aTV to receive updated movies from iTunes

[xfiring]

I am streaming all my movies from a server (which is the only way to do it IMO) however, when I add an .MP4 movie to iTunes the only way it shows up on my aTV is if I right click and choose sync on my AppleTV and then the new movies show up there after a few seconds.

However, is there a way to have new movies I put in iTunes movie directory to automatically be recognized by aTV?

Thanks in advance.

 

[jaw04005]

The Apple TV is only set to get an updated list of iTunes content periodically. I currently don’t know the exact time interval between syncs, but no there’s nothing you can do to make it “update” except force a sync.

What do you mean you put movies in the iTunes’ movie folder? iTunes 9 has a watch folder called “automatically add to iTunes” which will move your movies to the appropriate folder and add them to the iTunes library file.

 

[xfiring]

I just mean when I manually drag the movie into the 'movies' directory in iTunes.

Yes, what you are referring too as the 'periodic' update is what I'd like to automate, but that doesn't seem to be happening.

Do you know if I were to set a job to reboot iTunes every night if that forces a sync? This may work, but the auto sync may be more than 24 hours so this may not be needed??

 

[jaw04005]

Do you know if I were to set a job to reboot iTunes every night if that forces a sync? This may work, but the auto sync may be more than 24 hours so this may not be needed??

Yes. However, the Apple TV should be syncing at least once a day without interaction on your part. Mine syncs several times per day automatically. It has something to do with whether or not the Apple TV think it’s busy.

 

[pjarvi]

I've been wondering about how to automate the sync as well and after a bit of searching came across the following thread/post: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/7433239/,

If you want an applescript that will sync the Apple TV you can use the applescript from this forum post at macosxhints. Then you take the "iPhone" entry and change it to "Apple TV" or whatever you have named the Apple TV. Applescript does not have an easy way to sync Apple TV. Instead you have to have it go through the menu system to select the sync. But you can modify the above script and then have it run once an hour to have iTunes sync with the Apple TV. Really up to you how often you want it to sync.

It links to the following: http://forums.macosxhints.com/showpost.php?p=391618&postcount=23

activate application "iTunes"

tell application "System Events"
	tell process "iTunes"
		set parentObject to menu 1 of menu bar item "File" of menu bar 1
		set SyncList to name of (every menu item of parentObject whose name contains "Sync")
		
		repeat with i from 1 to number of items in SyncList
			set SyncItem to item i of SyncList as Unicode text
			if SyncItem contains "iPhone" then
				click menu item SyncItem of parentObject
			end if
		end repeat
		
	end tell
end tell

I'm not too familiar with using AppleScript, but just do some Google searches and i'm sure there are plenty of tutorials around. I'm gonna give this a try over the weekend.