Airplay on old Apple TV

Is everyone forgetting the AppleTV was deemed 'obsolete' many times since its introduction. I can recall one or maybe two software updates in all that time. An upgrade which would allow used machines to compete with the current line is simply not going to happen. Not from Apple anyway.

i purchased my atv1 little over 2 months ago, i fail to understand how atv1 is obsolete. if apple is judging if a product is obsolete by the introduction of a new version then why is the iphone 3gs still recieving updates? on the other hand if apple determines a product is obsolete by products age, atv1 originally shipped march 2007 (i believe) and the 160gb in May 2007. ATV1 is 3 years old, surely apple should have informed users they are purchasing a product that apple deems obsolete and in not so many words is retailing the atv1 as "sold as seem" / once you out the door you on your own.

To the software developer...

If iOS can stream to airport express I'm pretty sure it's no huge leap to make it work with atv1. I personally would have thought it would have worked with no real problems as soon as 4.2 came out. I'm pretty sure my airport express doesn't run on iOS.

Really really p *ed off.
I wasn't best pleased when I bought an ATV v1 in Sept only ti find the cheaper new model out a week or two later but now I find I have limited functionality as well, hey how good can it get!
I have complained on feedback but I suspect it'll make no difference.

I'm pretty sure my airport express doesn't run on iOS.

To stream from an iOS device to an ATV, the ATV needs to be able to accept a stream from a source other than iTunes, a function that is provided in iOS 4 for the ATV2, but the ATV1 uses a different OS that does not include software that allows that.

I don't think anyone here expects Windows software to run in OS X, or for OS X software to run in Windows, because there is a realization that the two are significantly different. It is exactly the same situation between the ATV1 and the ATV2. It would take a significant development project to create an AirPlay version that would work on the ATV1, and I just don't see that happening.

Anyone who thinks it's easy can download the source code for FreeBSD (upon which OS X is based) and create their own upgrade for the ATV1. Let me know when it's released, and I'll give it a try on my ATV1.

I have been preparing myself for the disappointment of airplay on the old ATV ever since it was a nnouced so I'm not surprised it doesn't work. It is a shame...but not unexpected.

However after updating my ipad and iphone to 4.2.1 I noticed that my ATV was not no longer showing up in iTunes as an Airtunes speaker. That got me upset.

I think I have fixed the issue by simply going into the ATV itself and unchecking and rechecking the "make ATV an Airtunes Speaker" setting under the settings menu. Tho it was checked already, when I when back to my Mac Pro and looked in iTunes the ATV was now an option for stream audio to. Phew.

Wish it could do more...but at least functionality was not stripped out.

I can also confirm that trying to stream audio from an ipad or iphone does not work...which seems lame...but again I did not expect this to work with the advent of airplay.

Hope this helps some of you.

Stephen Reilly hits the nail on the head.

Also... my Atv1 has always provided both a source and client service to my setup this far. As far as I'm concerned it should still be able to perform as a client to iOS devices if the airport express can.

Not sure about that as it streams via wireless. Airplay streams to existing Airport expresses without having iOS. Video streaming should be the same as you can stream from a Mac without iOS also right now to an AppleTV.

I received my AppleTV as a gift in December 2008. I don't think it's fair to say that the ATV1 was near the end of its product life cycle at that time. Apple simply didn't support the product properly and then dumped it in favor of a new processor and OS. I'm okay with that, however, I offer that Apple should not have abandoned its customers so easily -- seems to create the impression that Apple does not value its customers. If Apple could not have developed a software fix for a less than 2 year old ATV1 to stay relevent, that's more Apple's fault and perhaps Apple should have offered some accommodation to its loyal customers (I don't know, perhaps a token coupon or rebate on an ATV2?). Instead, Apple ignores the situation, leaving the perception that Apple hopes ATV1 owners would disappear. I have been an Apple customer for some time (multiple generations of iPod, iMac, iPhone and MacBook Pro). In the past, I have been impressed with Apple products and customer service. From my perspective, Apple seems to be evolving into a company that sees its customers not as the people who have purchased its products, but rather as the folks who may stand in line and have not purchased, yet.

talk2tom wrote:
I received my AppleTV as a gift in December 2008. I don't think it's fair to say that the ATV1 was near the end of its product life cycle at that time.

At the end? Perhaps not, although for a piece of computer/AV equipment it was certainly middle aged. Since you bought it, it has received 5 software updates. At this point, it is over 4 years old, which is pretty elderly for a product of this nature. I'm not sure why you feel that the original Apple TV is not "relevant." It still does everything you bought it for, and while the streaming/rental model supported by the Apple TV2 is gaining in popularity, the purchase model (supported by Apple TV1 but not Apple TV2) is still preferred by many consumers and continues to be supported by Apple, as well as by other vendors (e.g. Amazon) who continue to offer video and music for purchase and download by computers and other devices.

I just bought 4 $300 apple tv's for my new place about 2 months prior to them releasing the new $99 version, when inquiring if I could refund the yet unboxed apple tvs for the new version, they said no, of course they wouldn't, they'll lose money... I thought oh well, I am sure since its more expensive and no longer available, they'll grandfather it in with the next few software releases? yay, finally streaming audio from my iphone to my tv..... guess what apple says, F&^% y&^!!!! I am done with apple, it's obvious they could let it on old apple tv's, as if air express has more capability than a 160 gb appletv???? I haveiphone, ipad, itouch, but all they wnat is my money for the next released gadget, F&^% me Apple? No, this time F*&^ Y%$ and the $1200 worth of apple tv's I got suckered into. the least you could do is add a little feature called airplay across the board i have all the gadgets that could use it anyway.

Suddenly windows 7 streaming is becoming more appealing, and cheaper?

Message was edited by: Barysh

lIDDIl wrote:
yeah well then how in the heck are they going to use third party hardware manufacturers for streaming and not even be able to transmit to their own 1st gen device?

Apple has made the specifications available to other manufacturers, who can use AirPlay for streaming. If they choose to do so, they will probably incorporate this feature into new products, not existing ones.

Apple may or may not add such a feature to the original Apple TV. From a business point of view, it does not make a great deal of sense for Apple to invest further in a 4 year old, discontinued product, but if it is easy, they might choose to do so. In the somewhat unlikely event that they do, I would not expect it to happen in the immediate future, since their first priority necessarily must be the products that they are currently selling. While the new version of Apple TV works quite well for most people, there are clearly still some bugs to stamp out and further enhancements to be made, so I expect that this is where they are investing their current efforts.

It may be simply a bug? The ATV1 may have never been thoroughly tested or there may have not been time to fix the problems? Airplay seems to still be very fragile outside the IOS/MAC enviroment? For example, I cannot get my iPad to stream audio to my Airport Express and everytime I enable the Airplay to the Airport Express the networking on the iPad stops working. I have to restart the iPad to get any network access re-enabled.

Apple clearly has been rushing to get AirPlay out. After all, it would have been better to have it ready to go at the time of Apple TV2 introduction. So it would be surprising if they had time to put much effort into testing it on Apple TV1 (which was never advertised as having this capability) even if they hoped to implement it at some point in the future.

Ah, caught by the old catch-22. I too have an old ATV, and was noticing that none of the new IOS 4.2 things seemed to work. I finally decided, what the heck, I can afford a hundred bucks for a new ATV, after all mine is several years old, not a few months like some here. But when I got to the Apple Store I was reminded that my Mac had to be running snow leopard... OK, 'cept I have a VERY expensive old Mac Pro G5, which still runs fine (and has been loaded up with extra disk, etc., etc.) So the only way I will be able to play with those new features is by buying, a new computer (no doubt custom built to have enough storage) + a new ATV.

I think I have decided I like my old Mac and old ATV just as they are.