Home Sharing Stops Working After a Few Minutes

Same problem appearred at my end. Everthing worked perfectly iTunes, ATV, iPhone, iPad, Home sharing was working fine. Did not update/upgrade anything.

I bought a new router (DIR-825 from DLink), installed everything and all was OK but Home sharing started to dissapear on all my devices. I have to restart iTunes for HS to reappear.

So it not ATV in my case nor iTunes because nothing got changed.

So it must be something from the network config.

Any suggestions anyone?

I can confirm it is neither an iTunes nor apple tv specific issue. I use third party apps to stream video both on my home network and remotely. The media is stored on hard drives not in the iTunes library. I have the same issues with videos freezing after an hour and the internal network shutting down with both home sharing and the independent apps. It must be a general issue with the mac. Hope that helps

Well i unplugged the ethernet on the AppleTV 3 and HomeSharing is still working after 24 hours. I left the AplleTV 2 ethernet connected and that can also connect to iTunes fine. The AppleTV 3 isnt yet connected to my network via wifi, but I will do so and see if it makes a difference.

The AppleTV 3 is now connected via wifi and things are working well. HomeSharing is still up and running. Unplugging Ethernet from the AppleTV 3 really seems to have done the trick.

I am also having the same problem. We purchased the AppleTV earlier this summer, and it intermittantly froze and dropped the connection. We would unplug it, restart it and then resume watching, figuring it was a router/modem issue. We got around to purchasing a new router and modem (router is best Netgear--all computers flying now) and the problem is getting worse. Last night it dropped the connection then eventually we couldn't get it restarted. Tonight it would play for a few minutes then stop. We have been online looking for solutions for hours. We've tried 'em all and are now coming to hate ATV. I can't believe people have been having this problem for this many months--and that it continues. We would welcome the solutions you've found to work. Thanks very much.

I've had this problem for a while. My ATV2 didn't have it, but I'm wondering if it's because my hard drives are "asleep" and the ATV3 doesn't/can't wake them. It's very irritating when I have to go around the house to tell everyone that I have to restart iTunes.

I can say I have also tried removing my AppleTV 3 from the wired connection and trying wireless instead. I was shocked to see hat I have gone two days so far without home sharing failing. It seems that something in the wired code is causing the ghost connections and messing up home sharing.

Hi Everyone,

I have been a home share sufferer since April, and today I have been speaking to senior Apple technical support in the UK.

I have a workaround for people who:

* have lots of apple iDevices and apple TVs

* have a Macbook Pro or a PC that can share its internet connection.

The workaround has completely solved the problem for me, until I work through the next steps with the Senior adviser to get to the route of the matter. It's actually quite obvious when you look at what's being done.

Firstly, I am using a Macbook Pro with mountain lion. So Can anyone with a PC please test this?

It goes something like this:

1) connect your Macbook Pro (PC) to your router with an Ethernet cable

2) [PC users need to do equivalent of steps 2) to 4)] Go To System Preferences, Open the "Sharing" Tab, and SELECT (don't tick yet) "Internet Sharing" (by clicking on the words).

3) "Share Your Connection By" should say Ethernet, and under the "To Computers Using" box, tick WiFi.

4) Go ahead and tick the tick box now next to Internet Sharing, and the green "bulb" should come on in the main part of the window. CAREFUL - after ticking this, the "To computers using" box will grey out (along with everything else): PLEASE make sure WiFi is still ticked. If not, do the process of steps 2-4 again (I had this, but it only takes a second). Always good to check anyway. P.S. - this step [step 4)] will prompt you to turn on WiFi if it isn't already on.

5) If this has all worked successfully, the Wifi icon in the menu bar will now be grey, with an upward pointing arrow inside of it.

6) NOW FOLKS, you need to go to each of your iDevices and change them to connect to the WiFi connection named after your Macbook (or whatever other main computer you've got). The Macbook connection is quite strong, so it should serve your house easily.

7) ENJOY YOUR HOMESHARING WORKAROUND UNTIL I POST BACK FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS

As I said, Enjoy!

I have had beautiful, fast, reliable access to my home sharing now for quite a while - I even tested it by streaming videos to 3 separate devices simultaneously - ATV3, iPhone and iPad3 - and all brought up the library instantly, all started video swiftly, and all ran to completion, and all let me carry on watching after having watched the first (and subsequent) videos.

AS I SAID, this is a workaround, and doesn't track down where the bug actually is. But it gives you what you want - full internet from everywhere, and flawless home sharing.

The only compromise is the computer has to be connected to ethernet, and you have to connect to the WiFi served from the computer. No Biggy, really.

Message was edited by: Alxlr8

I had 4 AppleTVs (3 connected to network via Ethernet, 1 via wifi) and a mac mini running iTunes (connected via Ethernet) with an AppleScript running every 30 minutes to count the number of zombie connections and restart iTunes if necessary. Result: iTunes had to be restarted every 2-3 hours, day or night.

I broke down and decided to change my 3 ethernet AppleTVs to wifi which I didn't want to do because I didn't want to saturate wifi or impact other devices trying to use the network. However, it did solve the home sharing/zombie tcp connection issue very quickly. It has been 3 days now without a single iTunes restart.

2012-09-12 02:32:26 Restarting iTunes now

2012-09-12 03:02:05 Found 0 0 27 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 03:32:05 Found 0 0 54 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 04:02:05 Found 0 0 81 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 04:32:06 Found 0 0 105 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 04:32:27 Restarting iTunes now

2012-09-12 05:02:05 Found 0 27 0 27 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 05:32:05 Found 0 57 0 57 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 06:02:05 Found 0 84 0 84 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 06:32:05 Found 0 107 0 107 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 06:32:26 Restarting iTunes now

2012-09-12 07:02:05 Found 0 0 24 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 07:32:05 Found 0 0 42 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 08:02:05 Found 0 0 60 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 08:32:05 Found 0 0 78 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 09:02:06 Found 0 0 96 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 09:32:05 Found 0 0 109 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 09:32:27 Restarting iTunes now

2012-09-12 10:02:05 Found 0 15 0 15 21 AppleTV connections!

--------THIS IS WHEN I SWITCHED APPLE TVS FROM ETH TO WIFI---------------------------

2012-09-12 10:32:05 Found 0 0 3 0 9 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 11:02:05 Found 0 0 3 0 11 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 11:32:05 Found 0 0 3 0 18 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 12:02:05 Found 0 0 3 0 9 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 12:32:05 Found 0 0 3 0 10 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 13:02:04 Found 0 0 3 0 6 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 13:32:05 Found 0 0 3 0 6 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 14:02:05 Found 0 0 3 0 15 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 14:32:05 Found 0 0 3 0 11 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 15:02:05 Found 0 0 3 0 13 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 15:32:04 Found 0 0 3 0 9 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 16:02:04 Found 0 0 3 0 8 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 16:32:04 Found 0 0 3 0 9 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 17:02:05 Found 0 0 3 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 17:32:04 Found 0 0 3 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 18:02:04 Found 0 0 3 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 18:32:04 Found 0 0 3 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 19:02:04 Found 0 0 3 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 19:32:04 Found 0 0 3 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 20:02:04 Found 0 0 3 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 20:32:04 Found 0 0 5 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 21:02:04 Found 0 0 3 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 21:32:04 Found 0 0 3 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 22:02:04 Found 0 0 3 0 4 AppleTV connections!

2012-09-12 22:32:04 Found 0 0 3 0 5 AppleTV connections!

I've put your script together with a LaunchDaemon config and docs into a GitHub repository.

After the latest iTunes update (10.7), another connection type appeared on port 49154. The script is updated to also cope with that.

Let's see when Apple finally come up with a real soultion to this!

https://github.com/MerlinDE/iTunesMonitor

The latest AppleTV update (5.1 - build 10A406e) has fixed this issue for me. I've had my AppleTV back on my wired network and no disconnects. Scrolling is fast and responsive again too.

Solution! My issue is that I cannot sustain a home sharing connection between iTunes and my iPhone.

The work around I am currently implementing is to place my iPhone ip address in the DMZ of my router. For those unfamiliar with this the method is as follows:

1. give your iPhone a static IP address settings - Wi-Fi - select the arrow next to your network - make note of the DHCP settings - Select static - enter DHCP settings - Change IP address to 192.168.1.101 - press home button.

2. place said IP address in DMZ of router - go to internet browser - enter router IP (usually 192.168.1.1) - enter username and password (usually admin & admin by default). - Find DMZ (usually under advanced settings) - enter static IP address of Iphone (192.168.1.101).

After much frustration and many hours of trawling the forums for a fix, I noticed that if I turned Wi-Fi off and then on again under wi fi settings I could re-establish the connection. This led me to believe that the problem originated not with Apple software but with my Wi-Fi setup.

Disabling Internet Protocol V.6 solution mentioned in other threads seemed to help but did not fix it. Please note that the above workaround has been implemented with IpV6 unchecked under control panel - network and internet - network and sharing center - change adapter settings - right click wireless network connections, select properties - uncheck internet protocol version 6 - leave version 4 checked. Unsure if this step is necessary but I haven't tried the work around with this checked.

I understand your frustration brothers, I hope this helps.

Hi

I am sure it is not ATV problem.. since i have no ATV but droping connection still occuring with my iDevices !!!

Also it's not a Wired OR Wireless connectivity to internet or LAN .. i've tried both cases on my PC which hosts iTunes and droping connection still occuring !!!

Also not DHCP nor Static IPs can solve the issue .. actually with static IP for the iTunes PC it lasted for longer time only but after less than 2 hours a strang thing happend, it's sharing only vidoes library but non of music library or iApple remote are showing anything !!!

😢😢😢😢

Simply it's a BUG 😠😠

I live in Cyprus and my ISP is Primetel. The modem they supply, you cannot open and change settings. I bought 2 ATV s about 14months ago and was not able to get Homesharing, which annoyed me as a friend of mine was able to mirror with his iphone streaming straight to his TV.

This friend, talked me into using a dd-wrt router, so that anything going throught the router used a VPN. After this,I was able to Mirror anything on my iphone and the ipad, which I had recently bought. I was also able to view all my photos and music from itunes, on my laptop.

The problem I had then, was that the VPN cut down the speed of my internet drastically. After a while, I decided that I would not use the router and found that I could not get Homeshare.

To improve the signal in by bedroom with the second ATV I installed the router with ethernet cable (without VPN) Nearer to the bedroom. Now I am able to use the ATV in the bedroom with mirroring, from both iphone and ipad without buffering at all.

I am also able to Homeshare my photos and music to both ATVs

I know that a lot of different methods have been used to get over the problem of Homesharing and I have seen that at least one person has tried, with success, using a router between the modem and TV.

The router I have installed is a wrt54gl. I am not sure whether it would have worked before being flashed with dd-wrt firmware.

After literally troubleshooting this for hours and messing with router firewall settings we finally realized it was the ANTIVIRUS settings which were causing the issue. We made the IP address static for the Apple TV then configured the network settings within the antivirus to ALLOW that specific IP address.

Hope this helps you also.

FYI - we called Apple support and finally came to this conclusion.