Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Can Apple TV stream back to your Mac?
- Thread starter JW008
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I think what you're looking for is NAS, a Mac Mini or an Xserve... depending on the scale of your storage and streaming requirements.
Anything you rent from ATV cannot be put on another device or computer.
Anything you rent from iTunes can be moved between devices (including ATV)
Kevin
There are three ways to get content on the AppleTV...
1. Purchase or rent it on your computer and stream it to AppleTV. Here the content is already on your computer.
2. Purchase it on AppleTV. You cannot stream it to your computer, but you own the file... it will synch back to whatever computer, iPod, iPhone, etc. you want it to be on. From here you can copy it via iTunes to as many iPods as you own, and up to five computers on your network.
3. Rent it on AppleTV. I'm not sure about SD but here the only option is direct to AppleTV, with no copying to other devices. This limitation may be to prevent unauthorized duplication of high resolution files... deal with it.
Sounds very similar to what happens when you purchase something from the iTunes Stores on your iPhone (via the iTunes WiFi store).
Ahhh...that's unfortunate. I really wanted to convert my DVDs and keep them on the Apple TV (which would be in my living room), but have the ability to stream them back to my iMac (which is in my bedroom). Oh well...
Kevin, you seem to have a good handle on the 
TV take 2. I guess you're at MacWorld right?
Could you please enlighten this forum as to an aspect of the newTV that is causing confusion?
Let's say we have a MacBook with limited HDD space. Is it not possible to send movies from your MacBook to reside on theTV and not sync back to the MacBook's HDD?
Personally, I don't need movies on my notebook but I would like to rip DVDs and put them exclusively on theTV and remove them from my iTunes library.
Is this possible?
Being able to stream back the movies to a computer would be nice, but not an expectation.
A second related question I have is regarding podcasts. I didn't see an option to subscribe to podcasts on theTV. It seems as though you can stream a podcast from a source but you won't be notified of new podcasts. Is this what the new "Favorites" menu is for?
I'd rather leave the podcasts to theTV and remove that option from my iTunes as it is one of the hungriest features on iTunes in regards to HDD space.
Thanks in advance for your clarification!
TV take 2. I guess you're at MacWorld right? Could you please enlighten this forum as to an aspect of the new
TV that is causing confusion?Let's say we have a MacBook with limited HDD space. Is it not possible to send movies from your MacBook to reside on the
TV and not sync back to the MacBook's HDD? Personally, I don't need movies on my notebook but I would like to rip DVDs and put them exclusively on the
TV and remove them from my iTunes library. Is this possible?
Being able to stream back the movies to a computer would be nice, but not an expectation.
A second related question I have is regarding podcasts. I didn't see an option to subscribe to podcasts on the
TV. It seems as though you can stream a podcast from a source but you won't be notified of new podcasts. Is this what the new "Favorites" menu is for?I'd rather leave the podcasts to the
TV and remove that option from my iTunes as it is one of the hungriest features on iTunes in regards to HDD space.Thanks in advance for your clarification!
I was for the keynote, but I'm back at work nowKevin, you seem to have a good handle on the
Could you please enlighten this forum as to an aspect of the new
Let's say we have a MacBook with limited HDD space. Is it not possible to send movies from your MacBook to reside on the
Personally, I don't need movies on my notebook but I would like to rip DVDs and put them exclusively on the
Is this possible?
This is possible but only if you never put iTunes and the ATV back on the same network. If you delete them from iTunes and it tries to sync with ATV, it will delete those items it no longer has in its library (i.e. keeping them in sync).
A second related question I have is regarding podcasts. I didn't see an option to subscribe to podcasts on the
Correct. There is no subscription for podcasts on the ATV in this release. You can either download them (and they'll show up in "My Podcasts" and if you are paired with iTunes they will sync back) or you can just play them straight from the server.
The favorites lets you keep a collection of those podcasts easily accessible.
Thanks in advance for your clarification!
Hope that helps!
Kevin
You have it backwards...
Kevin
I'd like to think everyone else has it backwards!
Thanks for your help!