Home Sharing drop out with Apple TV2

I disagree also ... I wasn't having any Home Sharing dropoouts until AFTER the 4.2.2 update! ;(

I have have a big issue with ATV2 loosing itunes library connection intermittently, the internet (e.g. You Tube) service is always ok, it is the video and music iTunes session that is totally unreliable. I recently installed Intego VB6 to get a better idea of how the firewall and connections were running and quickly established that it is port 3689 on en1 being severely flooded with upto 15 messages a second from apple tv2 when running video (itunes movie or tv programmes etc). This crashes the system! I have restored ATV2, router, re-installed itunes many times over to no avail. I switched off 'back to my mac', IPV6 is switched off in airport to run configuration as native as possible. I have lost total confidence in what is a perfect media solution for my homes needs. My hardware configuration is all Apple, less than 1 year old and applications / firmware software are bang up to date - the wi-fi network and hardware is running on a stable platform (no wi-fi signal issues, all max strength to each client) except for this blasted ATV2 / iTunes library issue!

Configuration;

iMac27" i5

Airport Extreme

Time Capsule 1TB

Time Capsule 2TB

Airport Express x 2

Snow Lepoard

iTunes latest version

I repositioned the ATV2 unit away form TV screen (underneath it) in case of some magnetic interaction from chasis tv speakers, however I am now clutching at straws. All was well with ATV2 upto late February 2011, it ran beautifully for 2 months but since last 2 ATV firmware updates, and itunes update it has been all downhill. Apple need to take this seriously as the user experience is dreadful, whether it is a combo of more than 1 issue e.g Homeshare and iffy ATV2 firmware it certainly should be rectified pronto. If anyone else has similar problems would love to know any answers even if just to confirm my findings.

Can you find a copy of iTunes 10.2.1? Downgrading the app fixed everything for me.

BigDag - Your findings and attempts to fix the problem are right on ... this is what all of us have found.

You've jumped through every hoop we did, and still have the same problem we have.

I can't imagine WHAT is taking Apple so long to get off their butts to fix this problem!!!!!! :-(

high there,

it seems that I have the same issue.

my Apple TV2 is link with a cable to my Router (they are close on to the other) but I don’t use it very often I have to say.

today I Switched it on and it started to upgrade. Now I can’t see my computer or lets say it drops out as you say, because after restoring it reappears and then just disappear again

I’m using my Apple TV2 also to stream music from my MAC to my Hifi through the optical output, but now in itunes I can’t see my apple TV2, I just see the other devices in other rooms like my Zeppelin Air but not the Apple TV.

I can’t say if the problem is the Apple TV2 Software upgrade or the itunes one, since I did both without using it in between, but in any case reading this thread it seems that the problem seems to be the Itunes upgrade.

apple will have to be really more careful now that devices are linked together. An upgrade on one can have side effects on another. too bad they didn’t check.

regards

Thanks Mike, Looks like alot of folks out there cursing what should be a flawless product experience, does anyone know if Apple have got the message, do they read these threads? Has anyone successfully complained? The thread seems to point a big finger at last iTunes update. ATV2 recently had a firmware update and did not fix any stability issues according to the release notes. I seriously hope Apple wake up and get s/w quality control back on to the software production lines and not take customers for granted :-(

You're welcome, BigDag. For those of us who have been following this problem since it happened, the problem seems to have abeen caused by the ATV2 fimware upgrade that happened before the latest iTunes upgrade. The problems appeared right after that firmware upgrade. I was hoping that the latest iTunes upgrade would ahve fixed the problem because the tech notes said that it addresed some 'home sharing' issues ... but apparently the issues it addessed didn't fix this problem.

Apple does monitor these discussion forums, but it is getting very frustrating that they have not chimed-in here to give any feedback.

They are losing my respect as a top-notch company.

Everybody should go to the below link and report this problem:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html

Took your advice Mike & thanks for your support, here is the transcript of my complaint to Apple on the link you copied;

"Since March 2011 after ATV2 and iTunes updates ATV2 reliability with iTunes Homeshare is rock bottom. Using an all new up to date Apple H/W & S/W configuration, a stable platform with no router signal issues. System all working fine December 2010 - February 2011. Now frequent music & video library disconnections and port 3689 flooding for last 2 months. There is a large thread on Apple Community and you are doing nothing to try and help stranded customers. Please comment on the thread and investigate bug fix - this would be highly appreciated by your ultra loyal customers who surely all of who can not be wrongly configuring the system. Many, many thanks Apple in anticipation of a written response and ultimately action to fix bug(s) re this community thread."😟😟

What is really crappy is the the people answering the phones realize something is going wrong but hte engineers behind the scenes won't admint it. While my issues seems to have been fixed with the 4.2.2 upgrade, I have a high performance system with Cisco gear at the heart of everything where the load may be worse for anyone that is not using this type of equipment.

Just out of curisioty has anyone hooked their apple TV up to the ethernet port and still experience the same dropouts?

I also wish Apple would acknowledge the issue and at least let people know they are working on the fix, or at LEAST provide the ability for you to EASILY roll back to an earlier version...

Mine has always been connected via Ethernet.

I was lucky to have a Mac that I hadn't upgraded to iTunes 10.2.2 yet. The Apple TV update neither helped nor hurt my situation. Only rolling back to iTunes 10.2.1 fixed it.

i was having all the same problems especially homesharing dropping out. tearing hair out. frustrated. angry.

BUT i hard-cabled my laptop to my router, and hard-cabled my appletv2 to my router (drilled a couple of holes in the floor and ran a 7 metre ethernet cable under the house), and i turned off airport on my macbook laptop. appletv2 since then has been robust and bulletproof. not one problem. i have firewall ON, anti-virus software ON.

i changed power settings to never turn laptop off, and i never sleep appletv2. not sure if these make a difference, but i dont care. im not changing anything. after 4 weeks of drop-outs, its now 100% fine.

ive even left music playing over night to test. all good.

clearly its not as easy as it should be, and a fix is needed, but this solution sorted everything for me and i'm happy for now.

hard-cabling is the answer. well, was for me.

good luck

I guess this demonstrate what we already were wondering. That is to say that this is a Wifi Related problem.

But of course, all of us here wants to get it working without havng to hard-cable it.

as said already by others, just hope apple is reading/listening and already working on it.

Otherwise I will start to look at solutions like the Sonos one, which seems to be much reliable and having a much more audiophile sound.

that would be a pity a would go against my religion.

apple should buy Sonos, improve from their experience and so I won't sin and feel better 🙂

regards

Except guys I have mine hardwired and I have the same issue.

Me too. I have the same problem with ethernet or airport extreme. I even had it before the last iTunes update. It was the ATV2 4.2.1 that messed things up and 4.2.2 did not fix it.

Here is another data point. I did a clean install of Leopard OSX 10.5.x on an external drive. Loaded up some tunes and podcasts on that system and it works perfectly. My problem system is running OSX 10.6.7

I am likewise hardwired and issue only arrived with the latest updates. I would love to rollback as ability to stream my library is effectively broken with no clue when or if it will get fixed. The TV side of Apple must be under staffed and the unpredictable quality has fatigued me enough to look elsewhere. I own two ATV2 regretfully. Has anyone experience to share with the other new media server offerings from WD or Segate? Like the WD TV Live plus www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=320 or Segate's Goflex www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/home_entertainment/. They both appear to support full 1080P and Goflex has an iPhone remote control app. I am wondering if photo output quality is better than ATV2 which is fuzzy and poor. I get better results with SD card in the TV itself.