AppleTV Server
When AppleTV came out I was really disappointed. I was hoping for something better than a mac mini hooked up to my TV, not simply an iTunes extender. But it is a good first step into the living room of most people (not my living room, I have a PC in there already which can do much more than Apple TV).
What do I see when I look at it? I definitely don’t see a Media Center PC, I see something much better - a thin client.
The next big thing out of Apple (and this is purely speculation) is an AppleTV Server. Merge the current AppleTV with the idea behind Windows Home Server and you have something truly amazing.
Imagine having an AppleTV Server (looks like a Mac Pro) running somewhere in your house, with 802.11n connectivity, space for 4 hot-swappable hard drives, and like 6 tv tuners. That’s it. No monitor, no keyboard, no mouse. This thing is managed through the network.
You create a user account on the Server, and then that user has a Music, Pictures, Movies, and TV Shows folder. It then syncs up with your iTunes OR you can specify to sync from a folder from somewhere else OR just store it on the network. For example, I would have my music and TV shows sync from iTunes, my Pictures sync with my external hd I keep them on, and store my movies on the network drive.
Then you have an AppleTV under every TV, and you have access to all your movies, music, photos, and tv shows (both purchased AND recorded, because the AppleTV Server will let you watch and record live TV) accessible on any TV or computer (through iTunes) in the house.
A big benefit of this setup is it allows you to have backups of all your media on the server in case something happens to your computer, as well as unlimited space potential (running low on space, throw another drive in, or get a bigger one).
July 25th, 2007 at 10:38 am
So Bill, this has been written by you a while back - has there been anything new on this since then? Were you able to implement such a solution? I would love to able to do something like this in my 3 bed apartment.