Quick Question About AppleTV

[Ronin64]

Hi,
I have pretty crappy internet connection where I live and was wondering if I need an internet connection to stream HD videos I bought from iTunes on my TV with an TV?

Thanks

 

[maturola]

Hi,
I have pretty crappy internet connection where I live and was wondering if I need an internet connection to stream HD videos I bought from iTunes on my TV with an TV?

Thanks

If you bought them and you got a local copy on your machine, you don't need internet, as long as the Apple TV is on the same network as the Computer.

 

[rayward]

If you bought them and you got a local copy on your machine, you don't need internet, as long as the Apple TV is on the same network as the Computer.

Slight caveat here, in that ATV2 uses HomeSharing, which requires an active internet connection to operate regardless of whether the content is local or streamed.

 

[maturola]

Slight caveat here, in that ATV2 uses HomeSharing, which requires an active internet connection to operate regardless of whether the content is local or streamed.

That is not correct, you don't need internet connection to share your data locally, I do it all the time. while most people use their AppleID to enable homesharing, homesharing doesn't actually check with apple server, homesharing can be set with any account.

 

[pilot1226]

Good to know. I have a solid cable internet connection at the house but from time to time it does give me hiccups, which would certainly be annoying.

Using a Cisco/Linksys E3000 router. Has been working great for almost 2 years now.

 

[rayward]

That is not correct, you don't need internet connection to share your data locally, I do it all the time. while most people use their AppleID to enable homesharing, homesharing doesn't actually check with apple server, homesharing can be set with any account.

Good to know. I was going on what I'd read in this thread, which suggests otherwise.

 

[whooleytoo]

That is not correct, you don't need internet connection to share your data locally, I do it all the time. while most people use their AppleID to enable homesharing, homesharing doesn't actually check with apple server, homesharing can be set with any account.

Are you sure about that? Apple's support pages say you need to use an iTunes Store account to turn on Home Sharing. (I never tried using a non-AppleID).

And for me, it does require internet authentication when turning Home Sharing on, even though I was only playing non-DRM music. In fact, I started a thread a few months ago after I noticed I couldn't turn on Home Sharing on any of my devices, it looked like Apple's authentication servers were down for a couple of hours. It might be possible, that if an ATV isn't connected to the Internet, it won't try authenticating, but if it has a connection, it does require authentication.

 

[maturola]

Are you sure about that? Apple's support pages say you need to use an iTunes Store account to turn on Home Sharing. (I never tried using a non-AppleID).

And for me, it does require internet authentication when turning Home Sharing on, even though I was only playing non-DRM music. In fact, I started a thread a few months ago after I noticed I couldn't turn on Home Sharing on any of my devices, it looked like Apple's authentication servers were down for a couple of hours. It might be possible, that if an ATV isn't connected to the Internet, it won't try authenticating, but if it has a connection, it does require authentication.

I am 99% positive unless there is some real vodoo magic going behing it that I am not aware of, my Apple ID is a @me.com while my homesharing is set to my @gmail.com, I share musics and movies with my GF laptop all the time giving it my @gmail credentials. (unless maybe you have to be Authenticate once, the first time you do it, that could be possible, I know for sure I do share my music with not internet, but I cannot guarantee that didn't authenticate at one point in the past when internet was available)

EDIT: *********************************
So I was curious and it seen I was wrong, it seen like an internet connection IS required, however I said it before it had to be require to "set up" and no to actually share the content since I do it all the time, I kill my router for testing proposes and i can still share all my content locally with all my devices, however all my devices were authenticated once.

Here is what I found:

Home Sharing requires a home network with an active Internet connection. All the devices you want to use with Home Sharing need to be connected to your home network.

Source: Apple Support - Troubleshooting Home Sharing

 

[whooleytoo]

Thanks for taking the time to confirm! I think if you're playing iTunes-sourced videos with DRM, it might also need an internet connection; but otherwise it just needs it whenever you switch Home Sharing on (or change your Home Sharing ID).

That's a little bit annoying, if you just want to stream around the house to a new device, but for whatever reason (broadband is down.. Apple's servers are offline) you can't turn on Home Sharing.

 

[ankitsid]

so it'll only work if you bought the movies, i have tons of avi, mkv and such video files that id like to play on an atv, i cant connect a hard drive correct?
other than jailbreaking and using plex, what are my options for putting a non itunes mkv on the atv, both mac and windows.

 

[Ronin64]

So I just need internet connection to turn on home sharing. Thats fine, I was just worried that the TV would be buffering a lot when I was watching my iTunes library.

Thanks guys.