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NiVanc

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 17, 2011
72
38
Hey Macrumors community (my first post here),

I recently moved to my new place and I would love to have the following setup.

appletvsetup.png


But I have a few questions concerning this setup:
  1. Will my appletv be able to stream content when my Macbook Pro is on standby (closed clamshell)?
  2. If I would chose to install aTV Flash (black), my Macbook Pro shouldn't be powered on. Is that correct?

Thanks in advance for the provided feedback:)
 
Nice Diagram

Hey Macrumors community (my first post here),

I recently moved to my new place and I would love to have the following setup.

Image

But I have a few questions concerning this setup:
  1. Will my appletv be able to stream content when my Macbook Pro is on standby (closed clamshell)?
  2. If I would chose to install aTV Flash (black), my Macbook Pro shouldn't be powered on. Is that correct?

Thanks in advance for the provided feedback:)


I have a few doubts about the setup though. Others here will know more, but I have my main iTunes library on my iMac 27" But it's connected to my router.

My ATV is also connected to the router, and then streams via the ATV to a 7.1 surround sound system.

My MBA and my MBP will both stream wirelessly to the system.

My doubt here is the wifi side of things....It SHOULD work, but I chose to cable the main stuff into my router....Less drop out etc.
__________________
 
1. You need to have itunes turned on don't know about standby but i think so

2. ATV flash black you will be able to stream without the need of a computer turned on!!
 
What a coincidence: I've just registered with the intention of asking pretty much the same question! I've been reading the aTV forum on here for a number of years, and am finally needing to ask a question :)

I'm looking to adopt exactly the same setup, but using only wireless connections. My questions are:

  • Will the wireless network be able to handle streaming a BR rip (encoded to about 2-3 GB in size) wirelessly?
  • I have an aTV V1, it's not N compliant. Will this be an issue in relation to the above? The rest of the network is N
  • I want to hang 2 USB HDDs off the AEBS (one for iTunes, one for time machine), if I used a powered USB, will that be ok? Or will my movie stutter/hang everytime time machine kicks-in?

Thanks for any advice that you are able to give! I am now off to look into "ATV flash black"..... dunno what that is, but it sounds useful!

Thanks again
 
If you have ATV V1 i recommend you atv flash it and then you can pretty much do what ATV black does + more:

Attach a usb drive directly to it and it will access movies tv and music with no problem what so ever!!!

boxee, lastfm, stream things etc....

Check firecore.com and see the other cool things you can do!!
 
With A Decent Router

What a coincidence: I've just registered with the intention of asking pretty much the same question! I've been reading the aTV forum on here for a number of years, and am finally needing to ask a question :)

I'm looking to adopt exactly the same setup, but using only wireless connections. My questions are:

  • Will the wireless network be able to handle streaming a BR rip (encoded to about 2-3 GB in size) wirelessly?
  • I have an aTV V1, it's not N compliant. Will this be an issue in relation to the above? The rest of the network is N
  • I want to hang 2 USB HDDs off the AEBS (one for iTunes, one for time machine), if I used a powered USB, will that be ok? Or will my movie stutter/hang everytime time machine kicks-in?

Thanks for any advice that you are able to give! I am now off to look into "ATV flash black"..... dunno what that is, but it sounds useful!

Thanks again

Yes...But when I say decent I mean you pay for what you get. A Gigabit is essential, not advertising but I use a Draytek and work with video and large music files. I have an ATV 2nd Generation, and the whole sound side of things streams to a 7.1 surround sound system Via Optical cable.

Never drops a frame.
 
Hey Macrumors community (my first post here),

I recently moved to my new place and I would love to have the following setup.

But I have a few questions concerning this setup:
  1. Will my appletv be able to stream content when my Macbook Pro is on standby (closed clamshell)?
  2. If I would chose to install aTV Flash (black), my Macbook Pro shouldn't be powered on. Is that correct?

Thanks in advance for the provided feedback:)

I have the same setup, but my ATV2 connects to the AEBS wirelessly.

1) If the lid is open, the ATV2 will wake your MBP up and access the iTunes library (but the screen doesn't turn on). If the lid is closed, it doesn't work.
2) Shouldn't? You can have it running if you want to, but you don't have to.

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Yes...But when I say decent I mean you pay for what you get. A Gigabit is essential, not advertising but I use a Draytek and work with video and large music files. I have an ATV 2nd Generation, and the whole sound side of things streams to a 7.1 surround sound system Via Optical cable.

Never drops a frame.

I'm using the AEBS and connecting my ATV2 wirelessly on the 802.11n, never drops a frame either.
 
To Be Honest

I have the same setup, but my ATV2 connects to the AEBS wirelessly.

1) If the lid is open, the ATV2 will wake your MBP up and access the iTunes library (but the screen doesn't turn on). If the lid is closed, it doesn't work.
2) Shouldn't? You can have it running if you want to, but you don't have to.

----------



I'm using the AEBS and connecting my ATV2 wirelessly on the 802.11n, never drops a frame either.



I've never tried the ATV wirelessly, but I'm sure you are right....If it was in the wrong place for easy connection, I would have, but the router is wall mounted right next to it, so I cabled! Us oldies do that....Mind you the Damn signal from my router can be picked up across the river from me, so it's little wonder I don't have problems!
 
Yes...But when I say decent I mean you pay for what you get. A Gigabit is essential, not advertising but I use a Draytek and work with video and large music files. I have an ATV 2nd Generation, and the whole sound side of things streams to a 7.1 surround sound system Via Optical cable.

Never drops a frame.

Thanks Macman45. A decent router is also on the shopping list (the netgear provided FOC by Orange is awful!) and I have been looking at the Draytek ones - sounds like a recomendation from you!

I am also expecting my aTV to give-up relatively soon, so an aTV 2 may also be on the cards! That will at least make everything N.

My iTunes library is pushing 2TB in size, and keeping it on an external HDD (when you have a laptop) is very inconvenient. Thanks Nevos2005, I've looked into ATV flash, and decided I don't want to do that. I've spent so much time looking at NAS solutions - and decided that AEBS is probably the best thing for ME for now (not commenting on anyone elses chosen setups).

Thanks again all
 
I've never tried the ATV wirelessly, but I'm sure you are right....If it was in the wrong place for easy connection, I would have, but the router is wall mounted right next to it, so I cabled! Us oldies do that....Mind you the Damn signal from my router can be picked up across the river from me, so it's little wonder I don't have problems!

I've been taping, stamping, screwing, nailing, hiding and painting wires across houses for more than 20 years, I haven't wired anything unless I absolutely had to since a year back when I last moved. Never been happier ;)

----------

Thanks Macman45. A decent router is also on the shopping list (the netgear provided FOC by Orange is awful!) and I have been looking at the Draytek ones - sounds like a recomendation from you!

I am also expecting my aTV to give-up relatively soon, so an aTV 2 may also be on the cards! That will at least make everything N.

My iTunes library is pushing 2TB in size, and keeping it on an external HDD (when you have a laptop) is very inconvenient. Thanks Nevos2005, I've looked into ATV flash, and decided I don't want to do that. I've spent so much time looking at NAS solutions - and decided that AEBS is probably the best thing for ME for now (not commenting on anyone elses chosen setups).

Thanks again all

I might misunderstand, but do you mean that you've chosen not to do ATV Flash because you're getting an AEBS instead? It doesn't make any sense :)
 
I've been taping, stamping, screwing, nailing, hiding and painting wires across houses for more than 20 years, I haven't wired anything unless I absolutely had to since a year back when I last moved. Never been happier ;)

----------



I might misunderstand, but do you mean that you've chosen not to do ATV Flash because you're getting an AEBS instead? It doesn't make any sense :)

It's ok.... the reasons for not going that way are mostly unrelated/dull. I'm not rejecting the ATV flash solution BECAUSE I'm thinking of getting an AEBS.

----------

  • I want to hang 2 USB HDDs off the AEBS (one for iTunes, one for time machine), if I used a powered USB, will that be ok? Or will my movie stutter/hang everytime time machine kicks-in?

Can anyone comment on this? Obviously I can switch-off the hourly back-ups whist a movie is playing, but it would be nice not to have to do that (I will inevitably forget to switch it back on again!).
 
Many thanks for the input!
It appears that the setup will work. The only downside is that my Macbook can't be in closed clamshell-mode.

Anyone that had success running this setup in closed clamshell-mode?
 
Is there a way to change the default action of a closed shell? To me, it sounds like the MBP is set to go to standby when the shell is closed. This is causing issues when you're trying to stream.

Is there anywhere in the system preferences that you can tell it not to go to standby when the lid is closed? I know that Windows has this setting. We've used it successfully for something similar before.

Anywho, just a thought. I hope that helps!
 
Is there a way to change the default action of a closed shell? To me, it sounds like the MBP is set to go to standby when the shell is closed. This is causing issues when you're trying to stream.

Is there anywhere in the system preferences that you can tell it not to go to standby when the lid is closed? I know that Windows has this setting. We've used it successfully for something similar before.

Anywho, just a thought. I hope that helps!

I think that in Snow Leopard, you can choose that the computer goes into sleep instead when you close the lid, but there is no such setting in Lion.
 
I think my setup may be similar... used for streaming movies and audio all over the house.

1. DSL modem is connected to airport extreme with ethernet.
2. 2 x 2TB harddrives are connected to airport extreme through a USB hub. One for streaming and the other is for network backups.
3. 2 appletv2's jailbroken with ATVflash are connected to tv's to stream from the airport extreme and access the internet.
4. A couple laptops and desktops also stream from the airport extreme.
5. Media player is set up on the apple tv's to access all media on all the computers to stream to tv.
 
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