Home Sharing, 2 itunes accounts, computer free access?

[Jordom115]

I am sorry if this has already been covered, but I can not seem to find a clear answer to this.

I plan on purchasing an apple tv to use primarily with my itunes library. I will not typically be streaming anything locally as I have itunes match and a wide band connection for streaming video. My goal is to configure a setup where as long as the apple tv has internet, no one has to stream from a computer (except itunes movie which I will end up using the ipad for anyway).

My roommate also has an itunes account and will want to access itunes purchases on the apple tv. If home sharing is properly enabled, will he be able to access his purchased music and tv shows on the apple tv without his computer being turned on?

 

[maturola]

My roommate also has an itunes account and will want to access itunes purchases on the apple tv. If home sharing is properly enabled, will he be able to access his purchased music and tv shows on the apple tv without his computer being turned on?

OK I am not 100% sure what you real question is, but I will do my best to answer what i got, Home sharing is just that,...Sharing while in "home" in order to "share" something you need a source, in this case your computer, ATV will stream from your computer using the ID that the computer is sharing on the network, if the computer is not on...then there is nothing to see since nothing is being share.

On the music side, there is iTunes match, your music is on the cloud, so with the correct login (either yours or your roommates) you will be able to stream from the cloud your music (given that both account have iTune match).

Now... The iTunes account used to purchase the content in any of your libraries can be different than the iTunes account used to set up Home Sharing, so you can set home sharing in any computer with a single ID and used that ID on the Apple TV that the Apple tv will see all the computers and its content (but then again the computer need to be present [on])

 

[Jordom115]

OK I am not 100% sure what you real question is, but I will do my best to answer what i got, Home sharing is just that,...Sharing while in "home" in order to "share" something you need a source, in this case your computer, ATV will stream from your computer using the ID that the computer is sharing on the network, if the computer is not on...then there is nothing to see since nothing is being share.

On the music side, there is iTunes match, your music is on the cloud, so with the correct login (either yours or your roommates) you will be able to stream from the cloud your music (given that both account have iTune match).

Now... The iTunes account used to purchase the content in any of your libraries can be different than the iTunes account used to set up Home Sharing, so you can set home sharing in any computer with a single ID and used that ID on the Apple TV that the Apple tv will see all the computers and its content (but then again the computer need to be present [on])

Thank you, I should have been more clear. I am guessing what I am trying to do will not be possible. To clarify, I will be logged in to the ATV with my itunes account and therefore will be able to access my music (itunes match) and purchased TV shows (standard ATV fuction), without a computer or iOS having to stream the content. Is there any way for my roommate to access his purchases in that same way?

Thanks for the help, I've been completely stumped thus far on this one.

 

[sulliweb]

Thank you, I should have been more clear. I am guessing what I am trying to do will not be possible. To clarify, I will be logged in to the ATV with my itunes account and therefore will be able to access my music (itunes match) and purchased TV shows (standard ATV fuction), without a computer or iOS having to stream the content. Is there any way for my roommate to access his purchases in that same way?

Thanks for the help, I've been completely stumped thus far on this one.

Not unless you change your home sharing settings every time you two want to swap. You can only do one account at a time so far as I know.

 

[maturola]

Thank you, I should have been more clear. I am guessing what I am trying to do will not be possible. To clarify, I will be logged in to the ATV with my itunes account and therefore will be able to access my music (itunes match) and purchased TV shows (standard ATV fuction), without a computer or iOS having to stream the content. Is there any way for my roommate to access his purchases in that same way?

Thanks for the help, I've been completely stumped thus far on this one.

You can set your roommate home sharing with your ID and then all his stuff will be on the ATV locally, but his computer will have to be on. No cloud match for his stuff since the cloud is linked to his AppleID, but the local sharing can be set with any ID (setting the home sharing with your ID won't open your ID to him to use it on the store or anywhere else).

 

[Panch0]

Thank you, I should have been more clear. I am guessing what I am trying to do will not be possible. To clarify, I will be logged in to the ATV with my itunes account and therefore will be able to access my music (itunes match) and purchased TV shows (standard ATV fuction), without a computer or iOS having to stream the content. Is there any way for my roommate to access his purchases in that same way?

Thanks for the help, I've been completely stumped thus far on this one.

You could use the same account for Home Sharing on both of your computers, and Both Libraries would be visible to Apple TV whenever the computers were available. Not what you want...

iTunes Match uses your actual iTunes Store account, so only one per AppleTV.

You could buy a second Apple TV and plug it into a second HDMI Port. That's the only way I can think of to get two separate iTunes Match accounts onto the TV...

 

[sulliweb]

You could use the same account for Home Sharing on both of your computers, and Both Libraries would be visible to Apple TV whenever the computers were available. Not what you want...

iTunes Match uses your actual iTunes Store account, so only one per AppleTV.

You could buy a second Apple TV and plug it into a second HDMI Port. That's the only way I can think of to get two separate iTunes Match accounts onto the TV...

That wouldn't really work for him, though. I'm guessing that he has content that he wants to play from the other account, and I think even if the other library were visible, nothing would be playable unless it was purchased with his account. However, that's just me speculating. The second ATV option is the only one that I'd see that would work.

 

[maturola]

That wouldn't really work for him, though. I'm guessing that he has content that he wants to play from the other account, and I think even if the other library were visible, nothing would be playable unless it was purchased with his account. However, that's just me speculating. The second ATV option is the only one that I'd see that would work.

Yes, it will be playable if it is share locally with the same ID

 

[sulliweb]

Yes, it will be playable if it is share locally with the same ID

Really? Even if it was bought with a different iTunes account? Huh... I have to say I really thought Apple was a little more... restrictive... than that. Oh well, you learn something new every day, I suppose.

 

[maturola]

Really? Even if it was bought with a different iTunes account? Huh... I have to say I really thought Apple was a little more... restrictive... than that. Oh well, you learn something new every day, I suppose.

"Home Sharing", it doesn't matter who ID paid for it, you can share it on the local network.

 

[Jordom115]

Thanks for the advice

It seems pretty clear that while it is fairly straight forward to share other computers libraries with the apple TV while the computers are turned on, only one iTunes account (in this case mine) can have access to tv shows and music without a computer or iOS device streaming it locally.

I don't want to keep my laptop running constantly and half the time I would like to leave it at work so I need to be the one who has this level of service from the ATV. My roommate has a desktop so leaving it running with itunes open is far less of a hassle. Problem solved.

It would be really nice if apple would allow multiple itunes accounts to be "authorized" on one ATV... Then allow internet streamed or "cloud" access for all purchases on all accounts.

I see no reason why apple wouldn't do this as they already allow 5 authorized devices. If two people want to authorize one ATV, why not? Buying two ATVs for one TV seems a bit absurd. I already plan on buying two, one for each TV.

Finally - Does anyone think Apple will release another set top box style apple TV possibly with an A5 or A6 chip and more advanced functionality? I am specifically hesitant about the current model due to the lack of 1080P output capability. All this hype about the iTV is great but everyone seems to have forgotten about current ATV and how it hasn't been updated in 2 years. I am very hopeful that apple releases an updated box with the iPad 3. It would make sense since the Apple TV is just another iOS device and iOS 5.1 will likely have some sort of updated functionality for the Apple TV. It would be a great selling point for Apple to differentiate the old from the new with some advanced iOS functionality that would only work on new ATV hardware. Any thoughts?

 

[sulliweb]

"Home Sharing", it doesn't matter who ID paid for it, you can share it on the local network.

While I see your point, my thought was the whole DRM authorization thing that Apple does. Since the ATV wouldn't have those credentials... well, it wouldn't be able to authorize itself to play the content.

I was assuming the device viewing, not sharing had to be authorized...

Eh, not the first time I've been wrong. Thanks for the info.

 

[Dan--]

I don't want to keep my laptop running constantly and half the time I would like to leave it at work so I need to be the one who has this level of service from the ATV. My roommate has a desktop so leaving it running with itunes open is far less of a hassle. Problem solved.

Don't forget that may be able to wake the desktop on LAN access from the ATV, so it wouldn't necessarily have to be on all the time.

 

[Panch0]

...
Finally - Does anyone think Apple will release another set top box style apple TV possibly with an A5 or A6 chip and more advanced functionality? I am specifically hesitant about the current model due to the lack of 1080P output capability. All this hype about the iTV is great but everyone seems to have forgotten about current ATV and how it hasn't been updated in 2 years. I am very hopeful that apple releases an updated box with the iPad 3. It would make sense since the Apple TV is just another iOS device and iOS 5.1 will likely have some sort of updated functionality for the Apple TV. It would be a great selling point for Apple to differentiate the old from the new with some advanced iOS functionality that would only work on new ATV hardware. Any thoughts?

Everyone thinks the lack of 1080p is such a big deal, but really, the only source of 1080p content is BluRay (or rips thereof). Many of us on this forum have a really fast internet connection that would make it possible to stream 1080p content, but it seams like there are an awful lot of households out there who are not able to get that. Until the average bandwidth available to households increases significantly, 1080p content is not going to be common for streaming. Until iTunes and Netflix content goes to 1080p, there's not really much point in the AppleTV supporting it. Apple doesn't make products for the spec enthusiast, they make them for the mass market (even their hobbies).

An A5 should support 1080p playback, but 1080p is unlikely to be the feature that would drive Apple to update the ATv. It might happen if they want to bring a Siri interface to the device though and you would then get 1080p capability along with it, but content is still going to be scarce.

Also, consider that some studies have shown that Netflix streaming traffic already accounts for MOST of the traffic handled by ISPs (at least in the US). How do you think you ISP is going to react when that traffic doubles ( or more) because the content went from 720P (or less) to 1080p? You're either going to get a capped plan or a price increase.


I think that ATV software upgrades are going to be more important than hardware upgrades for a while. I'm not sure that an AppStore is going to happen, but I do think that additional 'channels' will continue to be added every so often. Maybe we'll get Hulu, ESPN, HBO or more sports channels. Maybe apps from FiOS, XFinity or DirectTV. Maybe Apps from the Networks. But I think they will be added as features rather than a Store. Or I could be totally wrong...

 

[maturola]

An A5 should support 1080p playback, but 1080p is unlikely to be the feature that would drive Apple to update the ATv. It might happen if they want to bring a Siri interface to the device though and you would then get 1080p capability along with it, but content is still going to be scarce.

While I agreed 100000000% with almost everything you said... There are very clears indications that Apple is getting ready to release 1080P Rental in iTunes, backing it up with a high rez iPad (3) that can play those, it make just sense that the AppleTV would follow, specially since the A5 (possible A6) will be able to handel it without a blink.

 

[Jordom115]

While I agreed 100000000% with almost everything you said... There are very clears indications that Apple is getting ready to release 1080P Rental in iTunes, backing it up with a high rez iPad (3) that can play those, it make just sense that the AppleTV would follow, specially since the A5 (possible A6) will be able to handel it without a blink.

Excellent point about the 1080p rentals and ipad screen res. I am feeling a bit more optimistic now. I set up a poll to see what others think. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1321006/

 

[Jordom115]

Everyone thinks the lack of 1080p is such a big deal, but really, the only source of 1080p content is BluRay (or rips thereof). Many of us on this forum have a really fast internet connection that would make it possible to stream 1080p content, but it seams like there are an awful lot of households out there who are not able to get that. Until the average bandwidth available to households increases significantly, 1080p content is not going to be common for streaming. Until iTunes and Netflix content goes to 1080p, there's not really much point in the AppleTV supporting it. Apple doesn't make products for the spec enthusiast, they make them for the mass market (even their hobbies).

I think that ATV software upgrades are going to be more important than hardware upgrades for a while. I'm not sure that an AppStore is going to happen, but I do think that additional 'channels' will continue to be added every so often. Maybe we'll get Hulu, ESPN, HBO or more sports channels. Maybe apps from FiOS, XFinity or DirectTV. Maybe Apps from the Networks. But I think they will be added as features rather than a Store. Or I could be totally wrong...

I agree with all stuff about 1080p... it's not a deal breaker for me because of the lack of content and because I have a large bluray collection if I'm feeling like 720p or 1080i just isn't cutting it. In fact it's extremely difficult if not impossible to differentiate between any of those resolutions unless you are either very close to your TV or it is very very large. For me, I just have a lot of trouble accepting that my Roku can technically out preform the ATVs resolution... it just makes me feel a little sick. I am a spec enthusiast aren't I? Oh well. (I do have a crazy fast internet connection though... I traded cable TV for wideband around 50Mbps, totally worth it)

I know what's really important is the software. For me, just the simple addition of Hulu and pandora would let me take my roku of my main TV. But come on Apple... just open it up! It's going to happen eventually, paid apps would continue to generate apple rev through the app store. Apple could still control the rules, what content gets through, and how everything is priced. The only thing that would change is everyone being a lot happier with the product. But you are probably right that they will keep in totally locked down and continue adding one free service at a time.

Eventually, probably with the iTV, Apple will open up iOS and have the most powerful and intuitive user interface for TV. We will be able to subscribe to individual channels of live TV, download and stream shows, movies and music, as well as browse the web and communicate. That's obviously the next big thing from apple, I just fear they will force everyone to buy their TVs instead of putting the system into a modular design. I hope they do both.