Seeing as the most popular post on this blog is the Old Apple TV -> iTunes Media Server post, I decided that it would be helpful to post a follow-up with my current setup, now that my old ATV has bitten the dust (and replacements are no longer available).
Mac & Apple TV
If you're buying a Mac solely for use as a media server, get a Mac mini. You can pick them up at a discounted price from the Apple refurbished store. If you're buying second-hand, be sure to get an Intel one. I picked up a mid-2010 model, with integrated superdrive for playing DVDs. I have the mini hooked directly into my TV via HDMI. I've also upgraded the RAM and installed Mountain Lion to keep it up to date.
Create two folders on your Mac, Complete and Incomplete for your torrent transfers. Inside the Documents or Downloads folders will do.
Make sure your Apple TV (2nd gen or later) is hooked up to the same network.
Network-attached storage (NAS) (optional)
If you're using a NAS drive to store your content, you'll need to make sure that it's already mounted in OS X. I use a Western Digital My Book World Editionbut any NAS will do.
To ensure that the NAS is mounted after a boot, I have the following AppleScript run on login:
mount volume "smb://guest:[email protected]/Public"
It's specific to my model NAS, but could be easily modified to suit another manufacturer/model.
Dropbox or Transloader
You can use one of the following. They currently won't work in tandem, as Transloader only seems to download to the Downloads folder. If they make this folder configurable in future, then I will simply point it towards the Torrents folder in my Dropbox.
If you frequently use multiple computers, including those of the Windows variety, it will be helpful to have your Dropbox account linked across each machine. This will allow you to add a torrent from any Dropbox-linked machine.
Create a Torrents folder inside your Dropbox folder. We'll be using this folder later to trigger downloads in Transmission (see below).
If you have an iPhone, iPod, or iPad, get this app from the App Store and install it on all of them. Purchase the Mac client also, and install it on your Mac mini. Once set up, you can copy torrent URLs on your iOS device, add them to Transloader, which will trigger the download on your Mac (once Transmission is set up — see below).
For torrents, I recommend Transmission, as it can monitor folders and automatically pick up torrent files as they're added.
In Preferences, click on the Transfers tab and then on the Adding tab. Set theDefault location to the Complete folder on your Mac. Tick the box next to Keep incomplete files in and select the Incomplete folder.
While you're in Preferences, also tick the Start transfers when added and the Trash original torrent files options.
Finally, make sure that Watch for torrent files in is ticked and point this to your Torrents folder if using Dropbox, or Downloads if using Transloader.
This super-handy app is used to help with adding metadata, such as episode titles, artwork, etc. It also handles copying the converted files to iTunes and generally keeping things organised.
I have VideoDrive set up to encode for the 2nd Gen Apple TV. If you're using the Elgato encoder (see below), be sure to select it under Preferences -> Import.
To avoid filling up the Mac's hard drive, I use a NAS drive. You can tell VideoDrive to copy directly to NAS under Preferences -> File Location. Select the option Other folder of drive and pick a root location on your NAS. Then tick the Organize files… box so VideoDrive will automatically created subfolders for shows, seasons, etc.
Under Preferences -> Queue, I've selected Queue videos and try to import every 5 minutes. I've left the Never ask**confirmation… box unticked. While in this section, click Create Hot Folders and pick your Complete folder. This will cause VideoDrive to kick off importing once your download(s) have completed (the only caveat here is that it will not work for subfolders — I haven't had a chance to solve this particular issue yet, so I usually just manually import those files into VideoDrive).
iTunes
Under Preferences -> Advanced, leave the iTunes Media folder as-is, but untick the Keep iTunes Media folder organised box (VideoDrive now handles this instead). Also, untick the Copy files to iTunes Media folder… box — this will prevent iTunes from creating duplicate copies of your videos (e.g. one on the NAS and one on the Mac).
Make sure that Home Sharing is enabled, so that your Apple TV (2nd gen or later) can access the content under the Computers section.
Elgato Turbo 264 HD (optional)
Encoding video can be super-slow. While the Elgato stick isn't cheap, it speeds up encoding noticeably and is compatible with VideoDrive. It can encode an hour of video in less than 10 minutes. Totally optional, but I've found it to be a worthy purchase.
So, that's my current setup. Now, when I add a torrent file to Transloader, it's downloaded to the Mac, the video file is then downloaded automatically by Transmission, converted & copied to NAS by VideoDrive (via Elgato) and added (with metadata) to iTunes.
Note: I had a lot of this hardware on-hand already, so it's probably more complex than it would be if I was to start today from scratch. For example, I'd probably ditch the NAS altogether and buy a large-volume USB drive to attach to the Mac (which would let me use iTunes' library management instead of VideoDrive — using VideoDrive solely for metadata).