ATV 2 and media stored on Time Machines's backup?

MarceFX said:

Hi,

I just got an Apple TV 2. I'm trying to access and play my media files from iTunes an iPhoto, but the files are on an external USB drive connected to the same network.

So far, I can see the USB drive (thanks to aTV Flash), but I can't think of a way to access iPhoto or iTunes without the computer on. Since the TM backup is identical to my files on the Mac, I thought there could be a workaround/hack/app to get this done.

Any ideas?

Thanks

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Time Machine use a proprietary file system, ATV won't be able to read directly from that copy (Not even OSX can read directly to it, you need to enter time machine to access it).

If you want to read from a external Hard Drive without a computer you need to have a NAS service running, or a uPnP server running (most recents routers support uPnP)

MarceFX said:

Well, that's not completely right, I think. I can browse my TimeMachine USB drive and open/play files from Finder (no need for TM):

Image

I can transfer files back to my Mac (OSX Lion). I've been doing so for a long time, I have no idea whether Apple changed something on its OS. So, I figured there might be some app able to read these files from that location, allowing us to play them on the Apple TV.

Click to expand...

I guess it change, nonetheless, the NAS/uPnP part still apply, if you want to read without a computer, you need one of those service running where ever the USB drive is connected

I used ATV Flash on an ATV1, but haven't tried the new iOS versions. In the old version, I was able to connect direct to a network share and then play any NON-DRM media using one of the included players (Nito TV I think). I would think that the new version of ATV Flash would allow something similar using its media player, but have never tried it. You might want to check FireCore's site for list of features.

I would guess that if this works at all, it will only work for files that you ripped yourself, not iTunes purchases.