Q: Home Sharing drop out with Apple TV2

yes, but what about those of us who are not developers and don't have access to 10.5?? I have turned off my screen saver, turned off sleep (on the AT2), done what everyone suggested except drilling holes in my house for new ethernet cables....I mean truly!  I'm about to squint at everything on my 13" screen or buy DVDs.

Well, all I'm saying is it appears Apple has fixed the issue and the firmware is in the pipeline. I know it *****, but if you can hold out until "this fall", all should be good.

*Edit-  Weird that they bleeped me for using a term that describes what vacuums do. Rhymes with ducks, but with an S.

Message was edited by: DrumMan

Nancy, I have been on this thread for a while now and did what you just suggested........ last weekend out of sheer desperation and massive frustration I drilled a hole in my wall to allow a wired connection from my iMac direct to the TC router, I also hard wired TC router to ATV2 - guess what? after 3 months of drop outs and warning messages the last 3 nights viewings has been faultless. My whole system is Apple top to bottom, all new, all updated and everything else all works text book except this blasted, very unreliable, ATV2 since early March. This whole charade now points to a wi-fi streaming issue between iTunes and ATV2 after a firmware upgrade around that time and/or an iTunes update bug.

I will keep you posted but I have now clocked 3 days and several hours of viewing on purchased ATV2 videos without a single hitch. I have set ATV2 to never sleep recently and notice I have to press the remote a few times to loose the screen save then wait and watch screen stay blank for a minute or two, soon all the library appears without any annoying warning triangles about library not loaded etc. Today I put sleep back on so we will see how this goes.......

I really hope DrumMan's news is what we all have been waiting for as the whole point of ATV2 is to stream.

So my ATV2 is still working fine while connected by cable and with wireless access blocked. But it isn't good enough. I acquired the damned thing to work wirelessly and it doesn't.

On the basis of DrumMan's advice that the new firmware version solves the problem, is it reasonable to conclude that Apple knows about the problem, or would it be wiser to conclude that it is serendipitous?

In any event, it seems unreasonable that Apple hasn't either acknowledged the problem or acted promptly to sort it out. However--and it is no comfort--my son, a long-time Apple devotee, tells me this is par for the course with Apple: there will be no public acknowledgement of anything less than perfection and, one day, mysteriously, the problem will be fixed.

Well, Mr Jobs and your henchpeople, we're on to you.

There. That feels better.

Message was edited by: Cormanus

Hi folks,

After playing about wth a few settings, I've had no drop outs now for about a week.. This is what I set:

On the ATV2, latest firmware:

switch off the screen saver

Set sleep to "never"

Reboot iTunes on your mac/ media server

Reboot the atv2

good luck :0)

Hi Drumman,

Do you know when the ATV2 new firmware will released?

in case we are talking about september or later, Is there any way to get it and install it before the official launch

Thanks

The new firmware for ATV2 will be released alongside iOS 5 "this fall".

The only way to install it now is to have your ATV activated on a developer account. So you can pay $99 to become a developer and get it that way, or be resourceful. Google is a very powerful tool.

Note- If you find the firmware on the internet somewhere and try installing without having your ATV activated as a developer unit, you will not be able to use your ATV at all (at least until "this fall" when they unlock that firmware for public use).

Well gang....I also discovered something which might have nothing to do with the underlying issue... but I noticed that my ATV2 had different DNS settings to my Airport - and when I made them the same, bango.  ATV2 recognised my computer, my iTunes library, my bought TV and movies, etc. etc.  And then played at least 3 hours without a hitch.

But where, as so many have commented, is Apple in all this discussion???

well here we go, last week my AT2 kept dropping out every 5 minutes. I am a n00b so really have no idea. For the last 5 days no drop outs. I don't think I did anything different. Maybe an itunes update 10.3.(54) but not sure. So there ya go… I can stop swearing in Dutch for now…

yeah, where is apple? wth? seriously disappointing, I will definitely think twice about getting another Apple product.

hi

Ok, as the new release wont be released until this fall I did what hardytoothdr said. I turned of screensaver and sleepmode. then I had to do a hard reset of the ATV2 (switch on/off is not enough) re-introduce my apple ID in the computer menu for the home sharing and it’s now working. Until autumn i can bear leaving without screensaver.

Thanks to all people here, that’s a great community. A pity apple did not care to inform of this work around. I guess I’m a bit fanatic about apple but really this bug ****** me off quite a bit. this is not the kind of service we want when we buy apple and having to wait 8 months to get something like this corrected is completely unacceptable.

cheers

I was to quick with my previous post. My computer disapeared again today from my ATV2. and I still had my sleep mode and screen saver turned off. this morning I had an electrical problem and my general breaker went off at home. So I think that when you turn off your ATV2, you loose your home sharing.

OK - but I am one of those people who turn things off when I'm not using them.....like my stereo, my TV, and, yes, my ATV2.  At the socket - but of course!  The environment dontcha know! And now, having aligned my DNS settings, despite turning the ATV2 (and my  laptop) off when not in use, everything is working.....for up to 3 hours at a stretch.....It's the ether.  It's got to be. What does it matter that I've turned off my screen saver?  I never used it! We all have the same problems, some of us have miraculous solutions, some are still searching....Keep going guys.  Reading all of your comments is as good as a tech course for me.

So....my atv2 has been working great lately.  I'm not exactly sure why, I do have my screensaver and sleep set to "never" which seemed to help, but not solve the problem.

The last three days the unit has been working flawlessly.   One thing I did lately was disable my wireless repeater..

Anybody else out that is having problems with their ATV2 have a wireless repeater set up on their network??

I have recently disabled my repeater and found that much of my network seems to run smoother.  I'm going on three days with no crazy homeshare drop-offs.

Like everyone here on this post, I am also having the same problem with my computer coming off my home sharing on my ATV2. The only way it seems to find it again is by me turning my sharing off then on on my mac.

Like everyone here I think we need some proper answers from apple to this problem. I know its not my wireless because I'm getting a strong signal. Also as a check, I can't share on my iphone 4 unless I turn the sharing off then on on my mac.

I agree with one of the posts, I think its a home sharing problem and would like tech help......

I have a "sort of" fix:

Disable screensaver and sleep on ATV2, hard reset ATV2, Turn off energy saver on my iMac (7 yr old PPC), restart Itunes, disable and then re-enable  home sharing and then Home sharing works.

Totally unacceptable - so APPLE  please sort this out, I have called your support 4 times, the last time I was asked to take my ATV2 in to the nearest authorised Apple service centre, which I did.  Surprise, surprise, I worked perfectly.  But that was in a perfect environment, with all the latest Apple gear. 

No recognition of the time this has taken up, let alone the cost of driving into town, twice, to the Apple shop.  It probably all adds up to much more than the cost of the ATV2

What I would suggest is:

1.  Apple recognise that many home wireless set-ups are probably far from perfect, and issue clear and concise instructions as to how to set up the wireless/computer/atv2 to enable faultless enjoyable use of what could be a brilliant piece of kit.

2.  Take out of it's user manual, the section that says "problem - not problem", as its a misleading wind up for those clearly having endless problems.

3.  Do a survey of those who are NOT having issues, to find out what their set up is.  Not sure how this could be done, but valuable info could surely be harvested and used to sort out this issue that is clearly annoying many ATV2 owners.

I look forward to being able to set up my system with clear and concise instructions from Apple and to never having to call Support again - despite them being very polite and trying to be helpful.

Hurry up apple with the release of the new updates - you are p----ing off  lots of loyal customers.