Q: Home Sharing drop out with Apple TV2

Hi all, bought ATV 2 in Feb and thought it was great! Other than renting Films it's useless as after I set-up Home Sharing which worked great and then all connectivity just keeps disappearing back to my iTunes Library.

I've tried stopping and starting on ATV2, PC running Windows 7 and both. It makes no difference.

Only thing that works is to reset all settings on ATV2, everything works great until it just evaporates again.

The way this is going. I might never buy another Apple product again. Simple to use is great but it's got to work.

No sign of anyone at Apple dealing with this issue either, go on Apple prove me wrong?

Hi All ... I am *assuming* that everyone is still having the Home Sharing problem with ATV2, because I am too.

Please post to this forum so Apple knows that we are STILL having problems, even though nobody at Apple acknowledges that there even *IS* a problem!

To prove that this is an ATV2 'box' problem, and NOT a problem caused by router config, OS config, etc., I conducted a test.

I took my ATV1 out of the drawer and replaced my ATV2 with it. Same network setup, same computer, same "router" (a DSL modem), same Home Sharing account, etc. The only thing that changed was the ATV box.

With my ATV1 box in this same environment, I am no longer having the problems I was experiencing when I had my ATV2 box in the system.

NO Home Sharing issues with ATV1 box, MANY issues with the ATV2 box in the same system.

I invite the Apple Techs who monitor this forum to contact me and I will work with you to help you solve this problem for ALL of us.

Thanks,

M:>

Yes I am still having problems. Apple tech suggested that I update my antiquated network, so I did. I went from a very old ethernet hub system to an Airport extreme. I like having the spiffy new wireless network but it made no difference whatsoever in my ATV2's performance. I recently installed iTunes on a Windows Vista laptop and it drops out too, maybe slightly less often.

I called Apples' help line twice, on the second call, as all of the suggestions from the first call had not made any difference, I was put through to a "higher level".  This was to a call centre in Canada  (I am in New Zealand), spoke to Dino, who was (again) really helpful and listened to all I had tried.  He asked what security / firewall I had on my router (Cisco Linksys WAG120N), so I went online to check, and yes the firewall was on.  After checking what other computers we had in the house (Apple and Compaq), we unchecked the firewall on the router, checked the Windows firewall on the PC based machine was on and also that the virus checker was functioning, then restared everything  - computers, router and apple TV  and hey presto - Apple TV2 works.

The only issue now is that it did stop working after roughly an hour, but did start again after I went through the re-starting process. I am wondering if the outage is something to do with the security key set up, which is set to change the key every 3600 seconds (1hour).  So I am going to leave Apple TV2 running today for more than an hour, taking note when I turned it on and see what happens.

If Apple TV2 relies on there being no security on the router, I suspect that will be an issue for those who are not solely using Mac computers, also with there being so many different routers out there with different security set ups, have Apple slipped up here?  Would it not be better to have only the home sharing on / off authentification command done solely via the router (if that will work with the firewall on) and then AppleTV2 connect directly with the Mac / PC wireless capability directly?  I am not tech savvy enough to know if this is a possibility, but if Airplay can work with devices such as Iphones and Ipads, would it be possible for it to work with other wireless devices?

Since this thread seems to be the biggest one regarding this issue with ATV2 Home Sharing issues, I guess I'll add my experience to the pile.

For quite some time, we were happily enjoying our ATV2, primarily for viewing movies on our home theater setup, streamed via Home Sharing from iTunes on the iMac downstairs.  Never had a problem with it, until one time some weeks ago when I wanted to watch something, but the ATV2 was unable to see the library on the iMac.  We had a gap in our usage, so I can't really pinpoint when this change occurred, but I find it most likely that it's somehow tied to something that changed with one of the ATV2 firmware updates in that timeframe.  Of course, it could also be related to a Mac OS update in that period, but that seems less likely.

In all my years of experience with Apple products, this has probably been the most annoying issue I've seen.  I'm not incompetent with this stuff.  I'm a manager of SW development, am more tech-savvy than probably 99.some percent of the general population, and I know how to troubleshoot stuff, so I'm pretty sure this isn't just a "dumb user" problem.  I've spent several weeks now trying to figure this one out, and have searched and searched online for suggestions, and have tried them all, to no avail.  Restarts, reboots, enabling, disabling, port opening, reserved IPs, multicast on/off, blah, blah, blah....  Been there, done that, with no success.  Well, technically, every once in a while I would be able to see the library on that computer for a few minutes before losing it.

The setup in my situation is as follows:

27" i7 iMac hosting my iTunes library:

> Fully updated Mac OS

> Current version of iTunes

> No additional AV or firewall stuff

> Gigabit ethernet connection to router

D-Link DIR-655 wireless router with latest firmware.

Gigabit ethernet connection from router to gigabit switch at home theater setup.

Ethernet connection from home theater switch to ATV2.

ALL other ATV2 functionality works beautifully with this setup (we also use Netflix on the ATV2 often), so I'm confident there's no fundamental flaw with network functionality, or with the ATV2 itself.

Last night, based on a vague recollection of someone posting something long ago about how he had the same problem, and that the problem was resolved for him after swapping routers, I decided I might as well get myself a more modern router and see if that made a difference.  So I went and picked up a spiffy new Linksys E4200, and got it set up in a few minutes.  Magically, my ATV2 was able to see the library with no issues.  For the record, this was BEFORE I applied this latest ATV2 SW update (4.2.2, I think?).  Then I applied the ATV2 update, and things still seemed to be working fine.  Since I did this late in the evening, I haven't put much time on the system at all, but I'll be checking it regularly over the next few days to confirm that everything still works.

For some reason in just about every post that I've read on this topic, people don't identify the specifics of the setups they're using, especially the router.  I wonder if perhaps many of the people seeing the same issue as me are using D-Link routers, and there's just some obscure incompatibility between the recent ATV2 SW and the way D-Link handles its routing.

I just bought the brand new Netgear N750 WIRELESS DUAL BAND GIGABIT ROUTER and still have Home Sharing problems documented in this thread so it is hard to blame old routers for the issue.

I, too, am a techie person ... Tech Director for a school district in charge of networking, wireless, etc. We use all Apple products

My bet would be that if you apply that latest ATV2 update and give this new setup of yours a few more hours, you'll see the Home Sharing problem reappear. Many others here were convinced by Apple tceh support that the problem was their network router and went through similar upgrades, only to find the problem reappearing.

I am using a Time Machine for my router. All computer software ... 10.6.7 running on a MacBook Pro ... up-to-date. All connections are wireless.

This does not seem to be a router issue from the data I have seen posted here.

Apple needs to fix the ATV2 firmware that got screwed-up in their last update!

I'm not saying it's fundamentally a router issue.  I'm just trying to add my specific situation as another data point to the collection of tales of woe.  But router configuration specifics can obviously be a major factor in this sort of issue, and it would be nice if people included that info in their posts to aid in the diagnostic process.

Fundamentally, this Home Sharing functionality isn't all that complicated, and I'm disappointed to see that this Apple product has this sort of issue with one of its primary intended functions.

And I too am afraid that my feelings of success/improvement from last night will be short-lived.  It seems that most people aren't finding any kind of permanent fix, and I will certainly report back what I experience in upcoming days.

Your point is understood and well taken.

I think the reason most folks don't include their specific setup info is ....

BECAUSE WE FEEL THAT NO APPLE PERSON OUT THERE IS WANTING OR USING THAT INFO.

There have been overe 100 posts to this thread, and not ONE from an Apple person.

It would be nice if an Apple Tech could *sometimes* reply or ask for info in these posts.

As it is now, we feel like we "typing into the wind" so to speak.

I am using a 13 inch Aluminium body Macbook, all fully updated, have Apple TV2, BT Homehub3 (it was new 4 weeks ago) and my media is stored on a Lacie Stark external hard drive. I am watching through Grey's Anatomy with my wife, which is all on my itunes, but after 20 minutes the connection drops. I thought it might be if my external hard drive goes idle, so i leave a video running on my macbook, and ive stopped my macbook from going to sleep in an attempt to solve the issue.

The issue for me is when the program stops, I can still see my Macbook under the computers part of Apple TV, but i cannot access it, and I have to come upstairs, turn off home sharing and turn it back on again, then I may continue watching...

I did update Apple TV software, but then read that this update causes the problems, so reset my Apple TV, still having the same problems...

Message was edited by: gregbcooper31 - added last sentence about the update

I think the problem has to be with iTunes 10.2.2.

I can still stream music to my ATV2 from an iTunes 10.2.1 library on my Mac Pro but not stream longer than about 3 minutes from my Mac mini running a 10.2.2 library on the same network.

Also, I can't even use AirPlay on that iTunes 10.2.2 to push the music *to* the ATV 2.  Both directions work without a hitch using iTunes 10.2.1.

I was watching my Little Snitch activity last night while I attempted to stream music from the 10.2.2 library.  During streaming, the process "iTunes" was consistently being pinged by "appletv-en1" (the DHCP name of my static IP assignment.)  At about 3:30 into any song the music stopped, "mDNSResponder" freaked-out blinking between "appletv-en1" and "AppleTV.local". Is this clue that maybe iTunes 10.2.2 broke its handling of Bonjour connections to the ATV?

A very clumsy workaround to stream between a 10.2.2 library and the ATV2 is that I can use my 10.2.1 iTunes as a middleman.  The older iTunes can "pull" music off the 10.2.2 library via Home Sharing and "push" it via AirPlay to my Apple TV without dropouts.  Not a viable long-term solution, but possibly another clue to the problem.  What is different about the relationship between Apple TV and 10.2.2 vs. Apple TV and iTunes 10.2.1?

For the record, my network has static IPs assigned by DD-WRT v24-sp2 vpn running on a Linksys WRT45GL v1.1 going into an Asante GX5-800P Gigabit ethernet switch.

When your computer drops off the ATV, no need to go to the computer.

Just go to the Settings(?) section of the ATV (I'm not in front of my ATV and I'm going from memory ... it's the Settings area where you choose your library on the ATV) and turn off Home Sharing and then turn it back on ... all using the ATV remote. No need to go to the computer.

Same problem.  Seems the problem is with iTunes but...

I can use home sharing through the latest version of itunes on my windows 7 machine with no problems.  I can stream to my apple tv2, my ipad, etc.

My problem is when I try and use home sharing from my mac book pro using the latest version of itunes.  It cuts out every few minutes.

Both PC and Mac are running the latest version of iTunes.  They both connect wirelessly to my home router.  The PC works with no problem.  The Mac drops frequently.  Usually in under 5 minutes.

Frustrated!

I had to turn off IPv6 to get it to work at all, but I'm now back to the same intermittent failures others are experiencing.  Netflix streaming works fine, but accing the iTunes library or using the ATV2s as remote speakers from iTunes totally fails.  Very frustrating.

I don't know about the rest of you, but with my ATV, it's not just iTunes that drops out. It's also Pandora, and even Netflix.