Apple TV and Home Sharing "An error occurred loading this content"

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Apple TV and Home Sharing "An error occurred loading this content"

Recently I moved and switched my homeshare library from my Mac to a Window8 PC. I'm running the same network equipent, but the bandwidth to the internet was less in the new place then the old one so I wanted to store more on the PC. My bandwidth to the internet is slow at times so I like to download to my PC and watch the shows on my appletv. I thought it might be a Windows 8 issue, but I powered up my Mac Pro (2008) again and it has the same problem. I thought it might be a WIFI issue so I ran network wires, same issue. The only new thing I can think that happened was the apple tvs recently took a SW update, I'm not sure what version they had before. (tend not too look at versions when things are working).

What I know:

All the shows play fine when I stream. (they can just take a 5-10m to start due to internet bandwidth, but they play fine).
Some shows play fine with homesharing (I have found no common thread between ones that do and don't).
All shows play fine on my PC in iTunes
Between my 2 AppleTvs (both running version 6.1) It is consistent which shows will play in home sharing and which will not. There have been a couple shows that will play on one but not the other and a couple shows that won't play one day but will the next day.
I have tried playing a show that will not play over and over for 10m. The status remains the same.
If the show has an option to resume playing or start from beginning. I'll be asked "Resume/Start over" first then be told "An error occurred loading this content"
The first time I try and play a show it takes 5-10 seconds to give me an error, repeat attempts typically take < 1 second to show the error.
Most shows on both my AppleTVs with home sharing return an error "An error occurred loading this content". I've tried running network wires, rebooting, holding menu and shift down to reboot, pulling power. I have examined the files that play versus ones that do not and they all appear to be in good working order. As an example. Episode 1, Season 2 of Big bang theroy plays fine, but Eposodes 2-5 don't, but then Episodes 6-8 do play ok. I find the same problem with Movies and Music Videos.

Setup Facts:

Asus Wireless Router is connected to my DSL modem into the Ausus router WAN port. The ASUS router creates a network 192.168.1.X my DSL has a 192.168.0.1 IP address.
On the AppleTV it has a valid IP address and I'm fairly confident the network is ok since I have NO issues streaming any shows from the internet via Music, TV shows, Movies, Hulu, Netflicks, etc.
PC is running Windows 8 and I've disabled all power reduction settings to be always ON. (Again some shows play fine, the ones that play seem to always play). Running itunes version 11.1.5.5
All the shows are ones I've downloaded iTunes. None of the shows are handbraked home videos.
AppleTV version 6.1 for both AppleTVs.

What I've tried:

Power Clearing Devices
Switching locations of Apple TV with different TVs
Trying Mac Pro and Windows 8 Home Shares
WiFi and networked
Changing HDMI Cables.
Every TV I have, 1: Sony (new), 1 LG (about 2 yers old), 1 Samsung (about 5 years old).

Any Adivce?

iPad 2, iOS 5

Posted on Mar 22, 2014 4:34 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 22, 2014 6:19 AM in response to zycinsky

Getting the same issues here in the UK.

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Answer 2

zycinsky Author

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Mar 23, 2014 8:33 AM in response to Macandy56

So I I've called AppleCare, they say it must be network and something is blocking bonjour. They said this after the tradtional "IT Crowd message of: have you tried turning it off and on" (Once for every device in my home).

What they CAN NOT explain is why some shows play and some shows don't.If there was a bonjour issue it should effect ALL shows not SOME shows (Applecare agreed).. Even more on the bizzare front... 1 of my 2 AppleTVs today can play everything fine, 1 still having an issue.

Anyone any ideas?

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Answer 3

tetters

Level 1

29 points

Mar 23, 2014 1:50 PM in response to zycinsky

Zycinsky went to very considerable trouble to outline & explain his/her problem with Apple TV. Mine works fine from my MacPro but like so many others I get the "An error occurred..." message on my TV screen when trying to stream any sort of video from my iPhone 5 ot iTouch or iPad (it plays iTunes music just fine). Why cannot Apple Support/Care fully delve into this for its myriad of disappointed buyers, who after all shell out a premium $99 compared to ChromeCast at $35 and Samsung at a similar price?

High-handed and arrogant are words that come to mind. We all like our Apple devices and are prepared to pay the premium prices, but the quid pro quo is a premium service in return, and Apple must roll up their sleeves and treat us like prized customers. My Apple TV as it is is practically useless, certainly well below Apple's stated capabilities.

DonSimon

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Answer 4

zycinsky Author

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Mar 26, 2014 4:10 AM in response to tetters

I have it working now.. BUT I still don't have 100% on both appleTVs. I'd guess it's closer to 99% (which is a huge improvement).

What I've done since:

First I verified that I had open on my firewall the correct ports. I use AVG Internet security so verified I had it setup ok. (this was after I tried a few times with it off). (this produced no improvement)

TCP

direction both ways

local ports 3689

remove port(s): all

remote addresses:all

UDP

direction both ways

local ports 5353

remove port(s): all

remote addresses:all

Might have been over kill, but I assigned both AppleTVs a fixed IP 192.168.0.200 and 201. by their MAC address on my router. I then added them to the whitelist in AVG Internet Security
I saved changes and rebooted my PC, AppleTVs and PCs
It still didn't work. (I described the above because when I tried removing them no shows played, so more an FYI if 100% of your shows don't play).
I then downloaded itunes (11.5) same version I was running.
I used 7-zip (winrar should work too) to unzip the file iTunes64Setup.exe into a folder iTunes64Setup. This is important, which I'll explain in the next steps.
I then ran the iTunes64Setup.exe and selected repair.
it then told me it could not find iTunes64.msi. which I gave it the directory iTunes64Setup that I had expanded the iTunes64Setup.exe into that directory. (Really apple??? This one anoyed me that it was in the EXE but I had to manually expand it and put it somewhere for you to refind 😮)
It completed the setup and I rebooted my PCs and AppleTVs again.
I went to a show that was consistently not playing and it worked on both TVs. I'd say 99% are working fine now. What's special about the remaining shows I do not know. If the file was corrupt I would not expect to be able to play it on another appletv.

The few files that don't play:

I'm now convienced that my network is fine. with 99% playing ok. If it was an intermitent problem with the network I'd expect that re-attempts to play the shows would produce different outcomes.
What have I tried:
- I've done a factory reinstall of the appleTV. (my advise is don't waste you time, it did nothing except eat up 30m of my time watching redownload and then entering passwords).
- I've tried deleting the shows that don't play (which do play on my computer) and redownloading them (same outcome) (again, my advice would be don't waste your time). When I did a check of the files they redownloaded identically with only the creation dates different.

Open to move things to try. Any ideas anyone?

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