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I have an apple tv 3rd gen and want to watch movies from itunes library without having to have a computer open or on. I was thinking about getting a LaCie Fuel to store my itunes library on. Does anyone know it this will work?

I want to watch my itunes purchases on my apple tv 3rd gen without having to have a computer on/itunes open. I want to store them on possibly a LaCie Fuel (not purchased yet). Is this possible and/or what else is needed to do this. I don't really want to convert all the files and purchase software to convert or any thing. I don't mind getting an app or two if that is what it takes. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

Jeremy

I have ipad mini, apple TV gen 3, iphone SE, and a dell desktop.

Apple TV

Posted on Apr 30, 2018 7:11 AM

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Phil0124

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217,502 points

Posted on Apr 30, 2018 7:29 AM

1. The Apple TV has no way of directly accessing a wireless drive.

2. It could potentially work by accessing the LaCie from the iPad or iPhone with the drive's own App (if it has one) or another 3rd party app and airplaying the content to the Apple TV.

However, DRM protected content like movies bought from the iTunes store, would not play outside of iTunes or the TV App on the iPad or iPhone and the TV App would not be able to directly access the drive.

If bought from iTunes it may be easier to just stream the movies directly to the Apple TV from the iTunes Store.

3. It seems like a lot of work just to keep a computer turned off.

If anything, the easier thing to do, might be to get a cheap media center pc that uses little power and can be turned on and used to access the movies from. You can use an external hard drive to store the movies.

https://9to5mac.com/2015/06/02/how-to-build-a-cheap-itunes-media-server/

The Best Media Center Mini PC for Under $100

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46 replies

CaptZman Author

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Apr 30, 2018 8:20 AM in response to Phil0124

Why is that? Does it not have readers built into the ios to communicate with itunes?

Apr 30, 2018 8:25 AM in response to CaptZman

Yes, it would be very handy for in a car with a mobile device, but not so much for the Apple TV which needs a connection to the internet for most of what it does.

CaptZman Author

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Apr 30, 2018 8:33 AM in response to Phil0124

So it wouldn't work for an ipad wifi only either right? How hard is it convert itunes movies to a different format such as mp4 or something not protected?

Apr 30, 2018 9:02 AM in response to CaptZman

iTunes can read many more formats than the Apple TV, so the answer is no, not with some content.

CaptZman Author

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Apr 30, 2018 9:12 AM in response to Phil0124

hdmi to lightning that attaches ipad straight to TV, no apple tv at all.

CaptZman Author

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Apr 30, 2018 9:39 AM in response to Phil0124

Winston Churchill do you have anything to respond to my options question?

CaptZman Author

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Apr 30, 2018 1:46 PM in response to Phil0124

Why does it not work for iPad, doesn’t iPad use iTunes to watch movies?

CaptZman Author

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Apr 30, 2018 5:39 PM in response to Phil0124

Doesn’t ipads have a version of iTunes on them that they access the iTunes library with.

CaptZman Author

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May 1, 2018 9:43 AM in response to Phil0124

Thank you for all your support and knowledge.

Its been a help and possible money saver.

Phil0124

Level 10

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May 1, 2018 12:14 PM in response to CaptZman

You're welcome.

Apr 30, 2018 9:22 AM in response to CaptZman

If it's stuff you purchased on iTunes it will be in a correct format but you won't be able to play it because it's protected, but if you've imported stuff into iTunes from elsewhere it could be in any format and not guaranteed to work with an iPad.

Phil0124

Level 10

217,502 points

Apr 30, 2018 12:46 PM in response to CaptZman

CaptZman wrote:

If I did purchase a new apple tv 4 and the lacie wifi drive, would it work then to watch itunes movies from the drive to the apple tv without a computer running?

It will work the same as using the iPad to access the Lacie. The Apple TV 4 or 4K just eliminates the intermediate device as it can download and install Apps that can directly access the networked drive. Protected content will still not work through the 3rd party apps like VLC or File Explorer.

CaptZman wrote:

What is the Plex I keep hearing about?

Plex is another App/server than can access networked drives and has a wide range of video and audio formats it supports. But again, protected content will still be an issue.

Plex Media Server - Your media on all your devices

Phil0124

Level 10

217,502 points

Apr 30, 2018 5:37 PM in response to CaptZman

CaptZman wrote:

Why does it not work for iPad, doesn’t iPad use iTunes to watch movies?

Why doesn't what work with the iPad?

If you build the media center computer, the iPad can access the iTunes library through home sharing like the Apple Tv can by talking to the iTunes application that would be running on a Windows installation on the Raspberry Pi.

Apr 30, 2018 8:35 AM in response to CaptZman

Yes, i think it would work just fine for an iPad as your article suggests. Conversion is easy, it's just time consuming, but you can't convert protected content.

CaptZman Author

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Apr 30, 2018 8:39 AM in response to Winston Churchill

even using Tunechef software?

http://www.tunechef.com/how-to-play-itunes-movies-without-itunes/

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I have an apple tv 3rd gen and want to watch movies from itunes library without having to have a computer open or on. I was thinking about getting a LaCie Fuel to store my itunes library on. Does anyone know it this will work?