I am looking for some guidance... I have about 200 movies on my external hard drive that I like to frequently watch on my Apple TV. But its a huge pain in the rear to go turn on the computer, hook up the external hard drive, open iTunes, turn on apple tv, and then pray it all synced and works together. Is there an easier way to do this? Not all of my movies are from iTunes, some are digital copies and others are from other sources. They are all in my iTunes, but not purchased from there. I was hoping with iTunes match, that it would handle movies but I see its just music. Any thoughts/suggestions?
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Syncing Movies in Apple TV
- Thread starter jhartman421
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Argh, keeping everything plugged in and running at all times isn't ideal for us. However, if it's the only way... I was hoping there was something obvious that I was over looking. I'm sad itunes match dosnt work on movies/tv shows like it does music.
I'm no expert, but itunes has to be running.
Only workaround is to AirPlay to ATV. So you could have all movies on a cloud hd and access them on an iOS device to AirPlay. Confusing yes, search the forums & web for more details.
I dream of the day to stream directly from my nas to ATV, but I don't see it coming soon.
Only workaround is to AirPlay to ATV. So you could have all movies on a cloud hd and access them on an iOS device to AirPlay. Confusing yes, search the forums & web for more details.
I dream of the day to stream directly from my nas to ATV, but I don't see it coming soon.
Actually, that's a great idea, to put them in the cloud and air play. I suppose that the Apple cloud would be the best? Any other suggestions on clouds that are compatible?
This is what we do (DROBO in place of NAS) and it works great, never any issues. I always wonder why folks do not want to keep the items running all the time.
Personal movies will only work with AppleTV through HomeSharing.
Which is only available when iTunes is running on the same network on a computer. You can't see your movie collection without enabling HomeSharing on the AppleTV and within iTunes on a computer.
If you want to bypass this completely you can put some movies on your iPhone/iPad if you have one and Airplay directly to the AppleTV with or without a WiFi connection.
Which is only available when iTunes is running on the same network on a computer. You can't see your movie collection without enabling HomeSharing on the AppleTV and within iTunes on a computer.
If you want to bypass this completely you can put some movies on your iPhone/iPad if you have one and Airplay directly to the AppleTV with or without a WiFi connection.
That's not entirely true. Some of the NAS devices out there can use a combination of NAS-side software and an iOS app to AirPlay directly from the NAS to the ATV, using the iOS device as an intermediary just long enough to initiate the connection.
What is true is that there has to be some form of iTunes client (the iOS device in the case above) in the mix somewhere, which is why adding an iTunes client in ATV is a common wishlist item.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Buy any mac or windows computer that can run iTunes (translation: a cheap, old, used one that still works). Hook it to that hard drive where you store your movies, drag the movies into it's iTunes app, turn on home sharing. Let it be the one that is on all of the time. This whole setup could be relatively hidden away in your home.
Airplay is OK but then you're tying up an iDevice while anyone is watching a movie. What if you want/need to do some other things with that iDevice? What if it needs to leave the house mid-movie? What if it's out of the house when someone else wants to watch a movie? Etc.
The "just works" way is to get iTunes running on an always-on computer in your house. A cheap Windows machine plus the (movie-loaded) hard drive you already have can do that.
Airplay is OK but then you're tying up an iDevice while anyone is watching a movie. What if you want/need to do some other things with that iDevice? What if it needs to leave the house mid-movie? What if it's out of the house when someone else wants to watch a movie? Etc.
The "just works" way is to get iTunes running on an always-on computer in your house. A cheap Windows machine plus the (movie-loaded) hard drive you already have can do that.
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I went the route you are going. I spent a lot of time and energy ripping my 180 DVD Collection using HandBrake and then tagging them. Then I would add them to iTunes like is being discussed here. Then I would need to keep a backup of the collection.
At some point I felt this was simply too much work and the DVD Quality was not as good as the HD Quality I got from iTunes HD Movies that I could now purchase. I got the collection before BR.
So I took a realistic view of my 180 DVD Movies and decided that maybe only 10-20 were the ones I really wanted and have watched more then once. Also, most movies were old.
I then purchased 10 movies where the cost was between $9.99 and $14.99. So my first investment was between $100 and $150 (about the cost of a backup drive). Over time I look for bundles of movies I really liked. I.E. Bourne Collection. I now have about 80 HD movies in my iTunes Collection where maybe about 15-20 were in my original collection and the rest are new. All HD and most now have iTunes Extras (like DVD Menu items).
All are accessible from all of my iOS Devices for Streaming or downloading (like to my laptop or iPads). I only use streaming on my ATV's which I have on almost every TV in my house. No trying to stream from a iTunes Computer
I also added Netflix for $7.99 per month (more next year) which probably gives me about 50+ of the movies that were in my original collection.
I would never go back to ripping and saving movies. Just my 2 cents.
At some point I felt this was simply too much work and the DVD Quality was not as good as the HD Quality I got from iTunes HD Movies that I could now purchase. I got the collection before BR.
So I took a realistic view of my 180 DVD Movies and decided that maybe only 10-20 were the ones I really wanted and have watched more then once. Also, most movies were old.
I then purchased 10 movies where the cost was between $9.99 and $14.99. So my first investment was between $100 and $150 (about the cost of a backup drive). Over time I look for bundles of movies I really liked. I.E. Bourne Collection. I now have about 80 HD movies in my iTunes Collection where maybe about 15-20 were in my original collection and the rest are new. All HD and most now have iTunes Extras (like DVD Menu items).
All are accessible from all of my iOS Devices for Streaming or downloading (like to my laptop or iPads). I only use streaming on my ATV's which I have on almost every TV in my house. No trying to stream from a iTunes Computer
I also added Netflix for $7.99 per month (more next year) which probably gives me about 50+ of the movies that were in my original collection.
I would never go back to ripping and saving movies. Just my 2 cents.
This is what I did, and I'm very happy with the way it works. But I have over 500 movies and 500 TV shows, which take up about 1TB on a 3TB disk so I have plenty of room to grow.
I considered various options for an iTunes server, like using my old 2008 Core2Duo MBP or 2008 Windows PC with similar specs. After a lot of thought, I opted for a new entry-level Mac Mini (2012 was the current model then, so mine has upgradeable memory and hard drives). I wanted to build a system that was fast, had a warranty and would last me for years to come. Just didn't like the idea of putting all the effort into 6 or 7 year old machine with a limited future.
The library is stored on a fast 3TB USB 3 external drive. I have two additional identical drives that I rotate for backups that are done nightly with a CCC script.
When I watch my ripped DVDs on AppleTV with my 46" Sony TV, sometimes the quality bothers me. I have a small 15" screen with AppleTV in the bedroom and they look pretty good there. On the screen of my 11" MBA they look fantastic.
For some of my favorite movies, I am buying the iTunes HD versions. But I just don't feel the additional file size and very long download times are worth the effort (my only internet option is Verizon DSL at less than 2mbit/sec). I also have a fair library of bluray disks but no plans to rip them.
It all depends on what you want I suppose. iTunes downloads are pretty expensive IMO. I can buy used DVDs at a store in the mall for about $5 each. With a fast Mac, it only takes 15 - 20 minutes to rip.
I like the idea of having a big library since I live in a rural location with no cable and slow internet.
Nice setup. I can see how that would work well. I have 3 Mac Mini's running VMWare for work with a bunch of different OS's for testing and production. They are great machines. In my case I live in an area where I can get Verizon FIOS with 75mbps up and down speeds. So my streaming iTunes content is no issue. Also, I can download movie's pretty quickly if about to travel and prefer to have them local.
I was grappling with this crap a few weeks ago: figuring out how to network my NAS, my MBP and an Apple TV through 5GHz WiFi vs. powerline adapters - then realising that wasn't going to work - before going down the route of maybe buying a Mac mini...
... in the end, I spent £27 on some payware to strip the DRM from my iTunes content. I can now play that content wherever I like, free from spurious technological restrictions.
Works for me. Whatever works, for you.
... in the end, I spent £27 on some payware to strip the DRM from my iTunes content. I can now play that content wherever I like, free from spurious technological restrictions.
Works for me. Whatever works, for you.