73Bruin Thanks I do have the iMac and the wirelees router.
I am not familar with Squeezebox. Sorry.
I know this is a stupid question but doe this set up alow movies as well as music. Does this setup alow for Blu-Ray?

I know that I will need external hardrives.

Thanks

73Bruin
Disregard above post about whether or not Squeezebox would handle video. I went to the web site and see that it is strictly for music.

Something to think about. Shame that they do not have something for Video

I may be wrong, but I don't think that any setups allow for Blu-ray at present because of copy protection, as it was designed to prevent you from copying the data off the disc. It's much like DVD was at one time (until the encryption was broken).

Gonk, Maybe I did not explain myself clearly. I did want to copy any blu-ray material.
I am considering introducing a media server into my Home Theater.
Name brands are pretty expensive. I wanted something home grown. Cheaper.
HP has introduced a media-smart center.

You mean "didn't" - right? If you aren't copying Blu-ray to a media server, then all that you need to allow for Blu-ray is a Blu-ray player connected to your processor. The media server setup ends up being a completely separate entity.
For audio only, this sort of device is pretty straightforward: have enough network storage capacity for ripping all your CD's into your format of choice and then get some sort of media client (the Squeezebox is a popular choice, and the Duet offers some handy control options that I've heard good things about) to tie the network storage to the 990.

If you also want to do DVD's this way, though, it does get trickier. One reason that so few manufacturers have built media clients that support video is cost, but I think another is a fear that they will be tacitly supporting movie piracy (download DVD's or rip your buddy's discs, dump them on your hard drive, and watch them just like you had the original disc) and thereby anger the movie industry. If you look at the three most obvious examples of video media clients, you see a trend: AppleTV, Roku Netflix box, and VUDU all focus on playing back content that you've somehow paid to download. You can import your own videos into iTunes and play them on the AppleTV (I've done it with a couple short clips from my digital camera), but it's not something that lends itself to working with DVD's and I'm sure that's intentional. The best example of a network client/server system that support video is Kaliedescape , and they used a very expensive closed, encrypted system for storing the DVD's that still got them dragged into court for several years (it's resolved now, but their prices remain way, way up there).

I don't know what solution I'd use for a DVD server. An HTPC would be the cleanest approach in many ways, but even building your own will take some money (especially if you use a case and cooling components that are really quiet) and the user interface needs some care to insure that it's convenient.

Thanks Gonk for your response. The more I look into the idea of using the iMac for a video media server the more complex it seems to be.

Thanks again

A Mac Mini in the equipment rack could actually be a stronger candidate, possibly with a separate drive array on the network. I know that they've been including the little remote with Mac's for some time now, which might simplify setup. Definitely not a straightforward process, though.