Apple TV not finding my library.

I manually open itunes and everything works

I have lost 2 days of my life with this ATV2. I have followed all suggestions, rebooted PC, Router, ATV, set up Home Sharing on iTunes etc. and can actually play my library and even use the iPhone app to control music.

BUT.... I cannot get Home Sharing to work. When I reboot ATV2, it gets stuck on Looking for Network Services, even while my libray is playing ok. The wireless Router is recognised ok, but when I input ID and password it still is not recognised. What am I missing here?

O.k., So I've has ATV2 for 2 days now........

I also had problems with ATV loosing the library's when it woke up from sleep.

I tried (many) power off resets, router resets, etc. etc., but eventually ATV always looses it's memory again.

I phoned apple support, and was connected to their "higher level support". I was asked if I could see the device in the devices column in iTunes?!!!!! (ATV2 doesn't work that way, it uses Home sharing).

After trying to convince me that it was acceptable to do a power reset (unplug/plug in) every time I use the device (and that was "normal for a network device"), I explained that many other people were having the same problem, and that he should check the support discussions site.

He said he'd look into it and get back to me.

An hour or so later, he left me a message to ask me to check the Firewalls. My firewall only blocks incoming traffic, and allows application sharing, so that isn't the issue here.

I've mailed him back.........I'll report any updates on this.

What happened to the "it just works"?

Bob.

"What happened to the "it just works"?"

GOOD question Robert!

I've been a PC guy most of my life, and have heard often heard that phrase from Mac folks, so I bought a MacBook Pro and ATV2 last month to edit and play my HD videos.

Ooops... Found out Apple TV 2 JUST DOESN'T!

;^(

I see similar issues:

1) Home Sharing:
(a) Apple TV shows my Computer listed, but when I click on it, it just spins forever.
(b) Also at times, it seems that Home Sharing just completely goes down. Using the remote app on my iPad shows no Apple TVs (should show 3) and does not show the iTunes library from my PC either.

I've found that closing and re-opening iTunes on the Computer fixes both of these issues.

2) Selecting photos from my Computer takes a considerable amount of time before anything is shown. It does eventually show the albums, but after a few mins. Unlike (1) where it would just spin forever. **

** Note that I hate how Apple TV does not support sub-folders in albums. For instance I have my photos organized like this:
d:\pictures
d:\pictures\christmas
d:\pictures\christmas\2005
d:\pictures\christmas\2006
d:\pictures\disney
d:\pictures\disney\2005
d:\pictures\disney\2006

** It collapses all the christmas pictures into one album. Same for disney. Wife hates this, as do I. Wish they just had a "folder" view that supported sub-folders and such. Would be awesome then! See a lot of complaints on this around the net.

Same problem in Australia. It will play podcasts and previews, but will not allow me to turn on home sharing. I ordered my Apple TV over a month ago. It only arrived yesterday and does not work! What an anti climax.

My support at Apple was not able to suggest anything and they have not returned my call as promised. I assume they have programmers trying to work out how to fix this flaw.

*Apple as a company has gone from the professionals choice of computer to a main stream toy company, more advertising than R+D.... and as such..... it's now unreliable!*

I have read all the posts and experienced this same problem - ATV not finding my library although it finds the library from my laptop. (ATV sometimes found my library but would not download the photos, etc. ) My Mac to Mac sharing works fine. I believe I have solved the problem and the problem was in my third party Virus Barrier which blocked internal addresses that demonstrated high activity. The problem was the ATV sending a "flood" of requests to download the library and the Virus Barrier software blocked the address as an intruder. I removed the 192.168.100.xxx address from the virus barrier "connection flood" blocked address, and all works just fine. Hope this solution pertains to others.

I still can't get ATV2 to work consistently but I did find that my library showed up more frequently after I turned off my firewall. I had my firewall setup with some fairly open settings but it seems like it was still blocking ATV2.

I didn't turn off my firewall to fix the ATV2 problem. I turned it off because it was blocking my TC. Now my TC works great and my ATV2 kinda works.

I really think the main issue is how the firewall works in OSX 5 to OSX 6.

I've had no update from Apple at all today for this problem, I guess they're stumped!

It's strange, I got it to connect last night, and it was still working this morning, I then put ATV2 to sleep for 30 seconds, and it couldn't find my library when it woke up, and hasn't been able to all day.

Yesterday, I switched Home Sharing off in iTunes, then back on again, and this brought up the Library on ATV2, but I've tried doing the same many times since then, and it just doesn't work. Odd!

When they eventually sort out the problems, it will be really good (and I'll buy another couple), but until then, it's a waste of space (and money)!

Bob.

It's working fine here but it's quirky.

If I open iTunes and enable Home Sharing and authenticate, then "Home Sharing" appears in the Shared section of the left hand pane (same pane that lists Devices, Playlists, etc.

If I then click "Done" on the main screen view this "Home Sharing" listing disappears and I can't see the library on the ATV2.

However, if I don't click "Done" and carry one then all's well. I can move around iTunes and do all the normal stuff but as long as I don't close that Home Sharing screen view it works fine.

Maybe someone can try on their system and see if this is consistent?

Tim

Hey, I've just tried that, and it's exactly the same for me.
I haven't clicked "Done", and the home sharing stays up in the devices, and I can see my library on ATV2.
I've put ATV2 to sleep, then woken it up, and my library is still there.
I'll monitor the situation and report back if this has been a permanent fix.
Thanks.
Bob.

Ah, problem...........
When you quit iTunes, then open it again, the "Home Sharing" disappears, so quitting must also hit the "Done" button.
Back to square 1!

That's a bug then - the sharing state really ought to be maintained through a quit or a reboot even.

Tim

Roll on the first ATV2 software update...........

However, saying that.........this appears to be a problem in iTunes, if it's home sharing doesn't remain open........

Bob.

O.k., so even if you don't click "Done", and Home Sharing still appears in the iTunes side menu, my computer library still doesn't show up on ATV2 (well, it does sometimes, but then if you put it to sleep for 30 seconds, then wake it, it doesn't again).
Very frustrating!

Bob.