I've been looking long and hard online, and haven't been able to find a definitive answer. Can the Apple TV access an iTunes music library stored on a hard drive connected to an Airport Extreme base station? If one of you guys has tried it personally and can give me a yea or nay, I'd really appreciate it. I have little interest in using the Apple TV to play video, but if it will let me browse the library on the Airport's HD while sitting on the couch, without using the computer at all, then I'm absolutely sold on it.

I'm pretty sure this *won't* work. AppleTV doesn't just read the filesystem hierarchy of a networked drive, it relies on iTunes to send the data. As the Airport Extreme hard drive is just an AFP or SMB share, it won't work.

AppleTV needs a running copy of iTunes on the network.

I'm pretty sure this *won't* work. AppleTV doesn't just read the filesystem hierarchy of a networked drive, it relies on iTunes to send the data. As the Airport Extreme hard drive is just an AFP or SMB share, it won't work.


Yes, I think so too. However, since the AppleTV has a 40GB drive, the first time it syncs with a computer, all the iTunes data from the computer should be written to the ATV internal drive. Once that is done, the syncing computer may not need be on unless there are new files to update. So, the NAS is probably irrelevant to this. So long as the ATV can find the iTunes library from your computer, it should not need to connect to anything to play the songs subsequently.

Of course, I don't have an ATV, so I can't guarantee this, but from what I've read, it should work.

Can the Apple TV access an iTunes music library stored on a hard drive connected to an Airport Extreme base station?

Is the Mac that that library "belongs" to still in the house?

I have little interest in using the Apple TV to play video, but if it will let me browse the library on the Airport's HD while sitting on the couch, without using the computer at all, then I'm absolutely sold on it.

I'm guessing whether this will work for you depends on what you really mean by "without using the computer all." Do you mean without the computer present and/or without the computer turned on? In this scenario, my guess like the others is aTV wouldn't be able to find your iTunes library initially or find it again after an initial sync.

But, assuming you successfully moved your iTunes library over to the Airdisk AND left that Mac be on the network with iTunes open--why wouldn't aTV be able to sync or stream with it? So if it's that scenario and your question really is can I sit on the couch and just use the remote to control an aTV, I think you could.

I've read of a few folks having some difficulty moving their iTunes libraries over to the new basestation, so be sure to investigate that as well. I haven't read a report of someone who owned both an aTV and new n basestation and tried this, sorry.

Yes, I think so too. However, since the AppleTV has a 40GB drive, the first time it syncs with a computer, all the iTunes data from the computer should be written to the ATV internal drive. Once that is done, the syncing computer may not need be on unless there are new files to update. So, the NAS is probably irrelevant to this. So long as the ATV can find the iTunes library from your computer, it should not need to connect to anything to play the songs subsequently.

Of course, I don't have an ATV, so I can't guarantee this, but from what I've read, it should work.

I'm not that far along. My Apple TV arrived yesterday. I have an Airport Extreme ordered especially because I want the NAS feature.

Everything synch'd OK and - in my case - I have my copy of iTunes running on my Mini; but, I store all content on a standalone HD.

Since then, I've added content - again specifying what I wished to have sync with the Apple TV - and no problem with the new critter looking at iTunes and drawing content from the standalone HD. I think that as long as the hooks are set up appropriately in the copy of iTunes you're talking to that there shouldn't be problem.

I'm not that far along. My Apple TV arrived yesterday. I have an Airport Extreme ordered especially because I want the NAS feature.

Everything synch'd OK and - in my case - I have my copy of iTunes running on my Mini; but, I store all content on a standalone HD.

Since then, I've added content - again specifying what I wished to have sync with the Apple TV - and no problem with the new critter looking at iTunes and drawing content from the standalone HD. I think that as long as the hooks are set up appropriately in the copy of iTunes you're talking to that there shouldn't be problem.

I'm just curious - if you have synced your iTunes content to the AppleTV and your Mini is not on, how does the AppleTV react? Can it still play the songs, as the OP wanted? Or does it give some kind of error message? Or something else?

Well, I decided to pull the trigger and buy an Apple TV down at the Prince St. store this morning, figuring that I could return it if it didn't do what I wanted. And, I'm thrilled to report, it works exactly as I'd hoped. I mean, sure, the computer has to be on, but I can turn the screen off or stick it in the next room or whatever (my only computer is a Macbook, which is why I went the Airport-disk route with my big music collection--that's worked for me w/o a hitch for a month now, by the way). Being able to browse my music collection on my HDTV in 1080i with onscreen album art etc. is just fantastic--an absolute dream come true. I'm going to configure my Harmony 880 for it later this evening, but I may just stick with the Apple remote anyway, since it's wicked fast and I doubt the Harmony can match its speed. Something else just occurred to me--wouldn't it rock if you could pop a Bluetooth dongle in the USB port and then control the Apple TV using your phone? It would be so unbelievably cool if someone came up with a hack for that.

Since my music collection is closing in on 100GB, I'm obviously streaming my music to it rather than syncing it. I attempted to stream a movie clip, and it was pretty jerky, surely the result of network lag more than anything else. One thing I'm baffled by--is there any way I can configure it so it syncs video but streams audio? It looks like streaming vs. syncing is an either/or proposition, as when I attempted to stream music after syncing the movie clip, I was told the movie was going to be automatically deleted from the HD if I enabled streaming! In any event, the point may be moot since I'll shortly be upgrading my wireless network to N: Thanks to accidentally waking up a couple of hours earlier than expected, I managed to take advantage of an Apple offering of factory refurb Macbook Pros (w/ one-year warranty) and snagged a 2.16 gHz Core 2 Duo model for 20% off the price of a new unit (a very significant savings). I'd planned to trade up from my Core Duo N-challenged (and network-crippling) Macbook later rather than sooner, but I couldn't resist the MBP at that price (not to mention that it'll be really cool to have a laptop with a bigger screen for all the DVD watchin' I'll be wanting to do when I spend five days in the hospital two weeks from now on account of a forthcoming surgery). And you know what? The Apple site said the laptop would ship in 3-6 business days, but lo and behold , less than four hours later I received a shipping notice and FedEx ground tracking number (oh yeah, the shipping was free too). Apple just plain rock.

I'm just curious - if you have synced your iTunes content to the AppleTV and your Mini is not on, how does the AppleTV react? Can it still play the songs, as the OP wanted? Or does it give some kind of error message? Or something else?

This is how the syncing is intended to work think of the Apple TV like an iPod which works fine out and about far away from your Mac.

So when your Mac's are off you can play everything that is synced to the Apple TV.

andrewjnyc,
You could just upgrade the drive in the Apple TV to 120GB or even 200GB and be done with the streaming all together.

If you are comfortable with the terminal and already own a TORX screw driver set it is really easy. http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/23/how-to-upgrade-the-drive-in-your-apple-tv/

This is how the syncing is intended to work think of the Apple TV like an iPod which works fine out and about far away from your Mac.

So when your Mac's are off you can play everything that is synced to the Apple TV.

Thanks, Ben. I just curious to know if the OP got his wish.

Can someone message me when this can play VOB's from a NAS? At that point, I'll gladly hand Apple full MSRP.

If you're not too lazy to convert/load it into iTunes > you can put a 30+gb file into the Apple TV, now.

I've moved over DivX and some really old [pre-release AniMatrix] WMV stuff over for viewing already.

There can be a few more tricks and treats; but, why instruct someone - who really ain't interested? We're just rockin' along with another useful device in our HT system.

One thing I'm baffled by--is there any way I can configure it so it syncs video but streams audio? It looks like streaming vs. syncing is an either/or proposition, as when I attempted to stream music after syncing the movie clip, I was told the movie was going to be automatically deleted from the HD if I enabled streaming!
When you pair for syncing, you are also paired for streaming. You can sync your movies over and play them locally and then when you want to listen to music, go to the sources menu and pick the syncing iTunes machine as your source. Then you can stream music etc. To switch back to local, just go to sources and select the AppleTV as your source.

I'm just curious - if you have synced your iTunes content to the AppleTV and your Mini is not on, how does the AppleTV react? Can it still play the songs, as the OP wanted? Or does it give some kind of error message? Or something else?

The Apple TV certainly started to proceed with listing the inventory of all my music and moving copies over to the ATV HD - until I stopped it.

I only keep a couple dozen CD's worth on my computer's HD - the entertainment center is where my CD jukebox lives. So, I halted and reversed the process of copying tunes over. I already have all my music in the living room.

Incidentally, my Airport Extreme "n" has arrived and is in the system and it's doing everything I wanted including NAS. Only problem for the several weeks coming - is that the two visiting Windoze machines over in the guest house couldn't handle the level of security Apple really wants you to use for full on "n" with g&b - so, as long as they're here, I'm running only g&b with WEP.

The signal strength and distance is phenomenal, though.

BTW - the two standalone HD's moved over from my Mini to the N router are where I've always had iTunes store tunes, movies, podcasts, all iTunes content, anyway. Wasn't any hiccup at all in the process. Like everything else in the upgrade, OS X took about 30 seconds to complete each step.

Edward, do you stream any high def off those USB hard drives and through the n basestation?

ed - when I did this, the externals (Lacie minis) would not spin down when not used and tended to run pretty loud and hot since they were spun up 24/7. Did you have this problem? or find a way around it?

ken

Ken - I'm surprised. Both my standalones are Lacies: 250gb & 300gb. I have tinnitus and am really sensitive to high pitched sounds [that only I seem to hear sometimes :) -- so, I have them sitting on top of a UPS/power conditioner on a thin foam pad. Still, they never really seem to wind up excepting during daily automatic backups.

chefkic - yes! It's a tad slower than when I had them hooked up to my Mini via Firewire; but, then, I'm never streaming. As an original DirecTivo'er > newer permutations of TiVo > today's R15 and HR20 rigs at D*, I probably would timeshift my own funeral.

The only time I approach real time content is any football match from the UK > started 20 minutes late > skip halftime and roll straight into real time for the 2nd half of the match. Otherwise, I never know what is on when. I set season lists [or subscribe to podcasts, etc. for Internet-acquired content] - check schedules to pick out future recordings > leave the HR20 or Apple TV alone to do their thing.

For the Apple TV, since I usually have iTunes open to listen to my fave Internet Radio stations, I'll do some housekeeping once in a while to set sync to remove stuff I've already watched. I do the same with the HR20. Rarely have more than half the stock 300gb HD filled on the HR20. I'm addicted to standalone HD's. Just my style.

BTW - the n basestation is currently set only for g&b. 2 of the 7 computers currently on the wired/unwired network are Windoze and aren't capable of the kind of security the OS X machines can run. Several weeks from now - when kin roll their 5th-wheeler back on the road - I'll bump the base station back up to n&g.

Ken - I'm surprised. Both my standalones are Lacies: 250gb & 300gb. I have tinnitus and am really sensitive to high pitched sounds [that only I seem to hear sometimes :) -- so, I have them sitting on top of a UPS/power conditioner on a thin foam pad. Still, they never really seem to wind up excepting during daily automatic backups.



OK - thanks Ed - I'll try it again; I did this several months ago when the new 802.11n extreme was released, but haven't tried it again since. The Apple discussion boards show this as an ongoing issue for many - but there has been a firmware update since, so maybe they addressd it - I'll give it another shot; I also fond the access times to be a bit slower, although it did NOT affect streaming I found. I did test streaming of both audio and video files with no noticeable problems. File copy times were a bit slower than connecting directly to my G5, but never became an issue for streaming...

ken

In fact, my "n" has done 2 firmware updates in a week. My impression - grapevine - is that a portion addresses security issues for networks w/MSoft gear in the net. But, I've also heard that spiraling out to more and more hardware has got to be part of this.

I'm involved with a small bit of beta testing in another area - I really hate beta testing - and I'm amazed that any two pieces of hardware ever talk to each other. Even when protocols agree.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Further
I'm just curious - if you have synced your iTunes content to the AppleTV and your Mini is not on, how does the AppleTV react? Can it still play the songs, as the OP wanted? Or does it give some kind of error message? Or something else?


The Apple TV certainly started to proceed with listing the inventory of all my music and moving copies over to the ATV HD - until I stopped it.

That sounds like a yes. You can put all your music/media on an external HD, attach it to the base station, and play it via the ATV w/o a computer on running i-tunes? Would be a good answer.

Wish they had put two USB ports on that base station (printer + HD). Hubs are another expense. . .

I'd rather have firewire. Since I've switched my standalones over to NAS and USB instead of direct connect - and daisychained firewire - to the computer, load times have increased. Not as noticeable for iTunes; but, distinct for iPhoto.

I realize some of this is because of an additional "node" in the system - but, still irksome.