Home Sharing options

[WebHead]

Is anyone aware of Home Sharing support in Catalina? I'm not hopeful of being able to add my own DRM-free movies and TV shows to the new TV app.

Will I continue to be able to use iTunes for that? Will tvOS still have a Computers app? Or will I have to use a third-party solution like Plex?

 

[stiligFox]

Yes! I installed the beta of Catalina just to see if this is still a thing.

Home Sharing and Media Sharing is very much alive and well; it has now been moved to the Sharing section of System Preferences.

As far as playing non-DRM movies, I’m assuming that you’ll just drag and drop your files into Apple TV as you would have in iTunes.

 

[WebHead]

Awesome, thanks for, er, "sharing"!

Hope you're right about adding to library.

 

[WebHead]

Okay, now I'm wondering if there's a difference between Media Sharing and Home Sharing. Or is it just that Media Sharing needs to be enabled to use Home Sharing?

 

[stiligFox]

Okay, now I'm wondering if there's a difference between Media Sharing and Home Sharing. Or is it just that Media Sharing needs to be enabled to use Home Sharing?

From what I can tell, Home Sharing is where you authorize devices on your local network to download and play your media, including DRM'd media - whereas Media Sharing (which is a bit older) only allows someone to browse and listen to your library as long as your computer is powered on.

 

[cmaier]

Weird. The phrasing makes it look like Home sharing isn’t limited to the same network?

 

[WebHead]

Weird. The phrasing makes it look like Home sharing isn’t limited to the same network?

Was thinking the same thing!

 

[browder]

Weird. The phrasing makes it look like Home sharing isn’t limited to the same network?

As far as I can tell it is limited to the same network. It appears to work the same way as sharing did under iTunes.

Home sharing is home sharing. Share media with guests appears to be the old style sharing. You can enable either, or both, under Media Sharing.

The great thing is there is a background process - mediasharingd - that controls media sharing, so none of the apps need to be running for sharing to work.

 

[tw319884]

Can someone post a screenshot of what happens when you drag an m4v to the TV app? usually home sharing let me had my movies and tv shows on itunes.

 

[WebHead]

Can someone post a screenshot of what happens when you drag an m4v to the TV app? usually home sharing let me had my movies and tv shows on itunes.

Yes, and/or a screenshot of the File menu so we can see if there's an "Add to library" option. TIA

 

[lemieuxfan67]

Yes, and/or a screenshot of the File menu so we can see if there's an "Add to library" option. TIA

Importing of files is still there, see attached.

 

[WebHead]

w00t, awesome thanks!

I note there’s also still a Home Videos genre. Hopefully we’ll still be able to tag ripped movies and TV shows as such.

 

[tw319884]

Importing of files is still there, see attached.

thanks. and new shows are displayed in their squared art? or in the new rectangular one TV app uses?, if it shows previes for every show? will it add metadata to my shows?

 

[lemieuxfan67]

thanks. and new shows are displayed in their squared art? or in the new rectangular one TV app uses?, if it shows previes for every show? will it add metadata to my shows?

I'm only seeing artwork for movies that i have purchased in iTunes. My ripped movies still have the artwork and metadata attached (i can see it in get info) but i'm not seeing artwork in tile view. Not sure if this is a bug, or the fact that my artwork portrait view instead of landscape images. All my metadata that i added (using subler) is still there.

Edit: Added screenshot. The window to the right shows the info for Abduction and that I have artwork.

 

[WebHead]

Great news that we can still add our own content, thanks all for confirming. Even if we have to update artwork it will be a small price to pay.

 

[TrenttonY]

I'm only seeing artwork for movies that i have purchased in iTunes. My ripped movies still have the artwork and metadata attached (i can see it in get info) but i'm not seeing artwork in tile view. Not sure if this is a bug, or the fact that my artwork portrait view instead of landscape images. All my metadata that i added (using subler) is still there.

Edit: Added screenshot. The window to the right shows the info for Abduction and that I have artwork.

OMG, If it doesn't support the *proper* way of viewing Movie Posters (vertical), I'm going to be upset. Same as for the tvOS.

 

[Superhai]

Seem like TV Shows will not be home sharable as far as I can see.

 

[colinwil]

Seem like TV Shows will not be home sharable as far as I can see.

I need to do some more testing on this, but from my brief testing last night, they may work when using Home Sharing as a server - eg .from a Mac with Catalina to an Apple TV. But you can't select TV shows from a Home Sharing server in the Apple TV client app in Catalina.

 

[WebHead]

I need to do some more testing on this, but from my brief testing last night, they may work when using Home Sharing as a server - eg .from a Mac with Catalina to an Apple TV.

This is all I need so hopefully it still works.

 

[albusseverus]

Thanks for sharing the info. Homesharing my library has been broken for me since the latest Apple TV app was forced on me. The TV device knows homesharing is on and which library to look for, but can look for days, but never find the library.

Hopefully this refresh will fix the bug - hopefully.

As for losing metadata - iTunes was never good at holding on to metadata you add, even if you do it within iTunes. If anything survives, that's a bonus, a pretty poor experience, but something is better than nothing - the motto of iTunes of old, unfortunately.

 

[colinwil]

This is all I need so hopefully it still works.

It works!

I've now tested Home Sharing with TV Shows as well as Movies - from my Catalina Macbook Pro to my Apple TV, and also to iTunes on my Mojave iMac. No problems with either.

I'm liking this concept of 'Media Sharing in Settings' - it means that your Home Sharing media server works without any apps running - previously you had to have iTunes running all the time.

 

[WebHead]

It works!

I've now tested Home Sharing with TV Shows as well as Movies - from my Catalina Macbook Pro to my Apple TV, and also to iTunes on my Mojave iMac. No problems with either.

I'm liking this concept of 'Media Sharing in Settings' - it means that your Home Sharing media server works without any apps running - previously you had to have iTunes running all the time.

That's awesome on both counts. Thanks for verifying!

I was sure Apple would ditch Home Sharing in favour of an all-streaming approach. Hopefully it'll be around for a while at least.

 

[Shawn Parr]

I'm liking this concept of 'Media Sharing in Settings' - it means that your Home Sharing media server works without any apps running - previously you had to have iTunes running all the time.

I’m hoping this also works if the account isn’t logged in? My media server is a headless Mini, and now I have it set to auto login to an account and launch iTunes on reboots. I’d like to just be able to turn on the home sharing in preferences, log out and have it continue to work across reboots without the auto login.

I’m guessing this is how it’ll work, but it would be nice to get confirmation.

 

[Superhai]

I've now tested Home Sharing with TV Shows as well as Movies - from my Catalina Macbook Pro to my Apple TV, and also to iTunes on my Mojave iMac. No problems with either.

I am guessing and hoping that it is just a bug in the new Apple TV app then. In my mind it would be odd to be able to share movies and not TV shows in an app with the name TV in it.

 

[Superhai]

I’m hoping this also works if the account isn’t logged in?

It did not keep it open when I log out. But it is run by launchd, so it may be possible to set it up to run at boot via editing or creating a launchd plist.