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Apple Tv with NAS?

L

LastLine

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 24, 2005
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

hey all

Currently all my media is organised through iTunes and stored on a hard disk plugged into my wireless router. The question is will the apple tv handle this ok?
 
As long as iTunes knows where your files are, there shouldn't be a problem.

I have an iMac, but all my media is stored on a USB drive attached to a windows XP box I use as a NAS. When I sync the ATV from iTunes on my Imac, everything syncs and streams (as the case may be) without any issue.
 
I stream my content from the hard drive plugged into my wireless router (Airport Extreme) to Apple TV.

Didn't work well with Front Row, but Apple TV handles it perfectly. No stutters or anything.
 
It works, in theory.

I was forced to abandon this strategy somewhere around 2.0. Unfortunately, at around the same time, Apple update iTunes as well as the AEBS software, so there's no telling what piece of the equation is unbalanced.

I have no idea if the issues with dropped AirDisk (NAS) storage have been solved. My iTunes library were on the NAS so my wife and I could share it, but when my iMac would wake up, it would refuse to reconnect to the NAS unless I quit and restarted iTunes. And that didn't always do it. Often, the Finder couldn't find the drive, either. (This is on an N network, with a distance between iMac and AEBS about 20 feet.)

I would check the disk to ensure it hadn't spun down or slept, etc. Nothing seemed to help consistently, so I yanked the drive and plugged it back into the iMac. No problems since.
 
Kilamite said:
I stream my content from the hard drive plugged into my wireless router (Airport Extreme) to Apple TV.

Didn't work well with Front Row, but Apple TV handles it perfectly. No stutters or anything.
Click to expand...

Sorry if I am being dumb (it happends sometimes ;) ) but are you saying that with ATV you can stream directly from the drive on the airport extreme? I.e. your mac/PC could be turned off and the ATV will access the movies directly from this drive?

I ask because if this is correct I will be buying an ATV :)
 
Tweeksy said:
Sorry if I am being dumb (it happends sometimes ;) ) but are you saying that with ATV you can stream directly from the drive on the airport extreme? I.e. your mac/PC could be turned off and the ATV will access the movies directly from this drive?

I ask because if this is correct I will be buying an ATV :)
Click to expand...

No - you need iTunes to be running. It goes like this:

(A) Airport Extreme AirDisk --> (B) Mac/PC with iTunes --> (C) Apple TV.

At the moment, there isn't any way to go straight from A to C.
 
which means your network will have to support twice the bandwidth required as you are really streaming in two directions at once through the network.
 
But, and that said I may be wrong, this is the same situation as if you share an iTunes library with another mac really isn't it.


Mac A ----> Router ----> Mac B

Mac A ----> Router ----> Apple TV
 
Thanks for the answers, that does suck a little though (so I need my mac/pc to be left on, unless I push certain shows to it!

want all the library available all the time! (and don't want to waste that much power!)
 
LastLine said:
But, and that said I may be wrong, this is the same situation as if you share an iTunes library with another mac really isn't it.


Mac A ----> Router ----> Mac B

Mac A ----> Router ----> Apple TV
Click to expand...
huh? Well all I can tell you is that the atv has to stream from a running iTunes, if I tunes is accessing its library from a network mounted drive (for instance an airdisk or equivalent) then the original movie file is streaming from the airdisk to the Mac's running iTunes, then sent back across the network to the atv. All simultaneously. So to work effectively your network would have to be able to sustain 2 x the movie bitrate at the very least.
 
Tweeksy said:
Thanks for the answers, that does suck a little though (so I need my mac/pc to be left on, unless I push certain shows to it!

want all the library available all the time! (and don't want to waste that much power!)
Click to expand...


The ATV is an iTunes bridge, not a media center.
 
JonHimself said:
I dont think that works tho, does it? I think you still need to have a computer on running iTunes that connects to the NAS iTunes server
Click to expand...

I am doing some tests, but I can say it's working so far. I have not a Apple TV yet, but I have placed my iTunes library in a foder of my Lacie Mini Home Edition, told to my iMac and Macbook the new location of the library and everything works like a charm, as easy as 1-2-3. All I have to do is, when I add something to my library:

1. import new files in iTunes library of one of my Macs
2. go to samba server and "option-drag" the files just added, to the library of the other Mac

And the good part is that no Mac has to be turned on to work. Even if I don't have an Apple TV yet, I think everthing should work with Apple TV as well.
 
Come to think of it, do those NAS routers that support itunes streaming, support video and such as well?
 
Cancelliere said:
I am doing some tests, but I can say it's working so far. I have not a Apple TV yet, but I have placed my iTunes library in a foder of my Lacie Mini Home Edition, told to my iMac and Macbook the new location of the library and everything works like a charm, as easy as 1-2-3. All I have to do is, when I add something to my library:

1. import new files in iTunes library of one of my Macs
2. go to samba server and "option-drag" the files just added, to the library of the other Mac

And the good part is that no Mac has to be turned on to work. Even if I don't have an Apple TV yet, I think everthing should work with Apple TV as well.
Click to expand...

yes that may work with itunes on different computers. a lot of people do this.

but actually implementing this onto the ATV could be a different story. you can't open it as a shared library thing. would that even be able to be done in the same manor as loading the library itunes file??
 
You could always buy a cheap, used Mac/PC to serve as the "always-on" server.

If I needed to, I could use my old iBook500 (complete with busted trackpad) to serve as the streamer to the aTV. If I didn't use a NAS, I could plug the HDD right into the iBook, connect the iBook to the router using ethernet.

I currently use my iBook as a printer server and sometimes a Mac the Ripper client (the Macbook is fussy sometimes). Setting the iBook up to serve aTV wouldn't be too difficult.

ft
 
I'm not aware of any NAS iTunes streamers that support ATV.

When you connect the ATV to an iTunes library for the first time, the ATV displays a code that needs to be entered in iTunes in order to use the library. I'm not aware of any NAS that allows you to enter that code. Maybe things have changed recently, but I haven't seen it.

I have a ReadyNAS NV+ which does support iTunes streaming service. All the computers in the house can see it / use it, including my Wii and my PS3. The ATV can see it, but asks to enter the code.
 
DoFoT9 said:
yes that may work with itunes on different computers. a lot of people do this.

but actually implementing this onto the ATV could be a different story. you can't open it as a shared library thing. would that even be able to be done in the same manor as loading the library itunes file??
Click to expand...

I am thinking about this: if I sync AppleTV with one of the two Macs and input pass code, what will it happen if I turn the Mac off? I mean... library is phisically stored in a always-on NAS: will Apple TV need some sort of .xml file in a phisical Mac to access the library?
 
Cancelliere said:
I am thinking about this: if I sync AppleTV with one of the two Macs and input pass code, what will it happen if I turn the Mac off? I mean... library is phisically stored in a always-on NAS: will Apple TV need some sort of .xml file in a phisical Mac to access the library?
Click to expand...

People are getting confused about this.

The Apple TV works exactly like an iPod - you sync it with your computer. Only difference is, you can stream to your Apple TV.

Anything that is on the Apple TV (i.e. synced to it) will be playable at all times (you do not need your Mac on). However, if you have stuff in iTunes that you told not to be copied to Apple TV (i.e. if you are low on disk space) then that will be streamed. And it makes sense that it will only be streamable when your Mac is turned on.

If you have NAS, you cannot sync directly to the Apple TV, it still needs iTunes to be running.
 
Cancelliere said:
I am thinking about this: if I sync AppleTV with one of the two Macs and input pass code, what will it happen if I turn the Mac off? I mean... library is phisically stored in a always-on NAS: will Apple TV need some sort of .xml file in a phisical Mac to access the library?
Click to expand...

i dont think that would work, bceause there would be some sort of file that needs to be read from the mac that is on.

Kilamite said:
People are getting confused about this.

The Apple TV works exactly like an iPod - you sync it with your computer. Only difference is, you can stream to your Apple TV.

Anything that is on the Apple TV (i.e. synced to it) will be playable at all times (you do not need your Mac on). However, if you have stuff in iTunes that you told not to be copied to Apple TV (i.e. if you are low on disk space) then that will be streamed. And it makes sense that it will only be streamable when your Mac is turned on.

If you have NAS, you cannot sync directly to the Apple TV, it still needs iTunes to be running.
Click to expand...

yea i can see your point. yes, while having an external NAS to read files from it may need read from the mac to get the 'link' to the NAS storage, but i thought that there would be some kind of library file that you could make on the mac, then sync to the ATV and use that instead??

e.g. 1. make another library (holding option while starting itunes)
2. linking, (not importing) the files from the NAS.
3. syncing to the ATV.


then technically shouldnt that give the ATV the library from the mac? so therefore it would elimitate the need to use the mac?
 
DoFoT9 said:
yea i can see your point. yes, while having an external NAS to read files from it may need read from the mac to get the 'link' to the NAS storage, but i thought that there would be some kind of library file that you could make on the mac, then sync to the ATV and use that instead??

e.g. 1. make another library (holding option while starting itunes)
2. linking, (not importing) the files from the NAS.
3. syncing to the ATV.


then technically shouldnt that give the ATV the library from the mac? so therefore it would elimitate the need to use the mac?
Click to expand...

That would be good but the Apple TV isn't programmed to do that. It is in some sense, an extension to iTunes.

Maybe we'll see Apple evolving it even more to accommodate this, but I don't really mind having iTunes open.

All my music is on iTunes, and I like being able to select a song in iTunes, stream it to the Apple TV and get album art and then be able to skip and pause songs with the Apple TV remote.

I still wish Apple would update the models to 500GB and 1TB.
 
Kilamite said:
That would be good but the Apple TV isn't programmed to do that. It is in some sense, an extension to iTunes.

Maybe we'll see Apple evolving it even more to accommodate this, but I don't really mind having iTunes open.

All my music is on iTunes, and I like being able to select a song in iTunes, stream it to the Apple TV and get album art and then be able to skip and pause songs with the Apple TV remote.

I still wish Apple would update the models to 500GB and 1TB.
Click to expand...

would be extremely good!! doesnt it have a 2.5' hard drive in there but??

there must be some way to manually put the library file on and make ATV go to a location. hak-x0ring :p
 
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