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Q: Streaming to multiple Apple TVs with Home Sharing, intermittent disconnects

Hello everybody.

I am having a bit of an unusual problem that will require some explanation.

 

We use multiple Apple TVs in my office for advertising and for lobby music. Three TVs are configured to play an advertising video streamed from our iTunes server on repeat. The other three Apple TVs play music streamed from Spotify through AirFoil from the same Mac Mini. All are on the same wired local area network.

 

This morning, I noticed that one out of the three Apple TVs used to stream the video was giving an "Could not connect to server, make sure you're on the same network" error message. The other two Apple TVs would see the Library and can stream the video.

 

What's annoying and concerning to me is that when I quit iTunes on the Mini while observing the TVs, I can see that all three of them will react the same and display the "If you turn on Home Sharing, you can see stuff here" message. When I then open iTunes, two out of the three Apple TVs notice, and will at first show the Apple TV logo before showing the Library content. Always, one Apple TV will show only the Apple TV logo and then claim that it cannot connect to the Library.

 

What gets me is that it's always a different Apple TV that won't see the Library.

I've quit iTunes and reopened it, logged out of Home Sharing and back in, restarted the Mini and all the Apple TVs and every single time the same thing happens. Two out of the three Apple TVs will see the Library, one won't. And it's a different every time. Sometimes the two Apple TVs on the left will work, the one on the right won't. Maybe it'll be the one in the middle, or the one on the left.

 

It's random every time.

 

At this point, I'm frustrated. I've done everything I possibly know to do. At this point I can only assume it's a hiccup with Apple iTunes servers or something with my local network, but I was wondering if anybody else has been having issues with Home Sharing with multiple Apple TVs from the same source.

Apple TV

Posted on Jul 11, 2016 9:52 AM