I live in a city where Comcast caps data usage at 300gb/month. To watch a movie I bought thru my AppleTV, does it download to the AppleTV device before playing, or does it stream (therefore using up data)?

Streaming and downloading uses the same amount of data.

The only difference would be if you want to watch the movie multiple times. In that case, downloading the movie first, would be more efficient in terms of data usage.

Just to be clear, Apple TV does not store movies. It is always streaming. As you know, you can download movies to iTunes on your computer and access them via Home Sharing.

Is your ATV actually 2nd generation, or is it the current 4tn generation? See Identify your Apple TV model - Apple Support if not sure.

If it really is ATV 2, and you didn't buy it from a reputable store, you might want to restore the software, to be sure it is completely clean. See Restore your Apple TV through iTunes - Apple Support

Good to hear. I think some folks may be picking up ATV 2 at auction sites, and you never know what's in them.

Cheers

RFLSHV wrote:

...... I've read that HD movies don't play well through HomeShare

Home Sharing has always worked well for me with HD movies - until I got a far faster broadband connection it's how I primarily used to play movies on AppleTV (download to iTunes, play many times).