Getting started with ATV

[mrholder]

I may be getting an ATV for Christmas, and need just a little info to get started.

If I rip blu rays with a Macbook Pro and and external blu ray drive, what software will I need to fill in the metadata for movies and shows?

Will the metadata remain intact if the movie files are moved out of itunes and stored on an external drive until I want to watch them again later? Right now my itunes library is stored on the Macbook Pro, and I don't have room to store many movies on the internal hard drive.

Sorry for the newbie questions.

[mic j]

Originally Posted by mrholder

I may be getting an ATV for Christmas, and need just a little info to get started.

If I rip blu rays with a Macbook Pro and and external blu ray drive, what software will I need to fill in the metadata for movies and shows?

Will the metadata remain intact if the movie files are moved out of itunes and stored on an external drive until I want to watch them again later? Right now my itunes library is stored on the Macbook Pro, and I don't have room to store many movies on the internal hard drive.

Sorry for the newbie questions.

I use Subler (free), you will will get others who are proponents of others (MetaZ, iVI, etc). Subler is easy although not a 1 button click. It does give a lot of flexibility and has other important capabilities with subtitles, track addition/deletion etc. It is a good tool to know how to use.

The metadata info is stored in the mp4 so it will go with wherever your file is.

[jwm2]

You'll most likely need to jailbreak the unit first before you can watch movies from another device. I'll have to double check but i don't think the atv comes with built in capability to do so otherwise.

[mrholder]

Thanks for the responses! Is it possible to have 2 different itunes libraries? One with all of my music, plus ripped movies, on an external drive that the ATV can point to? The other one just like it is now on the internal drive just to sync with iPhone and iPad.

[mic j]

Originally Posted by mrholder

Thanks for the responses! Is it possible to have 2 different itunes libraries? One with all of my music, plus ripped movies, on an external drive that the ATV can point to? The other one just like it is now on the internal drive just to sync with iPhone and iPad.

You only need 1 iTunes library, located on your MBP. Move your movies/music to external drive and go into Preference>Advanced tab where you can tell your files are located. Your iPhone/iPad will still sync just fine.

Or am I missing something else you need, because I don't understand the comment about needing to jailbreak the aTV, posted above.

[slothrob]

Originally Posted by mrholder

Thanks for the responses! Is it possible to have 2 different itunes libraries? One with all of my music, plus ripped movies, on an external drive that the ATV can point to? The other one just like it is now on the internal drive just to sync with iPhone and iPad.

Sometimes it is convenient to have two different iTunes libraries in two different places or for two different users. You can create a second library by holding down Option (Mac) or Shift (Windows) while iTunes is launching. You use the same method to switch between libraries.

You'll then need to go into Preferences to set the location for each of these libraries, if you want them somewhere other than the default location.

[bbeagle]

Originally Posted by jwm2

You'll most likely need to jailbreak the unit first before you can watch movies from another device. I'll have to double check but i don't think the atv comes with built in capability to do so otherwise.

You do NOT have to jailbreak an Apple TV to do this.

Anything you put into iTunes, whether bought from Apple or ripped in m4v format will stream to Apple TV.

[Hoagie52]

I found a program called identify that will collect all the data from a riped movie.