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New Apple TV vs. NAS

N

nlrela

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 17, 2010
33
0
I am doubting whether I should buy a new Apple Tv ....

All my music is stored on my NAS and I don't want to have my Mac running 24/7 only for having the possibility to play my music on the Apple TV.

Will it be sufficient to move the library files as well to my NAS or is a running Mac or Windows PC with iTunes required all the time ?
 
nlrela said:
I am doubting whether I should buy a new Apple Tv ....

All my music is stored on my NAS and I don't want to have my Mac running 24/7 only for having the possibility to play my music on the Apple TV.

Will it be sufficient to move the library files as well to my NAS or is a running Mac or Windows PC with iTunes required all the time ?
Click to expand...

iTunes running on a computer is required. It works via Home Sharing, which is a proprietary protocol by Apple.
 
PurdueGuy said:
iTunes running on a computer is required. It works via Home Sharing, which is a proprietary protocol by Apple.
Click to expand...

Hence; it is not sufficient with the files on the NAS. You need an itunes running. I have a QNAP wich state it has "iTunes-server" but this doesn't cut it. You need Home sharing just as PurdueGuy say.
 
However the location of the files does not matter, on the Mac/PC or a NAS. add the location into your iTunes and it works just fine as long as iTunes can get to it and the moies/music are in iTunes.
 
Have your Mac set to sleep and make sure "Wake for network access" is enabled under the Energy Saver preferences. The Apple TV will be able to wake it up on demand and when finished it goes back to sleep.
 
New here and don't know much about the 1st gen atv, but what if you had a 1st gen and all the music stored on it's hard drive or your NAS plugged into it and then accessed itunes with your 2nd gen atv through the 1st gen atv? I guess I'm asking does the 1st gen atv run itunes or does it still need itunes running on a local machine?
 
jtkeller said:
New here and don't know much about the 1st gen atv, but what if you had a 1st gen and all the music stored on it's hard drive or your NAS plugged into it and then accessed itunes with your 2nd gen atv through the 1st gen atv? I guess I'm asking does the 1st gen atv run itunes or does it still need itunes running on a local machine?
Click to expand...

No, ATV1 does not run iTunes and it cannot be used as you describe above.
 
Your compairing apple to ornages here.

Nas - Is a file storage device.

AppleTv - Is a Bridging devie for your TV
 
jtkeller said:
New here and don't know much about the 1st gen atv, but what if you had a 1st gen and all the music stored on it's hard drive or your NAS plugged into it and then accessed itunes with your 2nd gen atv through the 1st gen atv? I guess I'm asking does the 1st gen atv run itunes or does it still need itunes running on a local machine?
Click to expand...

The last iteration of ATV1 had a 160GB HDD on board. Content synced to it would be available without need for it to draw anything from iTunes or anywhere else.

However, as you appear to have a NAS, I assume that you have a large library (as do I) that won't fit on the ATV1's relatively small internal HDD. That means you will be more often than not streaming content just like you would to an ATV2.

All versions of the ATV can draw content only from iTunes, which must be open and running on a Mac or PC. To do anything else requires a software hack.
 
I picked up a refrub ATV1, question can it stream movies from iTunes as well as what is on Hard Drive?
 
gunthermic said:
I picked up a refrub ATV1, question can it stream movies from iTunes as well as what is on Hard Drive?
Click to expand...

Yes. Synced content is always available, but it also streams the full content of your iTunes library over your network if the item you need isn't on the internal HDD. In this regard, it works exactly the same as an ATV2.
 
But how does it see all the other titles? Maybe I am missign something. I have 400 Some movies in iTunes right now. But I olny see the ones load on Hard drive. Am I missing something?
 
PurdueGuy said:
The AppleTV is a client. It can stream from iTunes or the iTunes Store.

It does not serve up content to anything.
Click to expand...
thanks for this. i was just wondering coz it also works like a storage device (160gb) so i was thinking there might be a way it can be accessed.
 
ebanster said:
thanks for this. i was just wondering coz it also works like a storage device (160gb) so i was thinking there might be a way it can be accessed.
Click to expand...

This thread is about the new AppleTV (2nd generation).

The first generation has storage (40 or 160 gb). However, the same rules apply, it's a client.

With hacking, it's possible you might be able to do what you desire with a gen1. However, out of the box, no.
 
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