Mark Dalton

Back in May 2009 Don McAllister who runs and hosts ScreenCastsOnline did an episode on using the New Mac Min as a Media server. Now I have owned a Mac Mini (G5) for a while and have been using it as a basic media server, and when I say basic, I mean I have Snow Leopard installed, but only use it connected to my iTunes Library via FrontRow. Well, after buying a new Samsung Series 7 LED HD TV I moved my Series 6 up to the bedroom and had it wired into Sky via a Sky Multiroom subscription, but this got me thinking again about the Mac Mini as a Media Server, so I decided to revisit the original shows (SCO198, SCO201, SCO204) and see what I had missed.

I did a clean install of Snow Leopard on the Mac Mini and then a Software Update whilst watching SCO198, and then set about installing Sapphire. Now Sapphire for me doubles the usefulness of the Mac Mini straight away as it gives me full access to my ripped DVD library that lives on my Drobo. Sapphire simply provides another option within the FrontRow interface, aptly named Sapphire that connects you to your media. This media can be on the Mac Mini itself, although Don didn’t recommend that, or on an external or network attached drive. Now at present I have my DVD’s located on a Drobo connected to the network via a DroboShare. This is functional but three is some lag. Once I have things as I want them I will once again look at the storage element as I don’t really want external drives all over the place but if its flakey I know I won’t use it.

Following Don’s instructions the installation was simple and was completed in less than 30 minutes. Importing the meta data and choosing the correct artwork did take a while, but given how many DVD’s I have on the Drobo that was to be expected.

The second show (SCO201) moved things up a notch and introduced Plex. Plex was just as simple to install and configure using Don’s walkthrough, but right from the outset it was obvious that Plex was a lot more powerful than Sapphire and there are many more options to explore / play with. Obviously Don could only cover the essential ones in the show, but this was enough to get me up and running. Importing the meta data and selecting the Album Artwork were easy and I know it’s sad, but quite good fun, especially with the added ability to use Fan Art which is top quality I must say from what I have seen so far. The interface is not as intuitive as it could be and some of the menu options are simply not named correctly as they do not actually do what they say they do. However once installed and configured this is certainly a small price to pay for the experience the application provides, and with luck the developers will quickly correct. Plex hooks directly into iTunes an iPhoto to provide you access to your music and photos, and better still Plex also supports “Applications”, which easily allow you to connect up to other services such as the ScreenCastsOnline feed.

In SCO204 Don takes a look at ways to remotely control the Media Server, but I must say I am perfectly happy with the Apple supplied remote. I did purchase the Aluminium remote for use with the Apple TV in the lounge, and may at some point buy another for use with the Media Server. I did explore using the iPhone and use the Apple Remote application to control my iTune library on the Apple TV as I do like to skip tracks and move between albums, but with the Media Server it is more select movie, click play, fall asleep. Why complicate perfection!

Okay so last weekend was a Bank Holiday, and a generally nice Bank Holiday at that. I didn’t feel too great going into it but the extra day helped. On the Saturday I welcomed little “Molly” into the world (see “New Additions“). Sunday and Monday were really chill out and catchup days. Long overdue!

Last week was the usual busy plus some as we are working on an internal event that aims to provide some insight into what we as a function do. A pretty good idea as very few people know what goes on behind the scenes and really only understand IT from the desktop perspective. I put my hand up and agreed to make a short movie that provides some perspective which has given me the opportunity to play around a little more with iMovie 09 on the new iMac.

This weekend however I am Duty Manager, which is always a downer especially as it has been a lovely weekend, but it has given me the chance to play a little more. The net outcome is a video I think will go down well at the event, but it has also shown me how much I need to learn about shooting video. That said with a project to work on it was a lot easier as I knew what I wanted the outcome to look like. It also allowed me to have a little fun with some of the footage I shot over the Easter weekend of William & Eleanor.

I would also like to announce that due to my increase in work load I have been forced to employe an assistant. At this point in time he is doing rather well, but does require some training. I would just ask that you all show a little patience as we all had to start somewhere.

So back in 2007 I reached the end of my tether with Microsoft Windows XP. Microsoft Vista was still a few months away from release and the PC I was using was running slow and crashing on a regular basis. So I made the decision to switch to a Mac. My first purchase was a 17″ MacBook Pro and I have never looked back. The transition was very smooth, but early on I found a link to a site called ScreenCastsOnline (affiliate link) run by a gentleman called Don McAllister

Don for me, is one of those people that has made using my computer interesting again, and it”s because of that I wanted to share this with you.

Every week Don provides a practical walkthrough on an application or suite of applications for the Mac, as well as the in”s and out”s of the Mac OS X operating system. These for me really made my switch to the Mac a lot easier and have really helped me get from my computer. If your new to the Mac or even if you have been using one for a while I would strongly suggest you checkout Don”s site over at ScreenCastsOnline (affiliate link).