JimmyCMPIT wrote:
if you format a drive for mac format to use as a Time Machine backup there is a chance your smart TV will not be able to read that drive.
chance.. is not strong enough.. there is no way it can read HFS+ drives directly.. ie you cannot plug in a USB drive to the TV formatted HFS+
However this is not the situation over a network.. Any device that connects to a network resource has to use SMB or FTP or AFP etc to access files.. the format of the disk is handled by the local device not the network client.
A true media player like WD live TV can access mkv files on a Time Capsule and play it on the TV. The smart TV cannot because it need DLNA extensions.
I am looking for a good solution for the followings:
- wireless backup saving of mey Macbook Air 13"
- Storage for different media files (Videos basically)
- Play multimedia files (iphoto libary and mkv videos) on my Smart TV (wifi capable, and has a built in media player)
I think about a Time Capsule and an Apple TV, but before purchase I would like to be sure those will fulfill the requirements above.
A Time Capsule is useless for media storage. It has zero media extensions.
The problem is the SMART TV aint that smart as to read a hard disk directly.. it needs DLNA media extension. Apple do not provide this.
So here are your choices. (or at least the main ones as I see it.. there are many variations on the theme).
1. Buy a TC and use it for backups.. (this was its design function)
You can store itunes and iphoto libraries on it .. even MKV videos.. however you need a player. TC is not a player nor a media device at all. mkv cannot be played by the TV.. it needs DLNA. But you can stream from a computer.. via apple TV which is also NOT a media player.. (up to v4 at any rate). It is a streamer.. the key part is having a Mac computer doing iTunes.. which will link to the apple TV. (MKV should be converted to MEPG4?? and included in iTunes library).
There is one bad element in this.. wifi is not good at handling streams running in two directions.. so if you want to store the library on the TC use ethernet.. so that the stream to the TV over wifi is going to have sufficient bandwidth.
2. Plug a Mac directly into the TV and use it as HTPC and media centre.. this works really well and a mini from 2011 onwards work great. You can load Plex onto it and bend the apple rules a bit.. but still have itunes to connect to your libraries.
3. Buy a Synology NAS. This is more expensive cf Time Capsule, as you still need a wireless router. However the NAS has media extensions for both DLNA and iTunes and so can perform all the functions pretty well single handedly.. Some models now even come with HDMI video out.
Apple TV Gen4 does have Plex client apparently but cannot function as server..
But I think you should stick to apple world if you want to pay that kind of $$.
Apple TV 4 - DLNA