Apple TV not syncing purchases back to iTunes

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tomas2012 Author

Level 1

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Apple TV not syncing purchases back to iTunes

My Apple TV is not syncing purchases back to iTunes. All music and TV shows I've purchased through Apple TV since the upgrade to ATV 2.0 is still not showing up in iTunes.

In iTunes, when I click on Apple TV in the left pane I see only the "Summary" and "Photos" tabs. On the main Summary window there is no button to "Sync" Apple TV. Neither are there any options for setting this up in iTunes Preferences, or in any of the on-screen settings in Apple TV itself. I can stream content just fine, I just don't see how to enable syncing back and forth. Am I missing something?

Many thanks for your input!
Tom

MBP2.4, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Feb 27, 2008 10:08 AM

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Answer 1

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,560 points

Feb 27, 2008 10:34 AM in response to tomas2012

I've only bought some music and a music video but syncing back to my imac was automatic.

Tried rebooting the computer/restarting iTunes and the AppleTV?

AC

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Answer 2

Feb 27, 2008 11:04 AM in response to tomas2012

I purchased a couple of songs from TV and they both syched to my Mac ok.
I was under the impression that movies or tv shows purchased on the TV could not be moved to a Mac/PC. I could be wrong...

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Answer 3

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,560 points

Feb 27, 2008 11:08 AM in response to Doug Campbell

I thought it was only HD rentals that couldn't go back to the computer.

AC

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Answer 4

tomas2012 Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 27, 2008 11:31 AM in response to tomas2012

I guess the whole syncing thing is automatic. For some reason it is not working on my network (wired). It's odd that Streaming works fine, but not Syncing. I've tried rebooting and resetting the Apple TV, removing and then re-adding my computer from the list, and removing and re-adding the Apple TV to iTunes, but it hasn't worked. Perhaps I'll need to restore Apple TV, unfortunately that will probably wipe out all the purchases I've made with it. Wish there were a manual "Sync" button.

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Answer 5

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,560 points

Feb 27, 2008 11:37 AM in response to tomas2012

Don't system restore until you get those purchases off!

Can you select the AppleTV icon in iTunes, then under File>Transfer AppleTV purchases?

AC

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Answer 6

tomas2012 Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 27, 2008 11:43 AM in response to tomas2012

When Apple TV is selected from the Sources on the left in iTunes, and then I go to "File", the only thing there is "Transfer Purchases from iPod", which is grayed out. I know there should be a selection to "Transfer Purchases from Apple TV", but for some reason it's not. Weird.

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Answer 7

Feb 27, 2008 1:13 PM in response to tomas2012

I'm guessing its "greyed out" because it sees your iTunes library as only Streaming, not Syncing.

Your iTunes library must be Syncing with AppleTV if you wish to transfer purchased content. This is my pet peeve with "Take 2" as it is not family friendly in this way.

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Answer 8

tomas2012 Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 27, 2008 6:19 PM in response to TheYodaMac

Any idea how to get ATV to sync with iTunes? Is there some way to enable syncing to move purchased ATV content over to iTunes? I was under the assumption that this should happen automatically with 2.0. I also recall with ATV 1.0 that I DID at one point disable syncing in favor of streaming, and perhaps this setting somehow transferred over to ATV 2.0 ?

Funny, others on this forum are trying to disable the automatic transfer of ATV content to iTunes, while I'm trying to get it to work!

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Answer 9

tomas2012 Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 27, 2008 9:59 PM in response to tomas2012

As per the conclusion of the following thread, I decided to perform a "Factory Restore". Now everything works as it should. Bummer I lost all the content purchased through ATV2, but it works now.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1395518

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Answer 10

DaVBMan

Level 6

9,292 points

Feb 28, 2008 11:37 AM in response to tomas2012

Just curious (though too late now), but you never mentioned what version of iTunes you have on your computer. The last update they released (quite recent...last week I think) specifically said updates (fixes) were added for Apple TV support. It could of just been that.

If not sure if you are up to date, at least click Help, then check for updates inside of iTunes.

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Answer 11

Steph25

Level 1

0 points

May 24, 2008 1:00 AM in response to DaVBMan

Im having the same problem, my purchases are not syncing back on to my computer. They dont even appear in my purchased list. I am now downloading itunes' recent update to match the apple tv update and see if that helps. If anyone has figured this out, I will deeply appreciate it. My apple tv is currently full and cannot download anything directly on it, cannot delete files for fear of losing them!
Thanx
Steph

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Answer 12

ctwelsh

Level 1

0 points

May 24, 2008 6:41 PM in response to tomas2012

Same issue here too. I just purchased National Treasure 2 and I can't get it over to my iTunes 7.6.2 (9). I have the most current version for Apple TV 2.0.2. What needs to be done?

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Answer 13

HHansen

Level 1

5 points

May 28, 2008 2:13 PM in response to ctwelsh

Same Problem here. Looks like we have to wait for an iTunes and/or ATV software update.

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Answer 14

May 30, 2008 10:29 AM in response to HHansen

I am having the same problem. I'm tempted to due a factory restore but I don't want to lose anything. Does anyone have any suggestions besides waiting for a software update?

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Answer 15

Jun 12, 2008 7:49 AM in response to tomas2012

I am also having this problem. 1 purchased movie has synced. I have a total of 4 movies. the one purchased movie is showing in the ATV devices section of itunes in the purchased and purchased on apple tv folder. it also appears in the movies folder on itunes. The other 3 movies do not show in the purchased folder or purchased on ATV in the ATV folder in itunes. They do appear on the ATV device however. I have read some posts indicate that movies cannot be synced from ATV to Itunes when purchased on ATV. I do not believe this to be true and because one movie is on itunes and ATV in itunes and I am able to sync back and forth with ATV through itunes. I have had a hardware change to my system with the Airport extreme but it is still letting me sync the one movie back and forth. It seems odd that the other movies are not showing up in my purchased folder in itunes.

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