AppleTV is nice, but...
It cancels all streaming updates when your computer goes to sleep downstairs.
I hooked it all up, and everything was fine - two DVDs that I had burned into iTunes started syncing, and I could play my audio library. A while later, I think after my computer went to sleep, everything was gone on the appleTV except for one movie (the songs that had been there earlier were now replaced by a notice that I had to configure my computer to sync photos and songs). When I went to the computer to check it out, the configuration was correct and it started syncing again due to waking up.
This is going to be kind of a drag, if I have to turn off sleep mode to get things to completely sync. Anyone else notice rough edges with the appleTV?
I hooked it all up, and everything was fine - two DVDs that I had burned into iTunes started syncing, and I could play my audio library. A while later, I think after my computer went to sleep, everything was gone on the appleTV except for one movie (the songs that had been there earlier were now replaced by a notice that I had to configure my computer to sync photos and songs). When I went to the computer to check it out, the configuration was correct and it started syncing again due to waking up.
This is going to be kind of a drag, if I have to turn off sleep mode to get things to completely sync. Anyone else notice rough edges with the appleTV?
Comments
This is going to be kind of a drag, if I have to turn off sleep mode to get things to completely sync.
Apple do the same with Quicktime even while you are watching a movie. I don't know if it puts the machine to sleep but the screensaver kicks in. It's very stupid. You could of course make the machine never sleep or have your computer do something until the sync has finished using a script of some sort but Apple should really think these things through.
1) While it might be nice to avoid the sleep issue seems to be a 1-time thing, during the initial sync, if you have a lot of stuff, and if you have a relatively short time-to-sleep. Turn of sleep for the initial sync and then have a reasonable time to sleep going forward to allow syncing of added material.
2) Having a computer - as this is THE INTENDED USE, streaming for existing computers, I don't see how such a product should work without 1/2 of the intended use.
I brought up this very issue... about having to run your computer in order for AppleTV to work... and I said AppleTV was dead to me (in so many words) until it also works without the clumsy integration with a computer. Major, major flaw for an evolving and imperfect product. For shame, Steve.
Then buy a Mac mini and hook it up. How, exactly, would you want this to work otherwise? It either needs to be an iTunes-running computer (mini) or rely on one (AppleTV). Given that reality, the integration looks anything but clumsy.
And actually, the computer only has to be running to sync, or to stream. It does *not* have to be running to playback material cached onto the internal hard drive.
How, exactly, would you want this to work otherwise?
The way I want it to work is as follows:
- if quicktime movies are playing outside of a web browser, or if iTunes is downloading, then delay sleep. I didn't have this problem with multi-hour syncs to my iPod, so I think that the AppleTV must be behaving differently than the iPod.
- content that is present on the computer but not cashed to the AppleTV is shown as greyed out on the AppleTV - if you select that item it wakes the computer up and starts downloading it.
The way I want it to work is as follows:
- content that is present on the computer but not cashed to the AppleTV is shown as greyed out on the AppleTV - if you select that item it wakes the computer up and starts downloading it.
There used to be a setting in System Preferences (sharing or network) that said "wake for network access." I can't find it currently but that would seem to be the answer to this problem if the preference is still available.
There used to be a setting in System Preferences (sharing or network) that said "wake for network access." I can't find it currently but that would seem to be the answer to this problem if the preference is still available.
Energy Saver under options is wake for ethernet administrator's access. Not sure if this will solve the problem.
The way I want it to work is as follows:
- if quicktime movies are playing outside of a web browser, or if iTunes is downloading, then delay sleep. I didn't have this problem with multi-hour syncs to my iPod, so I think that the AppleTV must be behaving differently than the iPod.
Difference between network access, vs. direct peripheral access? Probably. Good idea though - let applications override the sleep settings, or at least qualify certain actions as blocking sleep. (Of course, then, you get people who have those apps running, and don't realize why it won't go to sleep...) Workaround: wouldn't it be easier to just tell it not to go to sleep while you are wanting to do the big sync, then put the sleep setting back afterwards? You should only have one big sync in most cases, the initial one. After that, it should be incremental.
- content that is present on the computer but not cashed to the AppleTV is shown as greyed out on the AppleTV - if you select that item it wakes the computer up and starts downloading it.
That might be quite useful - but I see an issue with that. (It's an issue that comes up anytime you want to display dynamically compiled information disconnected from the sources.)
Say you hook up Computer A, and it tells the ATV it's file list. Nothing gets synced, just a stream list.
Now, what do you do when... 1) the user of Computer A deletes a file, 2) the user of Computer A decides to no longer share a file, 3) Computer A goes away permanently, say if a buddy brings over a laptop, and you connect to it from the ATV to watch something, and then he leaves.
1 and 2 result in a "This file is no longer available." which is really annoying.
3 is worse though. While you can tell the user "Computer A is unavailable", and maybe ask them if they want to remove it from the source list, now you've pushed management of what should be dynamically discovered and maintained sources into the user's hands. That sort of defeats the whole purpose of dynamically discovered sources.
Instead, if the sources report what they offer as available when they are tapped, then there's nothing to keep cached, ever. While I agree that it would be kind of nice to see "Oh clip Foo is on computer C, I need to go wake it up...", the ATV isn't a centralized media organizer for the house. It's a connector to the TV, and that's pretty much it.
What I *HOPE* we'll see, on the iTunes/Mac side, is a way of consolidating this information from across computers, and better, have an iTunes Sharing daemon that lets a computer be not logged into, and iTunes not running, but still allow access to the media. Of course, then you have security issues, user permissions, etc, etc, but I think those can be worked out.
You should only have one big sync in most cases, the initial one. After that, it should be incremental...
Say you hook up Computer A, and it tells the ATV it's file list. Nothing gets synced, just a stream list.
Now, what do you do when... 1) the user of Computer A deletes a file, 2) the user of Computer A decides to no longer share a file, 3) Computer A goes away permanently, say if a buddy brings over a laptop, and you connect to it from the ATV to watch something, and then he leaves.
1 and 2 result in a "This file is no longer available." which is really annoying.
3 is worse though. While you can tell the user "Computer A is unavailable", and maybe ask them if they want to remove it from the source list, now you've pushed management of what should be dynamically discovered and maintained sources into the user's hands. That sort of defeats the whole purpose of dynamically discovered sources.
How is it "dynamically" doing anything right now? You have to go to the computer and deliberately tell it what to sync.
As long as your total library is less than 40 gigs then you have one big sync, but my music library is bigger than that just by itself. I am either going to have to modify the device by putting in a larger hard drive, or else constantly fiddle with sync settings (and wait.....) depending on what content I want to use - not very user friendly. The AppleTV drive is not being used as a cache right now, but the sole source for playable content - if it were a cache of the larger library that would be better (so that you could access non-cached items via streaming).
I would not mind your scenarios 1-3 above at all - you already pair the AppleTV with a specific computer and account, the behavior you listed would be expected (and much better than the way it is now). You should be able to do everything from the AppleTV - view uncached material, buy things from the store, etc.
How is it "dynamically" doing anything right now? You have to go to the computer and deliberately tell it what to sync.
As long as your total library is less than 40 gigs then you have one big sync, but my music library is bigger than that just by itself. I am either going to have to modify the device by putting in a larger hard drive, or else constantly fiddle with sync settings (and wait.....) depending on what content I want to use - not very user friendly. The AppleTV drive is not being used as a cache right now, but the sole source for playable content - if it were a cache of the larger library that would be better (so that you could access non-cached items via streaming).
I would not mind your scenarios 1-3 above at all - you already pair the AppleTV with a specific computer and account, the behavior you listed would be expected (and much better than the way it is now). You should be able to do everything from the AppleTV - view uncached material, buy things from the store, etc.
What am I missing here? If you have so much material then just stream everything. From what I've read (and I should get mine today) streaming of g seems very good. I do that now with eyehome. WIth 11n or hardwire should be no problem. I intend to sync reference movies and leave the large files on the network drive. Then there's no problem. As much disk space as I can buy and all managed very well.
How is it "dynamically" doing anything right now? You have to go to the computer and deliberately tell it what to sync.
It will stream from any computer on the network, after you authorize it once. If the computer goes down, asleep, or away, it doesn't show up in the Sources list. If a new computer pops up on the network, it shows up in the Sources list. Streaming is dynamically discovered. Syncing is not.
Either the file is on the ATV (it's been synced) *or* it's on another computer (it can be streamed).
What you asked for was a list on the ATV of everything on the other computers, in which case, you want streaming. You never have to sync it up.
All you should have to do on the iTunes side is specify what folders, etc, you want to Share, just like you do now for intra-network music sharing. Really, the ATV is just a big iPod with iTunes sharing/streaming access.
As long as your total library is less than 40 gigs then you have one big sync, but my music library is bigger than that just by itself. I am either going to have to modify the device by putting in a larger hard drive, or else constantly fiddle with sync settings (and wait.....) depending on what content I want to use - not very user friendly. The AppleTV drive is not being used as a cache right now, but the sole source for playable content - if it were a cache of the larger library that would be better (so that you could access non-cached items via streaming).
One of is confused at this point - the ATV drive is *not* the sole source for playable content, it should be used precisely as you want it to be - as a temporary cache into a larger library that you can always stream from. The cache is to pre-load expected wanted items, like new TV episodes, new podcasts, etc.
If that proves to be a problem, just don't sync it, use streaming. The only loss is that you need to keep the other computer on.
Actually, why don't you sync your most common items, and stream the rest?
I would not mind your scenarios 1-3 above at all - you already pair the AppleTV with a specific computer and account, the behavior you listed would be expected (and much better than the way it is now). You should be able to do everything from the AppleTV - view uncached material, buy things from the store, etc.
Viewing uncached material is streaming. Buying from the store may or may not appear later.
I hope that I don't have to type in the code each time my computer goes to sleep (or I quit out of iTunes, or I restart the computer, or log out and back on, etc).
If the code is an every time thing, then that's just lame.
You *shouldn't*, I wouldn't think... I have a hunch that the authorization is 'confirmed' when the initial sync is complete. Let me know if that's the case, if you don't mind, now I'm curious.
If the code is an every time thing, then that's just lame.
I'd be willing to bet it's just lame.
You *shouldn't*, I wouldn't think... I have a hunch that the authorization is 'confirmed' when the initial sync is complete. Let me know if that's the case, if you don't mind, now I'm curious.
If the code is an every time thing, then that's just lame.
My initial problem never came back, even through a restart of the computer, and also quitting and restarting iTunes. However - I have it in a weird state now, I can see the AppleTV in iTunes, sync to it, see my computer in the AppleTV sources, see all the songs, etc - but if I try to stream a song it says that it is unable to.
I was able to fix it by playing a synced video, and then re-selecting my computer from the sources list.
Maybe a bit of a firmware bug fix is in order, I think.