I have synced a number of movies to my Apple TV (1st generation) but can't figure out how to watch them from the ATV-1 hard drive rather than wirelessly from iTunes - also I cannot watch them wirelessly from iTunes because the video freezes and it takes a rest to get APT running again. Any help or advice would be appreciated.
iMac, Mac OS X (10.0.x)
..sorry for the typo - I meant to write "takes a reset to get the APT running again.."
Video that is synced to the Apple TV won't look any different to video that is streamed, it will all appear in the same menu's, however anything that is synced will play from the hard drive, you don't need to do anything special to make it do so.
If you are having trouble with wifi you may have interference.
Intermittent problems are often a result of interference. Interference can be caused by other networks in the neighbourhood or from household electrical items.
You can download and install iStumbler (NetStumbler for windows users) to help you see which channels are used by neighbouring networks so that you can avoid them, but iStumbler will not see household items.
Refer to your router manual for instructions on changing your wifi channel.
Thanks Winston - but unfortunately that's now how my ATV1 is responding. When I select a video that has been synced to the ATV1 - rather than play from the hard drive it appears to be coming wirelessly from iTune but if indeed it is playing from the hard drive, why would it freeze and require a reset? Any suggestions on how to determine the problem and then a solution would be appreciated.
Are the movies iTunes store movies, have you tried removing ALL the cables and restarting.
No - the movies are either ripped from DVD or downloaded then formated for iTunes. No have not tried removing ALL (only using the HDMI Cable) cables and restarting (with or without cables?). Thanks for your help and prompt responses.
Also try playing a trailer or podcast from iTunes to see if the problem persists and whether it's your video conversion that is causing the problem.
Will do - thanks - I'll try it tonight when I get home!
The movies play just fine out of iTunes - any suggestions on the best conversion format for ATV1?
Handbrake - AppleTv 1 preset. Free app. Google it.
Thanks Alley Cat!
I use Handbrake - but not certain it is set to the AppleTV 1 preset - I'll check tonight.
For voidance of doubt - ensure your AppleTV 1 is indeed set for sync.
Right click on the device in iTunes and ensure you have Turn off syncing as an option. If not it's set to stream only under My Shared content folders.
If set to sync and you want to be sure you are selecting synced content only, click on the AppleTV device in iTunes, choose Custom sync and tick the 'Show only synced items on my AppleTV' option.
AppleTV will automatically otherwise stream content you want to sync but is not synced due to space constraints on the hard drive - is it full?
If things are synced and have issues keep ethernet plugged in and unplug the other end of the cable to remove network connectivity (ethernet cable plugged in disables wifi). If you are then having issues it's either an encoding issue or a hardware problem (TV or AppleTV).
AC
Do not use AppleTV2 preset as it will use optimisations not suitable for ATV1.
Universal is also a good option and faster at encoding though in theory not as good as AppleTV1.
AC
Again - thank you! I'll try the suggested fixes tonight. Much appreciated.
Alley_Cat wrote:
For voidance of doubt - ensure your AppleTV 1 is indeed set for sync.
I meant avoidance but if that's a neologism I like the word ;-)
edit
then again, if it means the act of voiding maybe not!
Voidance ... good word either way. Yes, I'm pretty sure it is set for sync - iTunes tells me it has about 9 GB's of movies and over 60 GB's of photos. The photo function on the AppleTV 1 works great - but I can't get the video's to play.
Also the AppleTV 1 on iTunes on my iMac shows (in the dropdown menu) all the movies that have been synced - but when I try to play them on the AppleTV 1 it takes about 45 seconds for video to appear - then freezes within 30 seconds or so. This is with both movies that have been synced to the box and those streaming from iTunes.
That certainly doesn't sound normal. Actually easiest way to ensure things are playing synced is to quit iTunes!
If there's an encoding problem with the video it may affect sync or streamed video equally.
Try checking iTunes for a free TV Show episode and try that.
You need something encoded 'Apple's way', no matter how badly, to act as a benchmark - if that still plays up it's probably not the way your videos are encoded.
How about trailers for films etc on the AppleTV1 - do they play ok?
YouTube?
Have these videos ever worked properly in the past - if so could be a hardware problem brewing.
I've never synced so many photos either - if photos are acting as screensaver change it to somethng else.
If problems persist and all your media is safe and backed up you may want to try removing this itunes library from the AppleTV Settings menu and re-adding it again but doing so will wipe content from AppleTV itself and take time to resync.
Doesn't sound very usable as it is for video.
Do you have any 'hacks/mods' installed?
AC
Apple TV 1st Generation Video problems/questions
