I'm looking for a media server solution and I didn't see a thread that describes my situation, so here goes:
I want to be able to wirelessly access my music, photos and movies on my large-screen plasma TV. I'd also like to be able to "rent" movies beyond my cable company's OnDemand service.
I have a 40GB Playstation 3 (PS3) and am able to access my MacBook Pro when it is on, but it doesn't see my networked 1-TB Fat32-formatted HD attached to my Airport Extreme router. Also, it doesn't play my DRM music, only plays mp3s and views jpgs that are copied to its HD, and is limited to type of video files it can play. I'd have to convert all my music to mp3s and all my video files to mpg and copy each individually to the limited 40 GB PS3 HD. A hassle.
Apple TV will allow me to do most of what I want to do, including rent movies and play DRM music purchased through iTunes. However, I'm not sure I can point it to my network HD that has been serving as my central library. I have two PCs which don't store a lot of media and a MacBook Pro that I don't have on all the time. Also, I've heard the lag time with Apple TV is somewhat disruptive.
Beyond these two options, what else is out there that will work with my existing setup? Do I need to go to an ethernet Media Server, a NAS drive or what? Is Apple TV my only real solution?
Thanks in advance.
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