Household Mac Migration from Windows Media Center

Hi all!

I'm contemplating a complete switch from a windows centric network to mac. I've already been moving in that direction. I have a mac book pro and a time capsule. What is holding me back is my media center computers and windows home server. Here is how I'm set up now:

Windows Home Server to back up PCs, stream movies, music, pictures
2 WMC machines to play content on two of the household TVs

Right now, I have many issues with this setup. First, windows media center is very clunky and crashes frequently. One of my machines is nearly unusable due to poor wireless network performance that I'm tired of trying to troubleshoot. Second, I've gone with many third party plugins with very little success.

I'm intrigued by AppleTV, but I feel that in order to do that, I will need a desktop MAC to be always on, much like my WHS. So, this is my dream:

MAC desktop (TBD) with all my itunes content stored on it along with pictures on iphoto

2 Apple TVs to replace my windows media centers

So, finally, here are my questions about this setup. Any answers you can give to these will be extremely helpful.

1. How does home sharing work? I currently have an iphone and two ipads in my house that I sync on my macbook pro. I would not want to have to go upstairs to sync them with my desktop. Call me lazy, but I like to do those type of tasks while watching some TV. Will I be able to sync content from the desktop through my macbook pro?

2. I'm undecided on the desktop hardware to get. I have 2TB of storage on my current WHS. I would like a similar amount on my MAC, but with room to grow. It seems like apple doesn't have a good solution for that. Maybe a mac-mini with some sort of attached storage? Can you make attached storage look like one harddrive? I hate having multiple volumes. Anyway I can salvage my existing harddrives to save cost? Is a hackintosh with some existing hardware a good option? I don't mind getting my hands dirty with computer building.

3. What about DVR like solutions? I don't have a tuner for my WMC right now, but I've always wanted one. I'm looking at HDhomerun Prime (as I am a cable person). I've seen EyeTV for MAC. Has anyone had good success with this? Looks like this setup works nicely with AppleTV, is that true? I don't necessarily care if it has live playback. I just need something to supplement my cable companies DVR.

Sorry for the long winding post, but I've been thinking about this for a while and I'm having trouble finding solid answers to these questions.

I'm not sure what functions Windows Home Server has specifically, nor whether Apple TV is a suitable replacement. What I can tell you, however, is the setup I have at home, which seems to work for my wife and me.

On top of our TV, we have a Macbook (although a MacMini would work just as well, I suppose), with a Mini DVI to Video adapter (to feed video to the TV) and two external Logitech speakers (because I can't be bothered to figure out how to feed audio to the TV).

The Macbook comes armed with both iTunes and Front Row, both of which work well for playing purchased or rented iTunes content - whether stored locally, or shared from other computers in the house (like the PowerMac G5 I've downgraded to a file server in my utility closet).

We use Hulu Desktop to access Hulu Plus content, and have no issues with it. Netflix is a bit of a pain as neither Boxee nor Plex work well with the service (apparently each have compatibility issues related to Flash versions or whatever. Occasionally they work after an upgrade or a downgrade or whatever until Netflix [and Hulu too] move on and break it again), and that's why, more often than not, we'll just use Safari to start a Netflix movie or television program.

On my iPhone I have a $5 application called Rowmote Pro, which is a Wifi remote control that is compatible with all the programs I mentioned, and a lot more. It's like the Apple remote on steroids. It's a remote, it's a keyboard, it's a mouse, you can even pinch and zoom your desktop, and more. Great little program.

To answer some of your specific questions --

iTunes Home Sharing isn't about syncing, it's about streaming. Your files continue to remain attached to a single iTunes account on a single "server" computer (or connected network location). Ergo, to the best of my knowledge, if you want to sync an iDevice with that content, you'll need to do it from the server system.

Had I not just looked at Apple's latest lineup, I would have sworn that they had a 2TB option prior to the iMac and Mac Pro lines, but it would seem not. That being the case, I can see only three options:

1 - Purchase some kind of external storage device like your suggest.
2 - Purchase a larger hard drive and replace the one Apple provided.
3 - Utilize network storage somewhere in your home.

Some kind of cloud storage might work too, but it'll be a lot slower than anything you'd do locally.

As for the EyeTV, I don't have any direct experience with it, but I've heard good things from a lot of people that did. I'll tell you, though, with my setup, between iTunes, Netflix, and Hulu, I don't miss traditional television one bit. And I feel a lot better knowing that I'm paying for content I actually like rather than a couple hundred channels I never watch.

I hope this missive helps to some degree. Good luck!