Syncing vs. Streaming (no longer necessary)

[roland.g]

I was one of those who had a library of music and photos larger than my 40GB TV. So for me, I synced my photos, some playlists (till it was full) and then set up my computer for streaming as well. This way I could watch any of the movies or listen to all my music from the streamed computer (which is also my synced computer).

The only problem was that switching between synced TV and streaming sources meant loading the streamed source which could take up to a minute to load the library. At first I was rather dismayed to see that with Take 2 it loaded the library separately for each type of media, music, tv show, movie, etc. Instead of choosing a source, you chose a media then a source.

Then I discovered that I don't need to sync anything to my TV except photos. The rest of the drive can be used to leave room for rental movies. The reason is that as long as you do not check "Show only the synced items on Apple TV" under the summary selection for custom, then you do not need any of that content synced. I can stream music, tv shows, movies, podcasts, (anything but photos) from my synced TV/computer without having to set that computer up for streaming.

Great new feature. All you have to do is leave iTunes running on that computer and make sure only the display goes to sleep. Not to mention if you keep your playlists in iTunes organized like I do by folders, those folders appear in the TV and you can drill down to the playlists inside.

Now if we could just get purchased movies to appear by Genre, it would be a complete media server. Not to mention I would prefer to have the ability to buy movies, not just rent through the TV as I do in iTunes and have it sync back the movie just like it does for music.

 

[amakh007]

Agree! This is the best new feature by far!! (and I wasn't even expecting it!)

 

[Dave K.]

So if I understand you correctly, does Take 2 support hiearchy for my movies through folders instead of through playlists? Or are all of my movies in just one long listing still?

 

[roland.g]

So if I understand you correctly, does Take 2 support hiearchy for my movies through folders instead of through playlists? Or are all of my movies in just one long listing still?

No unfortunately my movies still appears in a long list. This is probably the biggest Apple TV issue, lack of playlists or at least genre browsing on Apple TV of movies, and music videos.

IMO, music videos should be playable via videos playlists and movies should appear on Apple TV sorted by Genre, where each genre then provides a grid type shot of movie artwork, maybe with the right 1/4 of the screen reserved for a larger shot of the poster of the current position of the selector along with metadata.

Apple TV Take 2 does break down music playlists by folders as they are in iTunes. ex. I have all my music playlists in iTunes categorized by folders for such as DMB, Guns, Good Mixes, CDs, Workouts, etc. When I am syncing to my iPod, there show up with drop down carrots in the sync window so that I do not have to scroll all my playlists and I can sync entire groups with one click. With the Apple TV, when I go into my music, and then to playlists, instead of a huge list of playlists, I get the folders (or sub-categories) and then when I select that one, I see all the playlists inside it.

 

[Duffinator]

Since I stream all my content this feature was driving me crazy last night. But it sounds like I don't fully understand how the new functionality works. It seemed like everytime I wanted to change from music to photos to movies it had to restream each media type. Maybe I'm missing something here. Or maybe I should just sync my music or photos and have one less item to stream.

Is there a tutorial or instructions on all the new features and functionality I can read?

 

[roland.g]

Since I stream all my content this feature was driving me crazy last night. But it sounds like I don't fully understand how the new functionality works. It seemed like everytime I wanted to change from music to photos to movies it had to restream each media type. Maybe I'm missing something here. Or maybe I should just sync my music or photos and have one less item to stream.

Is there a tutorial or instructions on all the new features and functionality I can read?

When you have your Apple TV set up to sync with your computer through iTunes, go to the Apple TV under devices. On the summary tab, select custom instead of automatic, and also DO NOT select the "Show only the synced items..." option. On the other tabs, tell it to sync only selected playlists (instead of all) for everything, music, podcasts, movies, tv shows, etc, but THEN DO NOT select any. Then select the photos you want synced. For me, I chose my whole library. I also checked the box at the bottom that said give photos top priority though this is probably not necessary since they will be the only thing on there (+ any rental you download). On the Apple TV make sure that this computer is not set up as an additional computer for streaming. You only need it at the top with the synced infinity logo (coupled logo). Then when you go into my music or any of the my ____ stuff on the take 2 menu, you will see ALL of you content - BUT ONLY as long as iTunes is running on that computer and you set your energy saver setting to put display to sleep, but not hard drive. I tested it with music, movies, podcasts, and they all streamed though only photos were on there.

 

[Duffinator]

When you have your Apple TV set up to sync with your computer through iTunes, go to the Apple TV under devices. On the summary tab, select custom instead of automatic, and also DO NOT select the "Show only the synced items..." option. On the other tabs, tell it to sync only selected playlists (instead of all) for everything, music, podcasts, movies, tv shows, etc, but THEN DO NOT select any. Then select the photos you want synced. For me, I chose my whole library. I also checked the box at the bottom that said give photos top priority though this is probably not necessary since they will be the only thing on there (+ any rental you download). On the Apple TV make sure that this computer is not set up as an additional computer for streaming. You only need it at the top with the synced infinity logo (coupled logo). Then when you go into my music or any of the my ____ stuff on the take 2 menu, you will see ALL of you content - BUT ONLY as long as iTunes is running on that computer and you set your energy saver setting to put display to sleep, but not hard drive. I tested it with music, movies, podcasts, and they all streamed though only photos were on there.

Thanks, I'll give this a try tonight.

 

[kagharaht]

Agree! This is the best new feature by far!! (and I wasn't even expecting it!)

Yes! Finally understood this also. Tons of room on the ATV and everything streams now except Photos which I chose to sync.

I haven't had a chance to try Radio Stream, but I read that if you add it to you playlist, you can play stream radio right through ATV!

 

[roland.g]

Yes! Finally understood this also. Tons of room on the ATV and everything streams now except Photos which I chose to sync.

I haven't had a chance to try Radio Stream, but I read that if you add it to you playlist, you can play stream radio right through ATV!

Yes at first I was thinking I would sell my 40 and get a 160 so that I could sync all my music and photos and music vids and podcasts. And then just stream my movies and leave the rest of the space for rentals. But the way it syncs and streams from the synced library so seamlessly now it seems that that is really not necessary.

 

[alFR]

What network connection are you using between the ATV and the computer? My thought is that for those with only wireless-g (for example) syncing might still be a better bet.

 

[JW008]

Mine comes in the mail Friday, so I just want to make sure I have this straight. If I uncheck "Show Only Synced Items," it will show both the synced and streamed items in the same list. If I don't have it synced, it will stream, if I do have it synced it will play from the hard drive.

 

[roland.g]

What network connection are you using between the ATV and the computer? My thought is that for those with only wireless-g (for example) syncing might still be a better bet.

I use g and can stream movies and music without any issues.

 

[uva25]

I use g and can stream movies and music without any issues.

My impression is that hitting play and watching is fine but fast forwarding runs in to buffering issues.

 

[kagharaht]

Mine comes in the mail Friday, so I just want to make sure I have this straight. If I uncheck "Show Only Synced Items," it will show both the synced and streamed items in the same list. If I don't have it synced, it will stream, if I do have it synced it will play from the hard drive.

Yes. Just make sure all your files are checked in your Library. Unchecked files will not show up on the stream. It works great.

 

[Blazer5913]

So I just synced my entire iPhoto library according to this "guide". I have the 40gb version, so I also could not fit my entire media library onto this even if I wanted to. So what is the real benefit of doing this again? Does the extra space on it help with buffering/streaming???

 

[JW008]

Yes. Just make sure all your files are checked in your Library. Unchecked files will not show up on the stream. It works great.

Thanks! I guess I was a little confused as to the benefit (after this update) of not syncing media to the Apple TV. I mean, if it's on the hard drive, streaming won't even have to be an issue. Plus, if everything shows up in one place, then all the media that doesn't fit on the hard drive can just be streamed. Maybe someone can explain the benefit of streaming over keeping it on the hard drive.

 

[roland.g]

So I just synced my entire iPhoto library according to this "guide". I have the 40gb version, so I also could not fit my entire media library onto this even if I wanted to. So what is the real benefit of doing this again? Does the extra space on it help with buffering/streaming???

Space for rentals and your photo library to grow.

Thanks! I guess I was a little confused as to the benefit (after this update) of not syncing media to the Apple TV. I mean, if it's on the hard drive, streaming won't even have to be an issue. Plus, if everything shows up in one place, then all the media that doesn't fit on the hard drive can just be streamed. Maybe someone can explain the benefit of streaming over keeping it on the hard drive.

See above. The only benefit to syncing is that you don't have to keep iTunes running and you can let your computer go completely to sleep, or if your computer is a laptop and you take it with you.

 

[naftalim]

What if most of your content is on an external drive? This is the issue I have been running into and can't get a clear resolution. I was able to switch between my synced Mac and my Streaming External easily from within Apple TV prior to the update, but can't do that now.

So, whats the way to have the iTunes content on your computer sync to the Apple TV but the content on your external drive stream to the Apple TV?

I have the 160GB ATV

Thanks

When you have your Apple TV set up to sync with your computer through iTunes, go to the Apple TV under devices. On the summary tab, select custom instead of automatic, and also DO NOT select the "Show only the synced items..." option. On the other tabs, tell it to sync e.

 

[bilbo--baggins]

Having to choose whether to access the Apple TV stored content, or the content on my Mac, immediately struck me as being 'odd' when I first got the Apple TV almost a year ago. I couldn't understand why it forced you to go through the hassle of specifying one area of content at a time.

Thankfully Take 2 has sorted that. This really is a huge improvement in my opinion. Cram what it can onto the little 'buffer' drive, and stream the rest - seamlessly. I must admit, having a larger hard drive would be an advantage as mentioned earlier when fast-forwarding it does seem to struggle when streaming. Unfortunately I only have the 40GB model (early adopter penalty) but it's not enough of an issue for me to upgrade yet.

I also like the fact that now in iTunes it can be set to choose what to sync automatically. It always annoyed me that there was a permanent warning symbol telling me it couldn't fit everything on the Apple TV. Of course it couldn't fit everything on - my library is around 400GB, the Apple TV has a 40GB hard drive. Get over it!

 

[temtexdent]

This sounds like exactly what I want...have wanted all along, but it has been so long since I tinkered with this stuff that I am confused. My iTunes has no Custom menu under the Summary tab. Is that because I told it to stream in the past. Can't quite figure this out, but I am sure the answer is obvious.

I was one of those who had a library of music and photos larger than my 40GB TV. So for me, I synced my photos, some playlists (till it was full) and then set up my computer for streaming as well. This way I could watch any of the movies or listen to all my music from the streamed computer (which is also my synced computer).

The only problem was that switching between synced TV and streaming sources meant loading the streamed source which could take up to a minute to load the library. At first I was rather dismayed to see that with Take 2 it loaded the library separately for each type of media, music, tv show, movie, etc. Instead of choosing a source, you chose a media then a source.

Then I discovered that I don't need to sync anything to my TV except photos. The rest of the drive can be used to leave room for rental movies. The reason is that as long as you do not check "Show only the synced items on Apple TV" under the summary selection for custom, then you do not need any of that content synced. I can stream music, tv shows, movies, podcasts, (anything but photos) from my synced TV/computer without having to set that computer up for streaming.

Great new feature. All you have to do is leave iTunes running on that computer and make sure only the display goes to sleep. Not to mention if you keep your playlists in iTunes organized like I do by folders, those folders appear in the TV and you can drill down to the playlists inside.

Now if we could just get purchased movies to appear by Genre, it would be a complete media server. Not to mention I would prefer to have the ability to buy movies, not just rent through the TV as I do in iTunes and have it sync back the movie just like it does for music.

 

[roland.g]

 

[temtexdent]

Nevermind. Couldn't figure it out so I just reset the Apple TV to factory and downloaded 2.0. For whatever reason, everything appears just as you said.

This is a dream come true. MAJOR FEATURE IMPROVEMENT. So far, this MADE THE UPDATE WORTHWHILE to me!!!!!

Can you tell I am excited! Seriously.

This sounds like exactly what I want...have wanted all along, but it has been so long since I tinkered with this stuff that I am confused. My iTunes has no Custom menu under the Summary tab. Is that because I told it to stream in the past. Can't quite figure this out, but I am sure the answer is obvious.

 

[Duffinator]

No wonder I'm confused, my iTunes software doesn't look like the screen shot in post #21. I tried updating my iTunes software but it states I have the current version. My ATV software is 2.0 as it looks a lot different than 1.1. My iTunes software is 7.6. Anybody got any idea why my iTunes software is not right? It still looks like it did before the ATV update with just Summary and Photos tabs at the top.

Edit, do I need to set the ATV to sync to get that screen??? Right now I'm only streaming.

 

[temtexdent]

I think you do have to have it syncing as opposed to streaming, but my Apple TV would disappear everytime I did that, so I just did a factory reset and started over from scratch, back to 1.0 and then the upgrade, finding my router again, etc...

I am sure there is an easier way than what I did...

No wonder I'm confused, my iTunes software doesn't look like the screen shot in post #21. I tried updating my iTunes software but it states I have the current version. My ATV software is 2.0 as it looks a lot different than 1.1. My iTunes software is 7.6. Anybody got any idea why my iTunes software is not right? It still looks like it did before the ATV update with just Summary and Photos tabs at the top.

Edit, do I need to set the ATV to sync to get that screen??? Right now I'm only streaming.

 

[Duffinator]

I think you do have to have it syncing as opposed to streaming, but my Apple TV would disappear everytime I did that, so I just did a factory reset and started over from scratch, back to 1.0 and then the upgrade, finding my router again, etc...

I am sure there is an easier way than what I did...

Nevermind, looks like a standard reset did do it.