How to stop Apple TV from displaying during songs

Question

How to stop Apple TV from displaying during songs

I have the latest generation Apple TV and it's currently used in a family room/dining room area so it's nice to play a "Dinner Music" playlist, etc. when we have guests over. The problem...I hate having the album cover displaying, along with the time bar for the song. Unfortunately, this is configured with a new Bose amplifier system that requires the TV be on in order to work. Normally, I would just turn off the TV and have no picture, but I can't.

I have tried creating a pure black background image and having the Apple TV use that as the screensaver, but for some reason, it takes forever for it to kick in, and then it often just doesn't work. Any other ideas? Thanks.

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7), 256GB - 24" LED Cinema Display

Posted on Nov 28, 2011 6:53 AM

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Answer 1

cshamis

Level 1

13 points

Aug 21, 2017 7:39 PM in response to Larry McJunkin

I have a new Sony XBR 65x750d that has a "picture off" button. -- Just turns off the screen and backlight (screen goes completely dark) but there's no interruption of audio pass through on the HDMI.

I do wish the Apple TV could be setup to do that automatically when playing music... but ... having one button to press is better than none.

May not help you, but...

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Answer 2

bobbyco57

Level 4

1,774 points

Nov 28, 2011 6:56 AM in response to Larry McJunkin

Hay, that was clever. The only thing I can think of is to go to the Settings in ATV2 and reduce the wait time for screen saver to come on.

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Answer 3

harv55

Level 3

600 points

Nov 28, 2011 6:57 AM in response to Larry McJunkin

You should be able set the screensaver show during music playback. You can also then select a photo album to display. I have photoshop elements which works nicely, but there are other photo applications (or create a Flickr account just for this purpose.) and save a black image and have that be the only item in the album.

Alternatively, you should be able to turn off just the power to the TV, either via remote or diretcly from the TV set, and leave the Bose system turned on.

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Answer 4

Nov 28, 2011 6:59 AM in response to bobbyco57

I've already tried that...and when it works, it's OK. But for some reason Apple TV often forgets it's supposed to be using a screensaver at all and just reverts back to displaying the album artwork and timeline. I have the latest upgrade installed.

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Answer 5

Nov 28, 2011 7:00 AM in response to harv55

No offense, harv55...but please read the initial post. Can't turn off the TV (explained there) and also read the issues I've had with the screensaver not working. Was hoping there was some other way to accomplish this, but I guess there is not.

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Answer 6

harv55

Level 3

600 points

Nov 28, 2011 7:00 AM in response to Larry McJunkin

Do you have the ATV looking to a source computer for the black image? If so, is the source computer always turned on?

You're right, this is peculiar.

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Answer 7

Nov 28, 2011 7:09 AM in response to harv55

Yes, the black image is stored in my iTunes library, and the computer is always turned on. It's often in the sleep mode, but configured to wake for network demands...which this should be.

(Edited: I meant the image is stored in the iPhoto library.)

Message was edited by: Larry McJunkin

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Answer 8

harv55

Level 3

600 points

Nov 28, 2011 7:08 AM in response to Larry McJunkin

Just to confirm if the ATV2 is sending a WOL packet you might try to disable the sleep function. I don't allow my computer to sleep and don't have these issues. It's worth trying just to confirm one way or the other.

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Answer 9

Nov 28, 2011 7:11 AM in response to harv55

Thanks, Harv55. I'll try that later today when I have a few minutes and let you know. Will see if it works OK with Sleep function disabled...and also when I know it's sleeping. If it doesn't work while sleeping, then we may have the answer.

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Answer 10

bobwild

Level 4

1,640 points

Nov 28, 2011 7:28 AM in response to Larry McJunkin

Larry, I use two methods.

1. same as you play music on AppleTV. It uses the iTunes library on my iMac. I have a screensaver display pictures from my iMac. I like to have the pictures display instead of a black screen.

2. I play the music from iTunes on my iMac. Then select the apple TV as the remote speaker for iTunes. I use my ipod touch or iPhone as a remote control for iTunes. Screen saver still displays my photos.

That doesnt help your screen saver problem. Here are my screen saver settings:

Start After : 2 minutes

Show during Music : yes

Photos: Bob WIld's Libary

Screen Savers: Classic

in Classic>

Time per Slide: 20 seconds

Transistions: Cube

Hope that helps.

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Answer 11

harv55

Level 3

600 points

Nov 28, 2011 7:31 AM in response to Larry McJunkin

Sounds good, let me know.

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Answer 12

Nov 28, 2011 8:44 AM in response to harv55

Harv55...now I have another problem. I spent most of yesterday re-organizing my iPhoto library, so this morning for this test I created a new event, named it Apple TV, and added one picture to it...the black.jpg I want to use for the screensaver. It won't show up on the Apple TV under events, or pictures. It appears the changes I made in reorganizing the pics yesterday show up on the Apple TV...but I thought anything I added to my library on the Mac would be instantly seen on Apple TV. Is that not the case?

I also tried creating a new Album and adding the black.jpg to it. Same thing, it didn't show up on Apple TV.

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Answer 13

Nov 28, 2011 9:16 AM in response to Larry McJunkin

Well, I've figured it out, but it appears to be an actual bug. I went to iTunes | Advanced | Choose Photo to Share...and it was already set on "Entire Library". I change it to a single Event, pressed APPLY, then changed it back to "Entire Library"...pressed APPLY again and now the new event and folder show up on Apple TV.

I'll go do the network test now and see if the ATV2 is actually sending a WOL packet.

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Answer 14

Nov 28, 2011 9:31 AM in response to Larry McJunkin

@Harv55: OK...the computer is not waking, so that's the problem. I don't know if it's an issue with ATV2 or with Lion, but I have Energy Saver set to "Wake on LAN Access" (and I've tried toggling it on/off). If I put the computer to sleep and then turn on ATV2 it searches for iTunes for awhile and then reports that it can't find it. If the computer is awake, it finds it just fine.

I really don't want to keep my AirBook running 24/7 so would like to fix this. I wonder if this a bug in Lion?

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Answer 15

harv55

Level 3

600 points

Nov 28, 2011 9:34 AM in response to Larry McJunkin

It might be a NIC driver setting to enable WOL. I don't have a Mac...sadly. I could try to reproduce with my PC to see if it wakes up from sleep.

I've noticed with ATV albums they are not in alphabetical order, but seem to be in chronological order with the newest albums at the bottom. Have you scrolled all the way donw in the Picture Albums from your ATV?

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