NAS & Apple TV 3 (video)

Ok you hit the nail on the head with what I want to do. I want to play all my movies from my Apple TV. The only way to do that is to have a computer with iTunes. If I get an old Mac Mini that doesn't meet the requirements for HD and have it as the host iTunes computer does that matter???? I will be playing the movies on my Apple TV. The only thing the MacMini will do is have iTunes on it and the movies will be stored on a large external drive. So The MacMini is just the middle man... Would it matter if it didnt meet the requirements to play HD since the ATV is doing all the playing?

I'm not really sure - I don't have any HD movies yet. But I'm using a Windows box for pretty much the same thing - just as an iTunes server. It shouldn't matter what video capability the "server" has - it just moves movies and/or music from the hard drive to the AppleTV. Anybody else see a problem with the suggested setup?

Yeah same here, I too am using a windows machine. The windows computer acts as my space heater, noise machine, power sucker and constant dropping of home sharing connection, "device". All I can do without...

Yes, I've got a Synology and enabling the iTunes server package works. However, all of your movies have to be in a proper Apple compatible format (e.g., converted with Handbrake) for them to stream to your Apple TV. In my case most of my movies are MKVs and I have little interest in converting all of them to M4V, but YMMV.

Unless something has changed recently. The Synology will not stream video directly to the Apple TV. A computer in the middle or jailbreaking the Apple TV is the only thing that works. It dose not have Airplay. Almost every NAS device on the market has a iTunes media share that works for music only. None of them will stream directly to the Apple TV and there is no jailbreak for Apple TV 3.

You're right -- I assumed that because I could see the files they'd work, but I just tried it and it doesn't work. Music works fine, but not video. That's a drag -- I'm not interested in keeping a computer connected full time so I guess it's time to track down an ATV2 instead.

There's a bigger problem here.... and that's the AppleTV UI.

The fact that you can't " search" is bad.

So along comes Firecore. Granted they only work on ATV1 and 2.

The media player from Firecore is real handy because it can stream directly from a NAS.

But you also have the ability to run PLEX which is truly outstanding (albeit a bit buggy). Now you have search capabilities.

I also run a Mac in the basement that has it's iTunes library pointing to the NAS box - so technically I don't need a flashed ATV2. But the shortcomings that come with the native Apple TV(3) has left it sitting in a box (unoppened) while I continue to use my ATV2s.

If I could do these things in iTunes/Apple TV I would be a happy man :

1)

Allow my iTunes library to be added to by simply dropping files into a directory that is automatically scanned by iTunes. That way I don't have to run down to the basement, and drag files from my NAS over into my iTunes (being careful not create duplicates). Having some automated way of putting it into playlists would be nice (right now I separate my movies - regular and kids).

2)

Add search capabilites in the Apple TV. When you have 1,000+ movies plus 500 TV episodes .. this becomes pretty important.

3)

Allow for different ways to view the movies - like eithier movie poster view or list view for TV shows.

4)

In a perfect world, allow streaming to remote devices like Plex allows you to.

I've got an old 1.42GHz G4 MacMini hooked up to six external drives via firewire 400 which host all my music, films etc. That's then connected to my 2nd generation Apple TV via cat 5 through my router.

All the films have been encoded .m4v and about half are in HD 720p - all of them play just fine because, as you say, the Apple TV is doing all the heavy lifting.

The MacMini just sits there and happily serves the content...

Not really. That scenarion doesn't address :

1) Auto scan of folders

2) Supply any search function

3) Allow for any different display functions

As mentioned, that was a reply to davefromdallas about the suitability of using an older MacMini as an iTunes server.

JBTVNews, This helped tremendously, thanks so much for posting your topology. Now I can start shopping confidently. 🙂

Christ.

Sorry.

There I go again... highjacking threads.

Glad to be of assistance davefromdallas.

And no worries PunkStar Studios, I feel your pain...

However, instead of 'running down to the basement', why don't you just mount that computer's drive(s) on your desktop and drag and drop in the comfort of your living room. You can use Screen Sharing to pull them into iTunes.

As you say it would be great if iTunes scanned automatically for new content.

That's kinda what I do - mind you screen sharing is kinda flaky.

Team Viewer is great - when it works.

Screen sharing native is slow to connect and honestly - sometimes it just refuses to.

But that's still an extra step that could be avoided with auto import/syncing.

This is typically what happens... I'll pick up a new Bluray for the kids and rip.

I've learnt by now never to let the young ones handle the DVDs, so as soon as I get in the house I plo down on the couch, flip open the mac and Ctrl-drag (move) from my "Copy to Media Server" folder on my desktop to the NAS drive folder "Kids". It takes about a few minutes for the copy but in that time I've made the loud proclamation "hey kids - I got a new movie for ya".

After insisting on a shower of kids and hugs from the kids I hand over the apple remote. At 5/6 they are expert ipad and apple tv navigators so they ask "Netflix or Apple TV?" ("Apple TV" being code for doing to Media on my flashed AppleTV2. They go into to the media player, select theyr kids folder and are greated with post imaged of the movies in order of date added. The one I just brought home is at the top. They'll have about 30 minutes of viewing before breaking for diner.

Simple and quick. No need to manually import into iTunes and then put into the appropriate play list so they can find it. While they can navigate ok - they are not good with searching (except for that fantastic netflix kids menu system).

The above scenario alone makes auto sync/import supuer convenient.

And even without it - the native apple tv movie interface is less than ideal for them to navigate. Firecore works perfect for them.

Now - granted - I think the end is coming to firecore since they are left out in the cold with AppleTV3 - but we've got 2 appletv2 flashed and operating ok.

Hi,

I have a Synology DS412+ and want to stream directly using the itunes server option to Apple TV3. I did not find any answers yet. Iphone/Ipad works perfectly NAS to device, but not for ATV3.