First time poster, and thanks in advance for any help that any of you might be able to provide. -- Josh
I have a mid-2007 iMac, several AppleTVs and Apple mobile devices, and a 2014 Macbook Pro coming at the end of the week (more detailed info below). I have a roughly 1 TB library of movies, which are currently housed in an external hard drive attached to the iMac. When I'm on my home network, I'm able to stream all the movies to all of the AppleTVs, iPhones, and iPads, using iTunes and home sharing, with almost no problem. But, my family would like to access our movie library remotely, when at the airport, visiting family, etc.
I've researched various options, and am having a hard time parsing through some of the more technical information and figuring out what setup would work best. It seems to me that although I can't use my iMac as a second display for the new MacbookPro because of technical limitations on the iMac, I might still be able to use the iMac as a remotely accessible home media server. Running Plex on the iMac has been suggested, but I keep hearing conflicting information on whether the AppleTVs are compatible with Plex, and I've had trouble successfully forwarding ports several years ago when I played with Plex briefly. iTunes/home sharing is just so easy in terms of setup and reliability between Apple devices, in my experience. I looked into buying an AirPort Time Capsule, since I was looking into upgrading my router to support 802.11ac anyway (advice on that too?), but was told that neither the Time Capsule drive nor any drive attached to it would be remotely accessible. Back to my Mac seems like it might work for me to access my library remotely when using the MacbookPro, but not any of the mobile devices (which are more important to the kids), and I'm not sure what advantage a NAS drive would have over using the iMac (although this is where it starts getting a bit technical for me). Looked at OSX Server also, but not sure how that would interface with whatever additional components I need to get.
Thank you in advance for any help. I'm sure people have figured out a way to access their media libraries remotely, but for some reason I can't find a straight answer on how. I've included additional technical details about my setup below. Thanks again!!
iMac, 20-in, Mid 2007, 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, OS X 10.9.4, 250 GB storage
Macbook Pro w. Retina, 13-in, 2014, 2.6 GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3L SDRAM, 128 GB PCle-based Flash Storage
Iomega HDD, 2 TB
Netgear N600 Wireless Dual Band Router, Model No. WNDR3400v2
AppleTV, 3rd generation (x3)
iPhone 5, iPhone 4s, iPad (2nd gen), iPad mini w. Retina
I have a mid-2007 iMac, several AppleTVs and Apple mobile devices, and a 2014 Macbook Pro coming at the end of the week (more detailed info below). I have a roughly 1 TB library of movies, which are currently housed in an external hard drive attached to the iMac. When I'm on my home network, I'm able to stream all the movies to all of the AppleTVs, iPhones, and iPads, using iTunes and home sharing, with almost no problem. But, my family would like to access our movie library remotely, when at the airport, visiting family, etc.
I've researched various options, and am having a hard time parsing through some of the more technical information and figuring out what setup would work best. It seems to me that although I can't use my iMac as a second display for the new MacbookPro because of technical limitations on the iMac, I might still be able to use the iMac as a remotely accessible home media server. Running Plex on the iMac has been suggested, but I keep hearing conflicting information on whether the AppleTVs are compatible with Plex, and I've had trouble successfully forwarding ports several years ago when I played with Plex briefly. iTunes/home sharing is just so easy in terms of setup and reliability between Apple devices, in my experience. I looked into buying an AirPort Time Capsule, since I was looking into upgrading my router to support 802.11ac anyway (advice on that too?), but was told that neither the Time Capsule drive nor any drive attached to it would be remotely accessible. Back to my Mac seems like it might work for me to access my library remotely when using the MacbookPro, but not any of the mobile devices (which are more important to the kids), and I'm not sure what advantage a NAS drive would have over using the iMac (although this is where it starts getting a bit technical for me). Looked at OSX Server also, but not sure how that would interface with whatever additional components I need to get.
Thank you in advance for any help. I'm sure people have figured out a way to access their media libraries remotely, but for some reason I can't find a straight answer on how. I've included additional technical details about my setup below. Thanks again!!
iMac, 20-in, Mid 2007, 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, OS X 10.9.4, 250 GB storage
Macbook Pro w. Retina, 13-in, 2014, 2.6 GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3L SDRAM, 128 GB PCle-based Flash Storage
Iomega HDD, 2 TB
Netgear N600 Wireless Dual Band Router, Model No. WNDR3400v2
AppleTV, 3rd generation (x3)
iPhone 5, iPhone 4s, iPad (2nd gen), iPad mini w. Retina
