Home sharing disconnecting after 2-5 minutes

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Home sharing disconnecting after 2-5 minutes

This is getting ridiculous. My home sharing doesn't maintain a connection for more than five minutes. I'm using an Apple TV 2, sharing from an iMac (11,2), network provided by Time Machine (2008 1st gen) and Airport Express (2010, A1264).

It's not a network problem, as Netflix, iTunes movie rentals, and even watching previously-purchased iTunes programs direct from the cloud are working without a problem.

I have five bars of network visible consistently. I'm running the 5GHz band, on a channel that is receiving no interference.

I've tried disabling the Apple TV sleep mode, disabling IPV6, and every other hare-brained scheme thought up by Genius Bar employees.

None of it works. And, the kicker: This system was working fine for over a year, before the new Airport Firmware (and Airport Utility) were released, iTunes was upgraded to 10.6, and the new interface release for the Apple TV was pushed out.

Apple: you screwed something up in one of those software / firmware releases. Stop trying to blame the network, the IPV6 settings, or whatever else is the problem. It's not those, it's you.

I don't know what you did, but you need to fix it. This is beyond frustrating.

iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Apr 7, 2012 3:46 PM

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Answer 1

jjosep

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Apr 7, 2012 10:11 PM in response to bpdrums2

Yes, I am affected by this issue too, the worst part is that Apple has not oficially said anything about this, there is an issue with iTunes and Apple TV firmware. They have to fix it NOW.

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Answer 2

ericben

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Apr 8, 2012 12:25 PM in response to bpdrums2

You're not alone (see thread on iTunes 10.6.1 in this forum). The new version of iTunes has broken Home Sharing or me as well. I have tried everything:

1) Disabling IPv6

2) Uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes as per Apple.com instructions

3) Completely wiping iTunes from registry and computer as per these instructions: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/23959/completely-remove-itunes-and-other-apple-so ftware-from-a-windows-computer/

I've even gone back to an older AppleTV 2 that was not upgraded the new interface. That also had broken homesharing (therefore it's not the AppleTV firmware upgrade).

I'm about to give up and at least return the new aTV3 that I bought. I'll stick with the old aTV2 plus an old AppleTV v1 that I have so my kids can watch their movies. **** shame - we relied on the aTV as a family for the past 5-6 years and it worked great!

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Answer 3

bpdrums2 Author

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Apr 8, 2012 2:31 PM in response to bpdrums2

Just as an update:

iTunes -> Apple TV (2) homesharing is now dropping out, even with an ethernet connection to both the ATV and the iMac running iTunes.

On the flipside, homesharing between a laptop copy of iTunes and the iMac version of iTunes is working fine, on ethernet or WiFi. The problem seems to only be between the new version of iTunes and Apple TVs.

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Answer 4

crash54

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Apr 9, 2012 10:49 AM in response to bpdrums2

Hi! It´s a releif to se that others also has this problem. I really hope a new update will solve this problem for us!

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Answer 5

Apr 12, 2012 10:05 PM in response to crash54

Same issue exactly. Best thing to di is contact Apple so that they become aware of this regression. Below is what I have been posting:

Home sharing with the new Apple TV / iTunes update is just broke. Only works for a bit unless you restart iTunes or disable / re-enable Home Sharing. Use to work great until the last updates. This is not a network (router, firewall, ...) issue - just a (bad) regression in Apples software. Hopefully they fix this soon, hard to believe its been broke this long already. The Remote app update also fails to connect to Apple TVs (but does connect to iTunes) for many people as well. Poor QA all around. :(

I have yet to see any suggestion that actually works other than reverting to previous versions of fwr / iTunes - which is a pain / joke to do.

There are a *ton* of posts about this:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3845423?answerId=18078180022#18078180022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3808863?answerId=18078351022#18078351022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2613875?answerId=18078326022#18078326022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3860579?answerId=18078599022#18078599022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3861987?answerId=18078600022#18078600022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3865393

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3864199

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3860172?answerId=18086263022#18086263022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3749779?answerId=18083552022#18083552022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3867114?answerId=18103713022#18103713022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3835606?answerId=18112568022#18112568022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3870357?answerId=18106478022#18106478022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3856919?answerId=18110291022#18110291022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3863434?answerId=18082412022#18082412022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3860275?answerId=18082859022#18082859022

etc...

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Answer 6

Valere63

Level 1

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Apr 27, 2012 8:42 AM in response to bpdrums2

Having exactly same problem every **** 5 minutes!!

Can' believe I paid 1500$ for an Imac and 100$ for an apple TV and now I am not able to watch a movie.

apple: fix it !!!!

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Answer 7

pylbug

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Apr 27, 2012 12:58 PM in response to bpdrums2

Exact same issue here. Just got Apple TV 3 yesterday at a Best Buy. Within minutes of setting it up, this was the issue I faced. Anything streaming through Home Sharing cuts out after 3-5 minutes. Every. Single. Time.

First time I've seen an Apple product crap out, right out of the box. Extremely disappointing.

It's a deal-breaker for me. The product doesn't function as advertised. I'd love for it to work, but since it's useless in terms of Home Sharing (primary reason I purchased it) I have no choice but to return it.

It appears that making Apple aware of the issue here in these forums has yet to produce results. I assume they're not reading these posts. But just in case they are, let me be clear: I am less likely to consider buying anything Apple, even if they claim to fix this issue in a future firmware update, because of how sub-par this experience has been.

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Answer 8

Napajoe

Level 1

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Apr 27, 2012 4:23 PM in response to bpdrums2

My apple tv3 drops about 4-5 times per hour.

Very maddening.

No body has answer.

Please address this problem apple !!!!!!!

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Answer 9

Apr 28, 2012 6:08 PM in response to Napajoe

Add me to the list, basically itunes crashes when you try to use home sharing on my iMac. This has been stable for years and now its broken.

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Answer 10

Hozman

Level 1

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Apr 29, 2012 3:53 AM in response to bpdrums2

Having exactly same problem, home sharing dropping every 5 minutes!! Tried everything to no avail. Big fan of Apple. They are keeping mum about this. Hope they fix this soon.

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Answer 11

BentoVox

Level 1

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Apr 29, 2012 4:04 AM in response to bpdrums2

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3912171

Had the same problem but now it's working fine. I think the patch that activates AirPrint does something that also fixes this issue.

Maybe someone else could confirm that it works, not only in my case, but in general.

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Answer 12

Apr 29, 2012 2:06 PM in response to BentoVox

Amazing! I had the same problem. I'm a computer novice and took a chance on this suggestion. It worked perfectly! Thank you so very much!

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Answer 13

May 3, 2012 10:22 AM in response to bpdrums2

For around a month, everytime I try to use Apple TV2 to watch movies/TV shows on Home Sharing from my PC, within a few minutes Itunes either freezes and the computer locks up OR my PC completely drops the wireless connection and cannot find it again. It seems that many others have the same problem.

The only way I can now use Home Sharing to watch my TV/Films is by selecting Apple TV on the PC and playing it from there.

This is an astonishing glitch, as it basically means that my Apple TV is not fit for purpose anymore (I might as well just run an HDMI cable from the PC).

When will it be fixed?

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Answer 14

May 3, 2012 10:25 AM in response to Randall 365

OK - mine is now working here is what I did:

I have 5 Apple TV's in my house and it turns out it was one of them that when I tried to access my Mac via Home Sharing would crash iTunes on my Mac.

The fix was to "reset" that unit and re-stablish its connection to iTunes via Home Sharing.

I will let you guys know if the problem comes back for me.

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Answer 15

May 3, 2012 10:46 AM in response to Steve Justis

I have already fully restored the Apple TV and reset it.

I think it is something to do with the the way the Apple TV is pulling the file from the PC which is home sharing.

It is fine when the file was pushed to the Apple TV.

It all worked fine before around a month or so ago, so it must just be a damaged update.

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