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ATV2 stream from Time Capsule?

M

Marky

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 4, 2005
163
0
Hi

I have searched but cannot find the answer.

I'm thinking of getting the Apple 2TB Time Capsule for it's intended purpose anyway.

I'm also intrigued by the ATV2.

Would ATV2 be capable of streaming iTunes video content stored on the Time Capsule either as part of the Time Machine back up or by partitioning the drive and storing my iTunes there?

I really like the idea of streaming my library to my TV but keeping the MacBook Pro switched on constantly for this purpose seems mad - it gets boiling hot at the best of times.

Regards
Mark
 
I am pretty sure this does not work as the Apple TV needs to use Homesharing from iTunes and nothing on the Time Capsule serves this function. I do not have a Time Capsule so someone may correct me.
 
Irrelevant (for now) what type of NAS you use. Bottom line is Home Sharing requires an open version of iTunes to be running and thus one of your PCs to be on...your actual media can reside anywhere so you can still keep it on the TC but youll still have to have iTunes open on one of your machines.

Apple may change this down the road with some firmware upgrade allowing network devices access to the home sharing protocol but dont see that in the short term.
 
I have a TC and also an ATV2. As long as you use a computer to access media on your TC via iTunes, you can stream it to your ATV2 (which recognizes your computer running iTunes Home Share).

Therefore if iTunes can play it on your Mac, ATV2 can stream it to your TV.
 
Shrewdude said:
I have a TC and also an ATV2. As long as you use a computer to access media on your TC via iTunes, you can stream it to your ATV2 (which recognizes your computer running iTunes Home Share).

Therefore if iTunes can play it on your Mac, ATV2 can stream it to your TV.
Click to expand...

How do you set up itunes to see and therefore stream what you have on your time capsule?

Thanks,

David
 
bukiwhitey said:
How do you set up itunes to see and therefore stream what you have on your time capsule?

Thanks,

David
Click to expand...

You need to point your iTunes to use a folder on the TC as its library. You will need to first change the location, consolidate your existing library to move to the new drive and then take any content on the TC and import it into iTunes.

These are two decent resources to start with:

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12519_7-10242259-49.html
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to-a-new-hard-drive/
 
It would be great if you could take the Mac put of the equation. Sigh...apple, I'm going to have to jailbreak my atv.
 
musio said:
It would be great if you could take the Mac put of the equation. Sigh...apple, I'm going to have to jailbreak my atv.
Click to expand...

Exactly, I want a set up that doesn't require booting up the laptop every time I fancy streaming something to the TV. I just need ATV to 'see' my iTunes library on a wireless hard drive. Time Capsule ideally but any hard drive connected to my WiFi would do.

So is this something likely to happen via jailbreak, ie did it happen on the jailbroken old ATV?

Regards
Mark
 
bukiwhitey said:
How do you set up itunes to see and therefore stream what you have on your time capsule?

Thanks,

David
Click to expand...

It's quite simple actually.
Keep your iTunes folder where it is
Go into iTunes Preferences > Advanced > and uncheck Copy files to Library.
When you then choose to add media to your Library (that is on the TC), iTunes will only hotlink the Media files and not copy them over.

When you then play a file in your iTunes library that is linked to the TC it will mount the TC drive and then play it. This will work as well if you have a hard drive installed don the TC.

So yes, if you want to stream media to the ATV2 you need to have a computer running iTunes on your home network.

ATV2 is a magical little device at a fair price with great potential. Unfortunately, in it's current state, it is simply not that useful. It needs to be able to launch iTunes on its own so that you don't need to have a computer running all the time. It would also be essential for it to run VLC because most of us have a variety of media files that are not always compatible with iTunes and converting all these files will result in time and quality loss.

By restricting their new devices to prevent how users go about their every day business will simply fuel the need for Jailbreaking. I personally can't wait for ATV2 to be jailbroken to allow new apps installed on it. Then the ATV2 will come in really handy and be used to its full potential.
 
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