2?s About My New Apple TV

[Michael73]

All my media is on my MP and rather than sync it with my TV I'd rather stream as much media as I can. I know the MP has to be powered on and iTunes open but can it be in sleep mode or does it have to be "awake?"

I've tried checking the box in system preferences under energy saver that says "wake for ethernet network access" but I can't get the Apple TV to wake the machine. Does this only work if the MP is hardwired to the AppleTV?

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The second question is about getting a second Apple TV. If I attach another Apple TV to my TV in my bedroom and also set it up so that media streams to it rather than syncs with it, can I watch something or listen to something different than if the other Apple TV is in use in my living room. Essentially, can Apple TV (or iTunes) support different streams to different TVs?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

You MP has to be "awake". That awake for ethernet network access seems to only work sometimes.

To your second question, I don't know for sure, but have seen enough comments to believe that it can. Perhaps someone else with more than one TV can offer a definitive answer.

Back to your first question: depending on what specific media you like to have always available, you can always sync some media and stream other media. For example, I got one of the ebay 320gb TV hard drives to update my TV and that gave me the room to store all of my media except all movies on the TV. That's pretty nice when you want to play music, favorite podcasts, home movies, etc without having the computer turned on.

And then there is a hack options- one of which can make the USB link work with an external hard drive. i've seen claims that that works with up to 2Tb of media storage, so that could be an option as well.

 

[mstrze]

1)"Wake on wireless" works for our setup (Mini, ATV, Airport Extreme). I suppose that you don't have the option available on your system, it won't work for you. Computers older than 2009-ish don't seem to have this option. Mine does, so I don't know the exact details. My computer sleeps until ATV needs a file or data. There is maybe a 5-10 second delay when my Mini is asleep before I can play.

But given the wording of your option....(NOT 'Wake on Wireless' but ' wake on ethernet...' )...you need to have an ethernet cable running between ATV and the MB for this to work. You computer is probably older than '09?


2) I can't imagine there will be an issue streaming to multiple ATVs. You are not truly 'streaming' in the internet sense of the word, you are transferring files from your computer to the ATV so while there may be some delay in startup or playback if both ATVs are requesting a large file at the same time, 99.99% of the time, you shouldn't have any issues.

 

[Michael73]

The whole concept of sync to me seems kind of dumb for lack of a better word. For years I've been building a content library on my MP and with 4 HDD bays, it's got infinitely more space than an Apple TV.

In fact, my media doesn't even generally live on my Macintosh HD where iTunes lives, it lives on a completely separate drive that is "referenced" by iTunes. In my iTunes library I have hundreds of movies, tens of thousands of songs and more than ten thousand pictures in iPhoto. Again, it seems dumb to replicate all that content on the Apple TV. Why would I want duplicate content on so many stationary devices (I understand making it available to iPods, laptops and iPads so you can watch on the go - different story).

So, can I wake on wireless access? I didn't see that option.

 

[mstrze]

So, can I wake on wireless access? I didn't see that option.

If you don't see it...you can't.

My setup is exactly like yours. All of my content resides on an external attached to my Mini. NOTHING on ATV either...all streaming.

If you want to do this, you will need to have your computer up and running 24-7...or be ready to go in and wake it up should you need access if it's asleep.

 

[Gav2k]

Yes you can wake it on access but you need a compatible router to do so as well as a compatable os.

 

[Michael73]

Yes you can wake it on access but you need a compatible router to do so as well as a compatable os.

My router is my Time Capsule (it's the latest iteration about 5 months old).

I actually have AT&T U-Verse but the Home Gateway is in bridge mode and my 1TB TC sits right next to it. Both the Gateway and TC sit a couple feet behind my whole home theater setup of which the TV is part.

In the Airport Utility Settings, clicking on Time Capsule > Internet, on the Internet Connection tab the Connection Sharing option is set to "Share a public IP address." I think I read somewhere Connection Share HAD to be something other than "Off (Bridge Mode)".

Oh yeah, the OS is 10.6.3.

 

[fpnc]

Here is Apple's Knowledge Base article on the wake on demand feature.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3774

It sounds like you should be able to use this setup as long as your Apple TV and Time Capsule are running the latest software/firmware. Basically, you need Snow Leopard, the latest AirPort basestation firmware, and the latest release of the Apple TV software. If you have all of these and your Mac is connected to the Time Capsule with wired ethernet then it should work as long as iTunes is still running on your Mac (it should, however, be able to go into and come out of sleep). You should see one of the following text strings in the Energy control panel if everything is setup correctly:

"Wake for network access" - Your Mac supports Wake on Demand over both Ethernet and AirPort

"Wake for Ethernet network access" - Your Mac supports Wake on Demand over Ethernet only

"Wake for AirPort network access" - Your Mac supports Wake on Demand over AirPort only

Apple's Knowledge Base describes it all. Note, however, that only Apple's latest systems can be awoken over a wireless connection (the latter meaning that they are not connected to the local network via wired ethernet).