New Apple TV loses connection to iTunes 10.0.1

That's probably what bugs me the mosts:

I don't know if that's the case for everybody, but for some of us the problem is clearly caused by the combination of iTunes and an extender. No extender, iTunes works fine, and when it crashes, a simple program restart makes things work again.

My best hypothesis is that the traffic shape between iTunes and ATV makes the Airport Express behave badly momentarily and generate a few packets that crashes iTunes. Air Video does not interface with iTunes, that'd explain why it streams AirPlay correctly to the ATV in the same setup.

Thus, IMHO, it's a problem in iTunes, probably because it's not ignoring some specific kind of error from the network. And these bad packets happen more often when you're using the extender.

Maybe the Apple TV firmeware update released just yesterday fixes the problem, see

http://www.appletvhacks.net/tag/apple-tv-5-0-1/

Sadly, I've been experiencing this since I replaced my ATV2 by an ATV3.

After a few hours (basically each time I want to use my Apple TV!), I have to restart iTunes on my always-on Mac mini in order for it to work.

Interestingly, not only the Apple TV has trouble connecting, but also iTunes from my MBP, which keeps displaying "looking for new purchases on Mac mini".

Neither Mac OS X 10.7.4, nor the 5.0.1 update of the Apple TV software helped :-(

Just to confirm. I too have this issue.

I have four Apple TVs. 2 ATV2 and 2 ATV3. They all lose connections to iTunes at the same time. As does streaming to iPod, iPad and iPhone.

Restarting iTunes seems to fix the issue. I've had to get in a habbit of restarting iTunes before using my devices. This has been going on since Wifi sync was added to iTunes and has continued in the last several versions.

Trying to find what could be the culprit:

- I have many mDNSResponder error messages in Console (mDNSResponder is the Bonjour process, used among other things for iTunes discovery) like

13/05/12 09:50:43,261 mDNSResponder: Mac-Mini-de-Jerome-Colas.jcolas.members.mac.com.: bad signature

13/05/12 09:50:43,261 mDNSResponder: hndlRecordUpdateReply: Registration of record Mac-Mini-de-Jerome-Colas.jcolas.members.mac.com. type 28 failed with error -65560

- I was an iTools member migrated to dotmac, MobileMe and now iCloud. So I have a @mac.com address which now also works as @me.com. The @mac.com address is the one I use for iTunes home sharing. There were issues for mail migration from MobileMe to iCloud and I had to use the @me.com address instead of the @mac.com address in order fot Mail to work correctly. I am wondering f something similar is happening here.

So, could anyone with AppleTV/iTunes connections problems please confirm whether :

- they also have mDNSResponder error messages in Console

- they use an old @mac.com address for home sharing

Thanks in advace,

Jerome.

I have been experiencing this issue for a while and I also have an @mac.com address from my previous MobileMe account which is now an iCloud account that I use for Home Sharing I will have to check my console logs when I get home for any mDNSResponder errors, I will update later if I do. Also just want to say that this has been an issue for me for some time, unfortunately I cannot remember which version of iTunes or the AppleTV software it started with. Once I quit and reopen iTunes, Home Sharing works great, no drops or connection issues. If I turn off my AppleTV though and go to watch it the next day, it will not reconnect to my iTunes library, I have to run upstairs and restart iTunes again. Very annoying. Hoping for a software fix soon.

Pat

I wanted to use one to stream slides for an information board. It would run for random amounts of time then stop. I switched from wireless to a direct ethernet connection and it has been fine ever since. A friend is experiencing the exact same behavior with his new one. He has four older models that work fine wireless but the new one stops. I randomly lost my connection to the homeshare computers as well when using wireless.

I am not using a .mac account. I use my appleid which is my own email at my own domain. I do not have dnsresponder errors in my logs.

All of my AppleTV's are hardwired ethernet to a Gigabit switch in the structured cabling room. The Mac Pro running iTunes (and Lion) is plugged into the same switch on the same ASIC.

For my set up (2 x Apple TV 3rd Gen - all wired - 4 x Airport Express - 3 wired and 1 wifi + Airport Extreme 5th Gen), even after the latest update to Apple TV firmware - my problem of iTunes hanging remains.

I'm having the same problem as you guys! I've read a lot of posts, and even though I'm new to Apple TV, I learned a bunch here. Everything worked just fine when the photos and music was on my desktop (windows PC, sorry), but after moving the data to my server, and using a notebook PC is when the problem started. It has run as long as 8+ hours without a hitch, but most of the time it fails about every 1/2 hour! Sure wish Apple would fix this.....

I changed from dhcp to fix IP on all wifi devices : AirPort express, time machine, Apple Tv.

I dont experience this problem of lost connection to iTunes anymore.

I hope this may help you, the problem came from my internet DHCP routeur giving not always the same adress

@ olannes

I will try assigning a fixed IP to my Apple TV. DHCP is being handled by my Time Capsule right now and both my iMac and Apple TV are connecting using ethernet. My iMac already has a fixed IP assigned using a DHCP IP reservation based on MAC address through the Time Capsule settings. I will assign one to the AppleTV as well and see if it changes the behavior. Thanks for the suggestion.

Pat

@ olannes

All my devices (2 x AppleTV3, and 4 x Airport Express) have static IPs... I still have to do either one of the two things:

1) Restart iTunes

2) Restart AppleTV3

Also, I have tried iTunes on both Windows 7 AND Mac OS X 10.7.4 - still experience the same hang issue. Really, really annoying... This hang issue is what is holding me up from switching COMPLETELY over to AppleBorg. Ideally, I'd like to run iTunes server using the up-n-coming Lion Server + shared Thunberbolt Connected drive enclosure+bonded GigE (1 internal NIC 2nd one through Thunderbolt to GigE adapter)... alas the hang issue holds me back! ugh!