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nortmansdad

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 8, 2007
21
0
I just moved home for a little while and do not have wireless internet and the modem/router is just too far to run a cable. I was wondering: if I had a desktop in my room (not connected to the internet) wired to the appletv, could it stream music/movies onto the appletv?

I wouldn't necessarily care about the rental or youtube feature as I want to steam music/movies I have on the desktop.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
 

leekohler

macrumors G5
Dec 22, 2004
14,164
26
Chicago, Illinois
I don't think so. You need a wireless router of some sort to use ATV.

EDIT- Hmm...now I don't know. I'm wondering if an ethernet cable would work.
 

mchalebk

macrumors 6502a
Feb 4, 2008
819
0
You can absolutely use a wired connection. You either need a router or an ethernet crossover cable.
 

nortmansdad

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 8, 2007
21
0
my only question is can i use a wired connection with no internet...just steaming within my own network
 

mchalebk

macrumors 6502a
Feb 4, 2008
819
0
You do not need internet to sync or stream from your computer; you do need to network the ATV to your computer somehow. Internet is only necessary if you want to access internet content (iTunes Store, YouTube, etc.) or for software updates.
 

monke

macrumors 65816
May 30, 2005
1,437
3
Apple's ATV tech specs page states that you need"

10/100BASE-T Ethernet network

It says network, not internet, so I'm assuming it would work.

If it does work all you'll be able to do is send music, movies, pictures, like you stated, but you won't be able to access the iTunes Store, Youtube, and Photo sites. This would mean (I think) that if you rented a movie on your computer that you wouldn't be able to play it on the AppleTV because the AppleTV would have to authorize playback through the iTunes Store and without an internet connection it wouldn't work. Again I'm just taking a guess here but it might work.
 

pagansoul

macrumors 65816
Aug 10, 2006
1,040
42
Earth
Before I had Internet I would stream my :apple:TV between my MacPro all the time. The internet is just needed to go to the store and view things off the Web but I have so much stuff just on my computer I don't really need internet connection.
 

nortmansdad

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 8, 2007
21
0
If I connect a computer directly to the apple tv, do i need an ethernet cable or crossover cable?
 

dwright1974

macrumors 6502
Aug 13, 2007
392
122
UK
If I connect a computer directly to the apple tv, do i need an ethernet cable or crossover cable?

Crossover cable.

If you have a switch, then normal ethernet but just connecting the two via a cable, then you'll need a crossover.

HTH

- D
 

jon31rm

macrumors member
Apr 15, 2007
94
0
How could I go about setting this up? I've got a crossover cable, Apple TV and MacBook Pro.

I'm on a college campus and they won't allow the ATV on the network due to concerns that it will take up too much bandwidth. I'm trying to figure out an internet-less solution for the ATV, and this seems like it may work. Anyone willing and able to help?

Thanks in advance.
 

26139

Suspended
Dec 27, 2003
4,315
377
HUh?

How could I go about setting this up? I've got a crossover cable, Apple TV and MacBook Pro.

I'm on a college campus and they won't allow the ATV on the network due to concerns that it will take up too much bandwidth. I'm trying to figure out an internet-less solution for the ATV, and this seems like it may work. Anyone willing and able to help?

Thanks in advance.

AppleTV wouldn't use any internet bandwidth at all, unless you counted downloading movies to iTunes. just make an internet connection with your airport card, have the appletv connect to that, and your good. Or connect the two via ethernet.

Pretty simple.
 

jon31rm

macrumors member
Apr 15, 2007
94
0
I got it to work with a crossover cable, just by playing around with it. However, we have no wireless internet in here so I can't access the internet and have my Apple TV hooked up at the same time.

Is there any way a computer-to-computer network would work? I don't have much experience with creating networks and such, so any help would be appreciated.
 

jon31rm

macrumors member
Apr 15, 2007
94
0
Alright, I'll try and explain my situation:

Apple TV (not allowed on college network)
MacBook Pro (connected to network via ethernet)

No routers of any kind allowed (wired or wireless)

---

What I've gotten to work is MacBook Pro connected to ATV via crossover cable. Works perfectly, neither are connected to the internet.

However, if I want to access the internet on my laptop, I have to disconnect the crossover cable from the MBP, and plug in the ethernet cable.

I was just wondering if there were any alternative ways of connecting the two, without using the internet, other than a crossover cable.

If not, it's not a big deal. It just takes a while for the ATV to be recognized by iTunes, and I'd rather just keep it connected all the time.

EDIT: Of course, if there was any way of installing a router or connecting the ATV to the network without them being able to find out about it, I'm more than willing to break the rules. I'm at a fairly small university though, so they've got plenty of free time to check and make sure everyone is following the rules.
 

TomP80

macrumors member
Apr 15, 2008
45
0
jon31rm - what you need is to somehow get two ethernet adapters working on your MBP.

One is obviously built in to the MBP, and you looked hard enough, you could probably find an ExpressCard Ethernet adapter that worked on a mac. (Not sure where from though).

If you did that, then you could have Ethernet Port 1 hooked up to your college network's internet via straight cable, and Ethernet Port 2 hooked up to your ATV via a crossover cable.

If you do that, you can use both at the same time.

Not sure if that would get you internet functions on your ATV though, as they would technically be on different networks. It might work with some kind of a software router though.
 

NeoMayhem

macrumors 6502a
Aug 22, 2003
916
1
I just moved home for a little while and do not have wireless internet and the modem/router is just too far to run a cable. I was wondering: if I had a desktop in my room (not connected to the internet) wired to the appletv, could it stream music/movies onto the appletv?

I wouldn't necessarily care about the rental or youtube feature as I want to steam music/movies I have on the desktop.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Do you have a wireless card in this computer? If so you can create a wireless link between the computer and the Apple TV to steaming content.
 

Kawaboy

macrumors newbie
Oct 5, 2010
2
0
Apple TV to MacBook Pro

Hi,

I'm busy setting up my Apple TV (old version with 160Gb drive). I do not have an internet connection. I'm wondering if I can connect the ATv to my Macbook Pro wirelessly via the Airport, or do I need to hardwire it?

Any help appreciated,

Thanks
 

BlackMangoTree

macrumors 6502a
Sep 30, 2010
896
2
Hi,

I'm busy setting up my Apple TV (old version with 160Gb drive). I do not have an internet connection. I'm wondering if I can connect the ATv to my Macbook Pro wirelessly via the Airport, or do I need to hardwire it?

Any help appreciated,

Thanks

The Apple TV needs to connect through a router eg Airport Express it won't connect to a network made on your laptop.
 

mchalebk

macrumors 6502a
Feb 4, 2008
819
0
Hi,

I'm busy setting up my Apple TV (old version with 160Gb drive). I do not have an internet connection. I'm wondering if I can connect the ATv to my Macbook Pro wirelessly via the Airport, or do I need to hardwire it?

Any help appreciated,

Thanks

Connecting wirelessly via Airport works fine; you do not need to hardwire.

It's funny. I noticed that I had posted in this topic. However, when I saw some of my posts, I didn't remember them. And then I noticed this thread is 2 years old. However, the information in it is still valid.
 

Kawaboy

macrumors newbie
Oct 5, 2010
2
0
Connecting wirelessly via Airport works fine; you do not need to hardwire.

It's funny. I noticed that I had posted in this topic. However, when I saw some of my posts, I didn't remember them. And then I noticed this thread is 2 years old. However, the information in it is still valid.


Hi mchalebk,

I noticed your post from 2 years ago and I'm glad you're still around. Sorry but you say that it's possible but you don;t actually say how (?) I tried to connect wirelessly via Airport. I followed the following procedure:-

1. Switch on MacPro
2. Make sure Airport is switched on and set up network on MacPro
3. Switch on Atv and go through setup process. The Atv searches for available networks, but finds nothing

Hence my query - unless there is something I am missing - I'm no expert on networks. What I do expect is for two Apple products to communicate with each other no problem!!! Imagine mysurprise when this appeared not to be the case!

Your post appears to be in direct contradiction to BlackMangoTree - or are you both right and I simply need to go to the Apple shop and buy the Apple router?

Thanks guys
 

laurim

macrumors 68000
Sep 19, 2003
1,985
970
Minnesota USA
I've used a simple ethernet hub to connect multiple computers together to share files. maybe a hub would work and would be cheaper than buying a router to create a simple local network.
 

mchalebk

macrumors 6502a
Feb 4, 2008
819
0
Hi mchalebk,

I noticed your post from 2 years ago and I'm glad you're still around. Sorry but you say that it's possible but you don;t actually say how (?) I tried to connect wirelessly via Airport. I followed the following procedure:-

1. Switch on MacPro
2. Make sure Airport is switched on and set up network on MacPro
3. Switch on Atv and go through setup process. The Atv searches for available networks, but finds nothing

Hence my query - unless there is something I am missing - I'm no expert on networks. What I do expect is for two Apple products to communicate with each other no problem!!! Imagine mysurprise when this appeared not to be the case!

Your post appears to be in direct contradiction to BlackMangoTree - or are you both right and I simply need to go to the Apple shop and buy the Apple router?

Thanks guys

Maybe there is a semantics issue going on here. When you asked about connecting wirelessly through Airport, I took that to mean using an Airport Extreme or Airport Express (both of which are wireless routers). You do need a wireless router if you don’t want to hard wire the ATV to the computer.
 
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