive $50 + $30 for unlimited version updates.
However, if I got a second hand 40GB ATV (about £100) and this, it would work out cheaper than a new 160GB version.
I'm most tempted!
If I was buying a Drobo now, it would definitely be the FS model.
I'm definitely thinking about it as well - has anyone seen a decent review of it (with access speeds etc). I'm very very tempted, but somewhat reluctant to part with £500 unless the performance matches the price.
Deleted member 651465
Deleted member 651465
If the gigabit performance is anything like the DroboPro then you won't be disappointed
I'm looking at replacing my DroboPro with multiple Drobo FS's purely because they can be accessed when the server is offline, and you can access the contents as a cloud server.
I'm looking at replacing my DroboPro with multiple Drobo FS's purely because they can be accessed when the server is offline, and you can access the contents as a cloud server.