Can you stream media from NAS with iTunes Server to Apple TV?

no the nas's shared lib is not the same thing as real shared lib

and appletv only works with real shared libs

As Rudegar mentions all NAS solutions to date have only offered simple itunes sharing solutions whereby the media can be seen by itunes as a simple itunes share on the network, and with itunes changing no guarantee that functionality won't be broken by updates (it was once i believe).

AppleTV1 used a 'pairing system' to see itunes content whereby it generated a code to be entered in the paired itunes library and the NAS solutions could not do this.

AppleTV2 uses Home Sharing, again the NAS solutions cannot emulate this.

We really need an Apple designed Home Sharing TC like solution to act as a media server, but knowing Apple the price would be pretty high and it would probbaly lack expandability. A MacMini on the network could provide a good solution running iTunes but is hardly cheap.

AC

Try firecore.com with Appletv

Hi, jupping in.

I accept the fact that to see my NAS movies, I need to share it through Itunes and leave my iMac switched on.

However, the movies shared that way, visible in Itunes on the Imac ar not seen in the Apple TV.

Isn't there any way to display these files in the Apple TV just like the ones in the Itunes local directory, with thumbnails ?

Thank you

I accept the fact that to see my NAS movies, I need to share it through Itunes and leave my iMac switched on.

No you don't if you use aTV Flash. I turn my mac off and watch movies, music and photos direct from my NAS

Isn't there any way to display these files in the Apple TV just like the ones in the Itunes local directory, with thumbnails ?

I think aTV Flash will do something similar to this, it's great and will not void the warranty

Thanks

Thanks.

I had visited the Firecore site before posting my message and aTV Flash is not for me.

Because I have Applet TV3 with iOS5 and I don't want to downgrade nor jailbrak.

I want to keep the interface simple as it is.

My concern is that I can't find the reason why shared libraries, visible in Itunes are not shown by the AppleTV.

In regards to using Sonos in your home with Apple Tv... http://www.sonos.com/airplay/

The sound output settings need to be set to your Sonos.

Well Airplay and Home Sharing are different completely... I have Airplay but dont use Home Share.

If Airplay fails or doesnt show the Apple Tv its usually the network your on but it can be due to your iPhone or Apple Tv not being up to date. double check the updates then check to see the network is WPA 2 and restart all devices after updating.

For homesharing; iTunes must be allowed to contact Apple using the

following ports and servers: port 80 & 443

Some trouble shooting links that may help are

Airplay

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts4085

Apple Recommended Settings

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4199

If your AirPort Express does not appear in the AirPlay menu, see the Troubleshooting AirPlay section of the following Apple document, Using AirPlay.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4325.

1. Using a SONOS CONTROL, select the ZonePlayer Settings menu from the Settings menu (iPhone, iPad, or Android, SONOS CONTROL) or Zones menu (PC or Mac).

2. Select the name of the Sonos component the AirPort is connected with and update the following Line-in settings:

* Line-in Source Name: AirPlay Device.

* Autoplay Zone: Select a Zone from the list to play audio from the AirPlay device. Select Include Grouped Zones and any Zones grouped with the Autoplay Zone will play the same music.

* Autoplay Volume: Use the slider to set a default volume for the Autoplay zone whenever the AirPlay device is connected. Check the Use AutoPlay Volume checkbox if you intend to use your AirPlay device to adjust the volume in the Autoplay Zone.

3. AirPlay is now ready for use with Sonos. Tap the AirPlay icon on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or in iTunes and select Sonos. The AirPlay audio will play in the AutoPlay Zone.

Apple already has made a media server for home use. Its call an iPad 3 with Airplay.

Simple put you are spend more money and avoiding the obvious options of setting up your Apple TV to an iPad 3 via Airplay with mirroring and using

http://pogoplug.com/software

or

http://www.apple.com/itunes/remote/

to access the data. I know because I do this everyday.

And to be honest its easier then using software that isnt supported by anyone

http://xbmc.org/theuni/2011/01/20/you-asked-for-it-xbmc-for-appletv2-ipad-iphone 4/

or setting media rovar up on a home server or networked media center unit and trying to keep it syncing to all the devices without mixing anything up

http://www.maclife.com/article/feature/how_sync_all_itunes_libraries_your_house

kazpwnz wrote:

Apple already has made a media server for home use. Its call an iPad 3 with Airplay.

I'd hardly call it a media server for AppleTV, but each to his own.

While I'd agree it has versatile options either to control AppleTV/iTunes or Airplay media to it from a variety of apps I still feel an Apple branded, networked, mains powered standalone server to prevent us from having to keep iTunes running on a computer would be ideal for many people. Not everyone wants iPads/iPhones (recharging all the time) or a variety of apps to set up and configure etc. You and I might use such things on our iOS devices, but many people just want plug and play solutions that work and are baffled why NAS solutions don't work and frustrated they have to leave computers running.

Arguably a Mac Mini running headless is probably as close as we'll get to a low powered Apple device capable of being an iTunes server. I'd have that over an iPad with Airplay any day. I have both in fact and they complement each other but are used for quite different purposes.

Part of the issue is that there are many ways of attempting to achieve the same thing.

AC

Hi, thank you for the replies.

However, in regards of my question, not the original post, I think you don't get my point.

I don't want extra hardware or software. Especially a $700 Ipad3 (while I already have Ipad 1) limited to 64Gb while my NAS is 1Tb.

Beside, Airplay is a different thing than Home Sharing.

I agree that the Ipad3 with video replication is great for easily select the video you want to play, but the Apple TV too and we would end at the same issue : how can I access the files stored on my NAS with the same interface.

I need to keep the interface as simple as the AppleTV is as my goal is to get my 4y old daughter to select the video she wants to see based on the thumbnail (she does not read yet).

This is way, my only blockroad right now is to make my NAS shared library that is visible in my Itunes on the iMac, seen as well by the AppleTV.

If not possible, I'll need to replace the AppleTV by a different HW (non apple) that knows how to access my NAS stored videos and browse by thumbnails.

Regards

Sro1234 wrote:

This is way, my only blockroad right now is to make my NAS shared library that is visible in my Itunes on the iMac, seen as well by the AppleTV.

If not possible, I'll need to replace the AppleTV by a different HW (non apple) that knows how to access my NAS stored videos and browse by thumbnails.

There is no official way to do this.

Your only option for having AppleTV access NAS content directly without the computer running is to perform a hack/unsupported modification. We are not free to discuss such things in detail here as they contravene Apple's forum rules.

There are far too many ways of doing things with AppleTV now - this is good and bad - it causes confusion to many people and makes the experience less than straightforward to people not familiar with the device.

AC

kazpwnz wrote:

Simple put you are spend more money and avoiding the obvious options of setting up your Apple TV to an iPad 3 via Airplay with mirroring and using

While your suggestions may well be helpful to some people, they will not suit everyone but good for people to see other options.

As Sro1234 suggests he knows what he wants to do but this can't be achieved with AppleTV as it stands without unofficial techniques or using hardware/software that he doesn't want to. ( I would imagine he would not want his four year old using an iPad to control the AppleTV ).

It's not a case of avoiding options - I am well aware of most of the things you linked to - but they are not for me.

I've used the Remote app since it was first released and it's great.

MediaRover I had not encountered, thanks for posting that, but I would not want to sign up for an account with them. It won't cope with DRM material either. Again, it may be useful to some but not something I'd use.

AC

Again, I'm not asking to access files from a Nas directly.

The Nas is seen as a share library in ITunes. So it disappears from the equation.

Question is how to make the AppleTV see the shared libraries from the ITunes it already sees.

To me iTunes should relay the data to the appleTv but it looks like it doesn't.

Sro1234 wrote:

Again, I'm not asking to access files from a Nas directly.

The Nas is seen as a share library in ITunes. So it disappears from the equation.

Question is how to make the AppleTV see the shared libraries from the ITunes it already sees.

To me iTunes should relay the data to the appleTv but it looks like it doesn't.

Apologies, I forgot that bit!

Again I don't think that it can actually HomeShare a library it detects the NAS is sharing.

Presumably you can see the files on the NAS by exploring it's directory structure.

Have you tried adding these to iTunes 'by reference'?

If you go to iTunes Preferences>Advanced and untick the option to copy files to the library on import, go to a folder on the NAS drive and drag and drop a couple of test files onto the running iTunes icon (or use the menus to import a few files). ITunes should then be able to serve them from their location to the AppleTV.

AC

Thank you for your help.

I'll try this !

For troubleshooting purpose however, as it will just mess all the other local files organization 😉

Indeed, to complicate the thing, I have my main library on the iMac drive, while I put on the NAS just the series I want to archive and free some space from my local one.