Apple TV Home Sharing: Router or No Router?

Okay, bare with me on this one. I had been using an Apple TV 2 successfully for two years streaming content from my 27" iMac. Occasionally the connection would drop, but that was almost always fixed by a restart.

A couple of weeks ago I had a major hard drive failure on my iMac and had to start from scratch. In the process, I upgraded from Lion to Mountain Lion. Since then, I have not been able to get Home Sharing on the Apple TV to work. Wasn't sure if this was a matter if just tinkering with settings, or if it might have had something to do with upgrading to Mountain Lion.

My setup is this: The 27 inch upstairs in my office. The Apple TV downstairs in the living room. Prior to the crash, everything had been working fine, including connecting to the network with the iPad, our second iMac, and, of course, the Apple TV. Home sharing worked fine. I need to emphasize here that this was all done without a router.

Anyways, today I tried bucking down and figuring it out. Unable to do it on my own, I contacted Apple Support. Basically they told me that I needed a router to get Home Sharing to work. What she said was that I could not create a wifi network from my computer and simultaneously use Internet Sharing for the Apple TV. Meaning I need a router to get it working. She was flabbergasted that it had worked previously without a router. She didn't think that was possible. At all. She basically thought I was on crack.

So before I go out and buy a router, I thought I'd try this forum. I just don't get it. It seems to me that with the wifi capabilities of the iMac, I shouldn't need a router. And I didn't!!! For the entire time I've had the Apple TV until I installed Mountain Lion!! So I'm stuck, frustrated, and ready to throw our houseful of Apple products out the window. For what it's worth, she advised that I purchase a dual band 2.4 router or an Airport router.

One final note: I tried many of the suggested remedies to network problems. Turning Sharing on and off, restarting, deauthorizing and reauthorizing...nothing.

hallux said:

It may be silly to ask this but you DID select to turn on homesharing in iTunes on the "host" iMac, right? Also need to ensure you use the same AppleID. Sometimes the simplest things are overlooked.

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Yes, and yes.

I keep telling myself that it's just something simple like this, but my conversation with Apple Support (ie, "You need a router!") suggests that it's not.

I'm really hoping someone can address the router vs. non-router question. I'm finding no definitive answers for this, no matter how much searching I do.

Somebody. Throw me a bone.

noisycats said:

How does the internet enter your system, cable or DSL? Ethernet into the Mac? You likely have some component in the middle that may include wireless capability. It is at least a modem, possibly a router.

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I'm using Cable Internet Service. Yes, a modem is in the middle. Basic Motorola modem—not a router.

noisycats said:

So cable from the wall to the modem, ethernet from the modem to the iMac, internet sharing turned on (for the other iMac and iPad and hopefully aTV)?

Is that about right?

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That's exactly right. That's how it was when it worked before 2 weeks ago, and that's what it's like now. Nothing has changed except my operating system.

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bhaveshp said:

The Motorola "modem" is probably a modem / router combo. Does it have Wi-Fi built in? Can you find the model #?

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The modem's model number is SB5102. I have always been under the impression that everything was happening directly through the iMac.

And when I think back to buying the Apple TV, at no point was I ever instructed to pick up a router. This is all news to me!

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bhaveshp said:

Your iMac can act as a router.

http://www.tuaw.com/2007/03/26/how-to-using-your-mac-as-a-nat-router/

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OSX 10.8.3 has a significantly different hierarchy for networking/wi-fi configurations, so I can't really follow this. (I should add here that while I've considered myself computer savvy since the mid-80s, I find configuring anything network-related on a Mac to be endlessly frustrating.)

noisycats said:

Assuming your Internet sharing is activated (as manifested by imac2 and iPad having Internet connection), have you gone back into settings on the aTV and reconnected the wireless signal?

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Yes. Not sure if I mentioned before, but I can access iTunes movies/tv, as well as purchased music/movies. It's just the stuff in my iTunes library (Home Sharing) that I can't access.

ColdCase said:

Yeah I'm kinda lost too...

iTunes needs to be open on the iMac for the ATV to see the shared library stored there. If you sit at your iMac, can you open your "stuff" with iTunes?

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Apple TV clearly differentiates between "Home Sharing" (that which is in your iTunes library, but not necessarily purchased from iTunes) and everything else, which includes music, movies and television that you have actually purchased from iTunes. The problem has been that the Home Sharing portion of Apple TV no longer connects.

At this point in time, this is all a moot point: I bit the bullet—despite being sick to death of buying into Apple's insidious attempts at global domination—and bought an Airport Express this morning. Everything is hunky dory now.

Thanks all for your help. Despite being fed up with Apple and their inferior products (iTunes 11? Are you ****ing serious?) I do appreciate your efforts.