Sharing media across my home network, in more ways than one...

Hi,
Bear with me, because I can only just get my head around this myself:
I would like to have a network accessible hard drive to which I can store all the photos, music and video in my home. The devices accessing it are a MacBook Pro (10.5.3), a MacBook (10.4.11), and a Sony Playstation 3 (whatever the latest update is).
My home network is working correctly, and everything can connect to each other. I currently use Nullrivers MediaLink software to stream my MacBook Pro's content to the Sony Playstation 3, which works as well as it should. I also have an Airport Express (connects to my home network) connected to some speakers, to which both my MBP and my partners MacBook can stream to (we use Airfoil for other audio).
However, I would like to consolidate all our media onto one device, so that we are using the same iTunes library(1), the same iPhoto library(2), and all of our video is also accessible to both of us. Now I know how I would do this using a plain old network attached storage device, but this wouldn't allow me to stream the media to the Playstation 3, as far as I know - the Playstation 3 needs to have some sort of DLNA protocol to access the data. I'd love to be able to fire up the Playstation 3 and show people photos/videos etc, without first having to turn on my MBP.
Now I have looked into this a bit, but I don't know much about network storage, and the only options I have seen are either a DLNA certified NAS, such as those from Buffalo's range, or another computer running as a server (something like a G4 Cube or Mac Mini). The latter option wouldn't be ideal because I would like to have the box wired to my router, which is next to the TV, and I don't want to have to keep a mouse and keyboard hanging around for admin, or need different adaptors to connect it to the TV to see it, besides having the power consumption of another computer running 24/7.
Buffalo's LinkStation Live drives seem reasonably priced, and on paper seem to do everything I would like, but I have been put off by poor reviews, posts on PS3 forums saying they don't work, and also that they are "slow".
So am I stuck with having to look for a cheap Mac Mini, or going with a NAS HDD that might/might not work with the Playstation 3?
We would not have an issue with not being able to share iTunes store purchases, we do not have very many. We would obviously need to be able to sync our iPods from either of our machines, drawing from the main repository, if thats possible.
The ability to access the shared drive remotely would get bonus points, but is in no way necessary.
(1) We would share the same Library file, so that any changes made by either of us would be reflected on each others iTunes windows. If there are issues with two people accessing the same library at the same time, we probably wouldn't run into them because we rarely use iTunes at the same time. This sounds silly but you know what I mean.
(2) Is this even possible with one of the computers running iPhoto '08 and one running iPhoto '06? This isn't a major issue, music sharing being the main one.
Please Help!!

I decided to keep my old 20" Core Duo iMac as a Server in the bedroom, and now use it as a television and PVR as well. I wouldn't have made much on eBay anyway.

Similar Messages

Starting Over - in more ways than one.

My how things have changed since I bought my new 6100/60 Power PC for $3500! I'm really overwhelmed and need advice on what to buy. My budget is $2500 for computer and camcorder. I have three boys and one girl, all grown and out of the house, and now baby #4 the way. Suprise Surprise!
I don't want to go out and buy something that's not compatible. I've been doing some research and there's so much to look for. I want plug and play. I really like the new Imac. I think a 20" model is all I could afford. How important is the processor speed for editting movies? What is enough ram? Is MiniDV with firewire the best format for interfacing the two?
I've been behind the times for a couple of decades and would like to get caught up, at least for a few months.

Be sure to look at the deals on the Apple Store refurb page. In my experience, the refurb Macs look new, and they have the same one-year warranty (and opportunity to extend with AppleCare). They just come in a plain brown box. You may save some money, or have enough to get the 24-inch iMac.
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac?mco=MTMzNTY
As for the camera, if it is a new video camera you are buying, the trend seems to be for using a USB connection instead of FireWire (at least for consumer products). And Apple did remove FireWire from two of their most recent products, the unibody MacBook and MacBook Air.
Any recent iMac should be able to handle non-pro movie editing with ease.

What can I use to get shared media across OSes on my local network?

Hey guys,
My family is getting a new home entertainment center and I've thrown together a PC from spare parts around the house to put behind it and I'd like to know if there's a program out there that would allow me to gather shared media across the local network (everyone else in my family uses Windows...mainly Vista :-/ ). If not, is there any other way I can access the shared media (short of putting Windows on the PC of course)? I tried searching, but I couldn't seem to come up with anything.
Thanks in advance!

Alright, so I've been working with Samba today, and I believe I have it working properly. However, I can't seem to access any shared files/folders on machines that have Vista on them.
When I run smbtree, I get this output:
\\HOMEMEDIA
\\WINXPCOMP
\\VISTACOMP1
timeout connecting to 192.168.1.107:445
timeout connecting to 192.168.1.107:139
cli_start_connection: failed to connect to VISTACOMP1<20> (0.0.0.0). Error NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED
\\VISTACOMP2
timeout connecting to 192.168.1.105:445
timeout connecting to 192.168.1.105:139
cli_start_connection: failed to connect to VISTACOMP2<20> (0.0.0.0). Error NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED
\\WIN7PC
I'm not really sure what to do here. I've tried changing around settings in the smb.conf file, but I'm not really sure what exactly it is that I'm doing for every option. Also, smbtree sometimes won't output a tree at all and it will just hang. I'm quite confused, any suggestions on what I should try?
Also, one of my Windows 7 PCs won't show up on smbtree. I can ping it though...maybe it's not on the right workgroup?
EDIT: I was able to fix the problem with my second Windows 7 computer, apparently I had to change from 128-bit encryption to 40/56 bit encryption, then smbtree was able to pick up on it.
Last edited by celestialorb (2009-09-02 04:54:27)

Anyone know of a good IOS app that can play all media files across a home network, file share on a NAS or Windows PC??

anyone know of a good IOS app that can play all media files, MKV, AVI, Xvid with subtitles across a home network, file share on a NAS or Windows PC?? I know I have BS player free for android, works pretty good on my nexus tablet. is there a good IOS one that anyone can think of that can browse the network?
or do I have to run transcoders?
I store some files on the windows PC and some files on a linux NAS that the windows PC maps to

I'm sorry to hear that.
I'm not affiliated w/ the developer, just a happy user that gave up fighting the apple podcast app a while ago. I used to have a bunch of smart playlists in itunes for my podcasts, and come home every day and pathologically synced my phone as soon as I walked in the door, and again before I walked out the door in the morning.
Since my wife was doing this too, we were fighting over who's turn it was to sync their phone.
Since I've switched to Downcast, I no longer worry about syncing my phone to itunes at all. I can go weeks between syncs.
Setup a "playlist" in downcast (ex., "Commute") and add podcasts to that playlist. Add another playlist ("walk" or "workout") and add different podcasts to that one.
Set podcast priorities on a per-feed basis (ex., high priority for some daily news feeds, medium priority for some favorite podcasts, lower priority for other stuff). Downcast will play the things in the priority you specify, and within that priority, it will play in date order (oldest to newest).
Allegedly, it will also sync your play status to other devices, although that is not a feature I currently use and can't vouch for. It uses apple's iCloud APIs, so to some extent may be limited by what Apple's APIs can do.

Sharing files over a home network...

I have a 2 year old iMac sitting in my basement.. I use it, and it is currently home to a ton of photos, videos and sound files (Logic as well as itunes). This week I plan on getting a Macbook to tootle with on the main floor (the basement is cold. ;))
I would love to be able to share files (and back them up as well.. kinda a nother issue).
As it stands right now, I have a 250 GB external drive which is backing up the iMac (but has hit it's limit).. need more space.
in addition I have a D-Link DLR 655... great little router. I believe it has Network capability in that I think through something called SharePort it can help you share files across a network.. no idea how.
So, yeah, that's about it.. anyone have any good tips in terms of building out a comprehensive backup system in conjunction with a file sharing capability across two macs (and maybe even a PC or two) across my home network?
Finally, how would that even work.. let's say I have an image on the imac, when I open it on the macbook, would I see it in iPhoto?
Lotsa questions.. thank you so much.
Jay.

Hi
Its not that obvious from the supplied information if you're talking about OSX Server? Perhaps your question might get more attention if you posted here:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=235
Which is the main Leopard Forum. You could also look here:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=599
Click 'more options' in the Search field, select All, Last Year and key in 'networking'. Should reveal something? This article might help:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1433
What you're asking is simple enough. Connect all of your nodes (network devices; eg: macs, pcs, printers etc) to a switch or router or combination of the two. Depends on how many nodes you have. Wired (Ethernet) or Wireless will do. Make sure the router is providing IP addresses. Basically is its built-in DHCP Service switched on? By default most of them are. Once that's done and you've verified they can all access the internet, enable File Sharing. System Preferences > Sharing for the Macs and for the PCs right click the 'C' drive > Properties > Sharing.
Backup is a vast subject and its difficult to be concise. A lot depends on your skill set, means, budget and location. You could search this and the XServe/XServe RAID Forums as it has been discussed many times. A basic principle is to make sure you can effectively restore what you backup. Most people forget this when implementing an effective backup strategy. To start you off purchase a large enough external hard drive. Connect to all your macs and simply drag/drop what you want. If you have Leopard use Time Machine. For the PCs use something appropriate. Photos & Music can be transferred from mac to mac by simply enabling the options in the applications themselves. ITunes > Preferences > Sharing: Look for Shared Libraries; Share this Library. When you launch iPhoto hold down the option key. It's fairly obvious after that.
If you double-click on an image presented in the Finder (shared) on one mac then your mac will use whatever application it can find that it thinks can handle the file. For image files that could be Preview or Quicktime or if you have it installed an image editing application such as Photoshop. You can even define which application handles which type of file by control-clicking on the file itself and selecting 'Open With'. This is fairly basic 'how to use your mac' stuff which you should know?
Tony

Macbook and Windows 7 PC sharing files on a home network

I have a Macbook pro and a windows 7 based pc. Is it possible for these computers to share files like pictures, videos, itunes library across a home network? If so, what is the easiest way to set that up?

Very detailed instructions:
http://macs.about.com/od/filesharing/ss/file-sharing-win7-snow-leopard.htm
I am a Bestbuy employee who volunteers on these boards on my own time. I am not paid for posting here, and you should understand that my opinions are exactly that - opinions. I do not represent Bestbuy in any way.
: Open Mailbox

Hi i insttalled the free trial 3O days MacScan on OsX10.5 is it normal that for full scaning it takes so long time more even than one day?! on the other hand this application hasn't any uninstaller on image disc ,so how can i uninstal it from my hard?

Hi i insttalled the free trial 3O days MacScan on OsX10.5 is it normal that for full scaning it takes so long time more even than one day?! on the other hand this application hasn't any uninstaller on image disc ,so how can i uninstal it from my hard?Thanks

Get rid of the tracking cookies. They are used to profile and track your browsing history. While they are privacy invading, by calling them spyware, MacScan is being a little dramatic in trying to sell you its crap. And in the future, for whatever browser you use, don't allow third-party cookies.
To prevent tracking, get Ghostery. In addition to having Ghostery and forbidding third-party cookies, I clear out all cookies from one browsing session to another. If you always do that, you won't have any tracking cookies to worry about, so you won't need MacScan to find them for you. Btw, MacScan finds the tracking cookies in the first few minutes of scanning; if you want to use it for that, then that's all the time you need to run it for. But, as I said, you won't have any tracking cookies around if you just remove all cookies and don't allow third-party cookies. As soon as you visit a site that needs them, you'll just get new ones. No problem.
Read all about cookies here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie

Sharing photo's across a home network

Hi,
I would love to find a way to share a large (around 100 Gb) iPhoto Library across multiple Macs in my home network.
Is there a way to do this that is secure (backing up the library!) en reasonably fast? Or is this a 'new feature request'
Thanks in advance!
Hein
Amersfoort NL

If all Macs are connected by cable to the LAN you can do what you want. Put the library on an external HD formatted for OS X Extended (journaled) and set the Ownership to be ignored.
Click to view full size
Setup an account on the Mac that the EHD is connected to so all can log in to that account and access the EHD. Remember, *only one person can use the library at a time and you should not access the library wirelessly* as Terrence warned against. That's a recipe for disaster.
OT

How do I create an Itunes playlist on an ipad 2 for a shared library on my home network

Hi, please help? How do I create a playlist on tunes on my i pad2 with a shared i tunes library on my home network?

no need to create a secondary library - too troublesome, IMHO. you can spread your library over as many drives you can connect to your Mac (wired or wirelessly):
iTunes > preferences > advanced.
point iTunes media folder location to the external
on the same tab, ensure the copy files ... when adding option is checkmarked
okay out of preferences
highlight the content to be moved in iTunes and right-click
select consolidate files from the pop-up menu
wait for the process to finish
when done, you may delete the original files from your boot drive.
alternatively, you could move the whole shabang to the external HD:
copy the entire iTunes folder (not just the iTunes music or media folder) from <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music to the external, launch iTunes while holding the option(⌥) key, click on choose library when prompted, and select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
when done, be sure to point iTunes media folder location to the external so that new additions to your library will be put there. also, you need to make sure the external is mounted on your desktop before you fire up iTunes.

Problem with shared HP930C printer on home network

We have 2 networked computers at home -- one is Windows XP with an HP930C printer attached, the other is Windows Vista 32-bit with a Canon iP3600 attached. Both printers are shared across the network. Both computers will print to the Canon printer. We used to able to use the HP printer from both computers. Then it was detached for many months, and now we cannot use it from the Vista computer.
The HP printer can be seen from Control Panel of both computers. But when we try to print from Vista, a dialog box appears and disappears so quickly that it cannot be read -- nothing appears in the printer queue and nothing prints. I downloaded and ran the HP Home Network Diagnostic Utility on the Vista computer, but it did not find the HP printer.
I've checked everything I can think of, and I've run out of ideas. Can anyone help, please?
Lindsay Graham, Canberra, Australia

Hello freemcb, and welcome to the HP Forums, I hope you enjoy your experience!
I see you are experiencing connectivity issues. I would like to help.
I would recommend powering down the printer and computers. Once they are off, I would recommend removing the power cord from the router and waiting 60 seconds. After the alloted time, plug the router back in and let it broadcast, then power on the printer and computers.
I would also recommend utilizing this document on Wireless Printing Center Troubleshooting Issues.
Good luck and please let me know the results of your troubleshooting steps. Thank you for posting on the HP Forums!
Please click “Accept as Solution " if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the right to say “Thanks" for helping!
Jamieson
I work on behalf of HP
"Remember, I'm pulling for you, we're all in this together!" - Red Green.

Sharing iCal within a home network

I want to share iCal calendars on my MacBook Pro (running 10.6.8) with an iMac (with multiple user accounts running 10.7.x) on a home network. I would like all the users on the iMac (three accounts) to access the same iCal calendars (on my MBP).
Any simple solution?
Thanks!

No. because they expect you to sync your calendars with iCloud - you can share calendars privately using iCloud, and then of course your subscribers won't be limited to your home network. Your sticking point is having Snow Leopard on one machine - you may be able to sync using this unsupported hack.
The sharing method is described here:
http://help.apple.com/icloud/#mm6b1a9479
Incidentally, it's BusyCal, not BusySync - BusyCal is $50

How to access media files on home network?

Hi there,
How do I browse my home network files from the N900.
On a windows computer, I am familiar with network neighbourhood or my network places and it's easy to find files on other computer.
But with N900 and linux I don't know where to look.
Anyone have any hints ?
Thanks
Fred

Hi fhumbert
As primarily Mac user I'm sure others will have better solution for you but you would need to install SSH Server on your N900:http://maemo.org/downloads/product/Maemo5/openssh-server/
On your Windows PC you would need to install WinSCP or FileZilla client to allow SFTP connection to your N900. You might find this link of use:http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=41490&page=2
Happy to have helped forum in a small way with a Support Ratio = 37.0

Sharing aperture libraries over home network

My Aperture (3.4) Library is on my Mac (OS-X 10.8.2). I want to access from my MacBook (OS X 10.7.5) Aperture (3.4) over my home network.
When I 'Switch to library' on the MacBook and select the Aperture Libraray on the Mac I get the message:
'Aperture cannot switch to the selected library because the file system of the library’s volume is not supported.'
Al suggestions will be appreciated!

Sorry, that is not possible. Aperture is not a network database system, and an Aperture library can only be accessed by one user at a time.
The Aperture library must be stored on locally mounted volume, formatted MacOS X extended.
See this support article by Apple:
Aperture: Use locally mounted Mac OS X Extended volumes for your Aperture library:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3252
Regards
Léonie

Problems sharing media across network via USB of E4200

Wasn't sure where to post this.... I have been using the e4200 for about a week. So far, so good! However, a primary reason I purch it was the ability to share via USB across my network (Files and such). Read the approved USB drives that r compatible and although my specfic drive was not listed (WD, my Passport) I connected it to the e4200 and set a folder called "movies"to share. In this folder I have both bluray rips (25-32GB) and standard rips (5gb or less). Regardless of source, the content was not playable. It buffered like crazy. So, is it as simple as using an approved USB drive and I will be able to share appropriately?
The same folder plays great when connected directly to one of my media streamers USB drive, so don't think the drive/source is bad.
Thank you!

What is the capacity of the your WD HDD? The maximum HDD capacity supported by E4200 is 3TB. What is the hardware version of the device, also please mention the current firmware version of E4200.
You have mentioned that the media is not playable. Does it not play at all or it takes time to buffer and then play?

How to share external hard drive across wireless home network

Hi.
I have just about completed converting my life from PC to Mac. I am very excited. I have three Macs at home and they are all blue tooth, etc. I am easily able to share a printer hooked to one of them, but can not find a way to find, share or use an external hard drive attached to another. How would one begin looking for that device in order to read from or write to it?
Thanks.
Farzad

I have 3 Macs Airport networked at home; one G4 has an extrnal hard drive attached. If that hard drive is on, when I log into the particular G4 computer from my iMac Duo2Core (Go>Connect to Server) I get the option of logging into the G4 "Macintosh HD" or to the attached "External Hard Drive." The User Accounts at home do not have Admin privileges to the other computers, except my iMac Duo2Core which has admin privileges to the other 2. I did nothing special in setting up the network. I don't know if I can log into the external from the other G4 which does not have admin privileges to the G4 with the hard drive - never had occasion to test.
So, you might first try a set up like mine, (one admin computer for the whole network, and if you can't access the hard drive from non-admin computers, then (and if safe) give all computers admin privilegs across your network (System Preferences>Accounts - check the box that says "Allow user to administrate this computer" - for each user account). If you have young kids or folks who shouldn't have admin privileges, I'd think long and hard about doing it the second way though.
Hope this helps!
iMac 20" Due2Core; iMac 17" Duo2Core; iMac G4; eMac G4; iBook G3 Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2G Ram

Sharing media across my home network, in more ways than one...

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for