Apple streaming/ other systems

[markuk4]

Hi, im wanting to move my DVD and blu ray collection to a hard drive then stream them to my TV. As i already have an imac it would be nice to do it all with apple equipment and i was wandering if an apple time capsule and apple TV would allow me to do this.

Im wanting to do it with the best quality picture as possible so if an apple setup would not allow that what other setup should i look at? Good sound is also important as in the future i am planning on adding an av reicever and speakers into the mix.

At the moment i will only be sending it to one tv and if possible iphone/ipad (although the priority is the tv). I would prefer it all to be wireless but im not sure if this will be possible with streaming blu rays.

Sorry for the vague post but i dont know where to start with this sort of thing and any help you can offer will be appreciated.

Mark

 

[next010]

Not without a lot of work, and probably not worth it.

The AppleTV can be hacked to run XBMC but the ATV2 is still just an iPhone in a box with hardware acceleration for H.264 video only, this means Blu-ray's need converting in order to be playable on the box. DVD's can be handled by the CPU but can be buggy if planning on keeping menus.

Wireless is not possible with Blu-ray's also you will need to use SMB protocol with the media players which really needs eithernet/homeplugs to perform properly. A Popcornhour A300 or HDI Dune Smart D1 player might be worth a look if you want DVD/BD playback will menu support and HD audio pass-through.

If you dont care about the BD menus, the Popbox v8 is worth a look at it has same base UI as the A300 but wil pass-through HD audio to your amp.

The Boxee Box has is another option, has no BD menu support but HD audio is buggy at the moment, it does have automatic jukebox scanning files names then downloading info about the movie, it also has Airplay and iOS compansion apps. Lastly is has AFP support so it can read a Timecapsule without having to use SMB/Samba.