Track Start Time / Stop Time

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Level 1

6 points

Track Start Time / Stop Time

In iTunes there is the option (right click on a track, select Info then Options) to set a customised Start and Stop Time for playback of each track. I use this to cut out the unwanted bits from the start and end of music videos. When these are then played back in iTunes the Start and Stop Times are adhered to perfectly.

However when these same tracks are played from the Apple TV 2, the custom Start and Stop Times are ignored, and the full track is played. I cannot find a way to get Apple TV to use the custom Start and Stop Times as specified in iTunes. The original Apple TV would utilise the custom Start and Stop Times perfectly.

Can anyone help me with this please?

I have reported this to Apple... but no reply... and no fix in the latest Apple TV update.

Posted on May 12, 2011 3:29 PM

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Answer 1

vazandrew

Level 8

40,354 points

May 12, 2011 8:05 PM in response to Tim Francis

The old Apple TV could sync content, the new one can only stream. That's probably the issue.

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Answer 2

Tim Francis Author

Level 1

6 points

May 13, 2011 5:30 AM in response to vazandrew

I have just tested streaming on the old Apple TV, and yes when a file is streamed by this rather than synched, it does ignore the custom Start Time.

That doesn't explain though why this is happening; it shouldn't! If I have told iTunes to only play a file between two points - whether it plays it within iTunes or streams to Apple TV, I still want the same rules to apply. The Start & Stop times are stored in iTunes - so iTunes should be able to use this information when streaming.

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Answer 3

vazandrew

Level 8

40,354 points

May 13, 2011 10:05 AM in response to Tim Francis

It isn't embedded into the file. It's a setting. When it syncs it brings that over.

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Answer 4

AUchemE

Level 1

14 points

Dec 4, 2013 2:16 PM in response to Tim Francis

This is an old post so you may have found a workaround by now, but in case it helps... I was able to deal with this issue with my 3rd generation Apple TV by using iTunes to create an AAC version of the song. It's very easy; just find the song in iTunes that you've modified the start or end time for, right click on it, then select "Creat AAC Version". That will create a new version of the song using the start/end time youv'e specified - so you can tell it worked if the song length is shorter. Then use that shorter version of the song in playlists, etc for Apple TV. This is obviousy inconvenient if you have this problem with a lot of songs, and this is not a solution, just a workaround... but it might be worth a try.

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