LordNewton Posted April 27, 2012 Posted April 27, 2012 If I get an Apple TV box and have Itunes on my PC and my media stored on a NAS box Do i need to have the PC on to access my Media on the NAS box?
GrumbleDook Posted April 27, 2012 Posted April 27, 2012 Yes, the stream to the AppleTV is pulled via the iTunes app, not the actual file locations. 1
Davit2005 Posted April 27, 2012 Posted April 27, 2012 Yes, the stream to the AppleTV is pulled via the iTunes app, not the actual file locations. Yep, most annoyingly, it appears iTunes has also to be running on your network for it to work. Unfortunately I've found no way of locking OSX so if you are running from OSX you will need to be logged in for it to work. PLEASE ENLIGHTEN ME ANYONE WHO USES ENTIRELY OSX AT HOME HAS FOUND ANOTHER WAY.
m25man Posted April 27, 2012 Posted April 27, 2012 Apple TV great as it is, seems to be only half a loaf and to get it to do anything you have to have a box running iTunes. So you end up with an Apple TV and a Mac Mini to get to all your stuff. The only thing I seem to use my Apple TV 3 for is AirPlay from the iPad. I guess we will have to wait for a decent jailbreak to make it half usable.
MACIT Posted April 27, 2012 Posted April 27, 2012 Whats difficult about clicking your username and then clicking login window - done!
Davit2005 Posted April 27, 2012 Posted April 27, 2012 Whats difficult about clicking your username and then clicking login window - done! Picture the scene, your sitting on your couch relaxing after a stressed day with your iPad with the remote app loaded, You can't see your library of films or music because no one is logged into the mac with your iTunes library running. You only have OSX at home because you like OSX etc. etc. You have to go to your mac and login to watch your film, listen to you're music etc
MACIT Posted April 28, 2012 Posted April 28, 2012 Picture the scene, your sitting on your couch relaxing after a stressed day with your iPad with the remote app loaded, You can't see your library of films or music because no one is logged into the mac with your iTunes library running. You only have OSX at home because you like OSX etc. etc. You have to go to your mac and login to watch your film, listen to you're music etc True, however let me put you in my lounge for a moment, picture the scene, you sit down to watch some tv film etc, your mac is fast "asleep" you click on your library from your iPhone/iPad/apple tv and your mac resumes from sleep having set the wake on network access tickbox. You then enjoy your episode of x. Granted the mac had previously been booted up and auto logged in as me and iTunes auto started and the gone to sleep/locked but that my experience. Next question?
Davit2005 Posted April 28, 2012 Posted April 28, 2012 I like me Apple TV. With the 3rd Generation able to output 1080P it really is a decent piece of kit with big potential. I just wish I could connect it to a media server/streamer directly.
MACIT Posted April 28, 2012 Posted April 28, 2012 I like me Apple TV. With the 3rd Generation able to output 1080P it really is a decent piece of kit with big potential. I just wish I could connect it to a media server/streamer directly. A fair point, and one which I share. It would seem however that apple are more likely to go down the cloud route with people not having to stream from their own hardware (which lets face it joe public has no idea about) apple have been and always will be in the game of simplicity above all else. Home media content use has not really bren truly solved by anyone yet - watch this space!
RabbieBurns Posted April 28, 2012 Posted April 28, 2012 picture the scene. WD TV live with the android app on your phone. No need for an apple TV, and Apple Mac, and Apple phone, or an apple pad. And you kick back with a smile knowing your about 3 grand richer.
GrumbleDook Posted April 28, 2012 Posted April 28, 2012 And I have all of the above and obviously have better maths skills as I *know* that it doesn't add up to £3000. So there you have it ... an argument for iOS over Android ... Maths skills! On a serious note, Apple are moving to a cloud based company for many things ... If you want to think of scenarios about why you might not be able to have you machine logged in then it might be that the Mac or Windows box is a family machine yet the iTunes library you want to use with your AppleTV is on a specific account and other family members will be using other accounts on those machines. As a parent you might not want your kids to have access to you account and user switching is not the answer to try to leave things running in the background (even if it did work just think about leaving the memory hog of iTunes running on multiple users on the same machine? eek!). Instead, what you have is the iTunes Music Match and playing from iCloud as the option. Not perfect but workable. You get the music, but not the podcasts you subscribe to, audiobooks, TV shows you have from elsewhere or films. They may offer it in the future, but that is all gossip and conjecture right now. A few points about media servers though ... some things people will use to play music and films hook into file servers which host the media. If you are running something (e.g. a TV with extra capabilities) which pulls in the locations of files and builds its own DB which you use to play the files then you are accessing a file server which hosts media. If you are using a device which relies on a service on the server to publish the details of the music / tv episodes / etc then you are running a client which relies on a service on a server. Basically, iTunes is running as a media server and the client (AppleTV) is a basic device for pulling the stream. It might not be the best thing in the world for many but it is an ecosystem which generally works. The faults range from needing a machine running iTunes all the time to give you access to *everything* in your media library through to the mess that there is trying to look through TV Shows on iOS devices when connected to a shared library. It is broken and that happens every time they update iTunes to give more functionality to AppleTV.
Davit2005 Posted April 28, 2012 Posted April 28, 2012 Would be nice to have the option of connecting to a streamer. My TV does, my BluRay does and so does the Playstation although it is a bit of a headache to get working. I was thinking of setting up a virtual Win 7 with iTunes running which I could leave running in a locked state. But yes as said it only takes a iTunes update to upset things. In the future hopefully faster Internet will be available to all and make the most of the cloud.
MacGeek Posted April 28, 2012 Posted April 28, 2012 You dont need iTunes to play music or watch your puchased TV Shows, shortly films will be able to stream also. Also iPlayer is on the horizon and Netflix is already on there.
pooley Posted April 28, 2012 Posted April 28, 2012 I have my ATV2 jailbroken and can now play content direct from my Nas or use XBMC to watch live internet streams. It's just a shame we have to hack these devices for them to be made more useful. 1
RabbieBurns Posted April 30, 2012 Posted April 30, 2012 (edited) And I have all of the above and obviously have better maths skills as I *know* that it doesn't add up to £3000. So there you have it ... an argument for iOS over Android ... Maths skills! ipad: $ 899 http://store.apple.com/au/browse/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad/select_ipad iphone $999 iPhone 4S - Get iPhone 4S with 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB - Apple Store (Australia) itv: $109 Apple TV - Buy the New Apple TV with 1080p HD - Apple Store (Australia) mac pro: $1399 (for the cheapest) MacBook Pro - Buy Apple MacBook Pro Notebook Computers - Apple Store (Australia) Total: $3406 (I never mentioned pounds ) Edited April 30, 2012 by RabbieBurns
Sandman Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 This might help. The guy has managed to circumnavigate iTunes but he does use an iPad -
jamin100 Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 I love'd my apple TV 2... But I just sold it yesterday for £140 . . AND brought 2 x Apple TV 3's for £160 Yay I dont jailbreak my apple TV's as im into the whole itunes / apple ecosystem and my imac is always on so it works for me and my kids
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