Apple TV 3rd gen Home Share issues

[Just Switched]

My Apple TV won't stay connected to iTunes home share.
Neither will my iPad 3rd gen. They both connect to the network fine
because I can see youtube videos on the apple tv and surf the web on the iPad but just won't stay latched on to home share. I am running windows 7 64 bit.

I've had the IT guy from work come to my house and verify that TCP port 3689, UDP port 5353, where open. We turned off all firewalls. Checked to make sure none of my drives, router, computer etc where going into sleep mode. Still no luck.

I returned the Apple TV and iPad thinking I must have gotten faulty units and still no luck. Home Share works for a little bit but then my devices won't stay connected. I doubt that all 4 of the devices I tried to home share to are bad.
so then I tried a new router. Didn't make a difference so I returned the router.

Did all the obvious things like having the latest firmware on my router, latest version of iTunes, reset router, etc. I am using a WRT610N router. Apple TV would not stay connected to iTunes home share regardless of connection being ethernet wired, or WiFi. I have disconnected the PS3, smartphones, slingbox, NAS, and all my other networked devices (which all run smoothly) to see if there was some sort of conflict and still no luck.

I then called best buy geek squad and they were not able to get this thing to stay connected. They immediately assumed that my ports weren't being properly opened, forwarded, so they also checked that. He had a router in his van and brought in to see if it was just my router. Still no luck. I have to turn off of the apple tv and and restart iTunes to re-establish the connection. I'm in love with my iPad and Apple TV when the home share is working but I am going nuts having to restart my Apple tv, iPad and itunes 12 times a day.

It makes me particularly sick that my wife's transformer prime attaches to network fine, and tells I should just get a prime because "it just works and is easy to use."

I refuse to give up. I have to get this iPad and Apple TV to stay connected to my iTunes home share. It has now become my personal mission to get this thing working if for nothing else to prove to my wife that the Apple TV and iPad are better than her transformer prime. I have tried this on various windows 7 computers at my house. I also opened a new iTunes account.
Not sure what to try next I am willing to try almost anything short of buying an iMac or MacPro to get this thing to work.

 

[here2rock]

I had the same problem. A simple process of going into settings>general>restart fixes the problem for me. Try it!

 

[Just Switched]

They were defective!

Unbelieveable. I ended going back to return both the Apple tv and iPad as having been through every single thread on here and on apple support about home share issues that I was going to give up. The person at the customer service line told she sees on her screen that I had just exchanged the same items recently and that she needed to get a manager since this would be 4 returns in relatively short period of time. It took a while for the manager to come up but when he came he apologized for the inconvenience and asked if I could wait a little while longer while he checked out the devices. They weren't able to get them to get work and then mentioned that they weren't able to sell the previous apple tv and ipad I had returned as open box because they couldn't get those to work either. So I asked for my money back. The manager asked if I would accept a 5% discount refunded to my credit card and to give new ones a try as he did not think it would be at all likely to have 3 bad apple tvs and 3 bad ipads in a row. Relcutantly I accepted, wasn't too sure the 5% discount was worth the hassle. But believed the guy that they were just defective units since I have an iPod that does connect to my home share without issues.Tried them out home last night and both worked absolutely fine with out a hitch. No disconnects. Did nothing different with my network. This purchase was a big hassle for me but I'm finally happy about my new ipad and apple tv.

Not for all but for some of you who have exhausted all your options, been through every single thread on here about home sharing and on apple support and called apple care etc. may just have a defective unit. The solution is exchanging it for a new one.