Building the Ultimate Apple tv Media Center - Part Four: “It’ll All Work Out” (Setting Up)
There are so many different ways to set something like this up. This final installation of this blog series if going to mainly focus on what I’ve experienced so far, and what I plan on doing with my network.
So, my network at this time includes:
Airport Extreme
Airport Express
Cable Modem
Epson R200
LaCie 250GB External
Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro
Core Duo Macbook
tv or Mac Mini eventual purchase
This is a great general resource from Apple regarding 802.11n Network Setup. In that, it mentions that things run a lot smoother if the Airport Extreme is running a 5GHz (802.11n only) network. I have tested this, and it is true, but it also means that computers not configured with 802.11n hardware (my Core Duo Macbook for instance) can not connect with it. Until I am able to surround myself with 802.11n-capable machines, I have created a second network with my Airport Express. It pulls it’s source feed from one of the LAN ports on the Airport Extreme, and also is home to the USB plug for my Epson R200 and the audio plug I eventually would like to feed into an iPod HiFi. In the Airport Extreme setup, I enabled printer sharing over ethernet, which allows computers on either network to share my Epson R200.
I have not physically placed everything where it will be. I am still in testing phases, since some of the things I am including in this have not been released yet…
Ideally, I would like to put the cable modem, the Airport Extreme, and the LaCie Disk in the same place, hidden somewhere possibly in a cupbooard or cabinet space. If I do end up with a Mac Mini, I will make that the primary machine for the iTunes Library (since in my testing so far, only one can be connected at a time). I have found a decent workaround though. By enabling the Mac Mini to share its Library from within iTunes, all other machines (802.11n or otherwise) are able to see it, and share it.
Airport Utility - the new setup tool for Airport Extreme - is amazing. The easiest wireless setup utility I have ever seen, and also has a very extensive mode for advanced setup.
I hope to be able to post back soon with an actual report on the functionality of my new media machine. My next project will be figuring out the best way to access all my movies remotely. Which I will get to shortly after taking some time out to watch a movie - wirelessly - from anywhere in my house.
Until then, let’s hope Tom Petty doesn’t sue me for borrowing some song titles. 
