Apple TV 2 TV Show Sorting

[TheCheapGeek]

I bought the new apple tv they day they were released and quickly returned it due to the lack of my content on the main menu and the horrible sorting of TV shows, listing each season individually rather than under the main show.

Well one of my original Apple TVs hardrives finally bit the dust so I just bought a new Apple TV hoping that the issues would have been sorted out. Unfortunately they have not, do these things bother anyone but me, and has anyone found any solution to it?

[roidy]

Yep, it bothers me as well. It's like Apple's saying a big FU to anybody that actually wants to own there media instead of bowing down to Apple's rental model.

My ATV1 is one of the best devices I've ever purchased, I got it July 2008 and it's never let me down, even through I use it daily, I was so looking forward to the ATV2 release but Apple really disappointed me. I've kept the ATV2 just to play around with PLEX and XBMC, to me thats really all it's good for.

On a lighter note, don't get rid of the ATV1 with the faulty drive, it's easy enough to replace the drive and get it working again.

[From A Buick 8]

I was a little thrown off at first, but since i never had the 1st gen ATV i just found a work around and went on my merry way enjoying the ATV2.

In iTunes i created a playlist folder for each TV show and inside that i have a smart playlist for each season. It takes a few extra clicks to get to the playlist but once i am there all of my TV shows are sorted just the way i like.

i did the same thing foe movies creating list for directors, actors etc...

[Devie]

I've made all my shows under the genre of their name. Unfortunately it doesn't work the way I would like, for instance South Park, I have all seasons, for me to go to season six, I have to scroll through the first 5 to get to it. That's annoying.

There are two things that dissapoint me with the ATV2, and if I knew them before hand I may not of got it. It doesn't work with a NAS, even if the NAS has an iTunes server (not sure if anyone has found a work around?).
I really want to get a NAS, but I'm having to consider getting a Mac Mini Server with a DAS (with RAID) just for my media being the Apple way.

The main problem is I don't want to have to turn my iMac on just for my ATV2 to work. So if I just had my NAS running 24/7 as they do, my iMac can stay asleep/off and I can go on my merry way.


And the sorting of TV shows (that are all under Movies for me. I can't put them into TV Shows...), if they let me sort them like I sort my music, would be great.

[From A Buick 8]

Originally Posted by Devie

And the sorting of TV shows (that are all under Movies for me. I can't put them into TV Shows...), if they let me sort them like I sort my music, would be great.

How do you sort you music, if it is playlist then you can do that with TV shows

[Devie]

Originally Posted by From A Buick 8

How do you sort you music, if it is playlist then you can do that with TV shows

Music example:

Band: Faith No More ->

Album lists: ->

Angel Dust
King For a Day, Fool for a Lifetime
We Care a lot
etc

Select album We Care a lot ->

List of songs.

____________________________

TV shows.

Select show: ->

South Park ->
Select episode

EVERY DAMN ONE!

[From A Buick 8]

You just may have to break down and use playlist for your TV shows.

[Omne666]

Of course you don't actually need to do playlists to get the TV Shows happening virtually exactly right.

SO....Seinfeld has 9 seasons...list them all as one season, say 0 or whatever, and have each episode number start with the actual season number...so...

101
102
105
201
202

etc etc....

This will give you the single point entry on the ATV2 menu under TV Shows, and the episodes will be in the correct order. The only minor drama is the length of all those episodes in one list.

And yes, the ATV2 menu system is still a retrograde step on the ATV1, but its networking stability is a huge jump up, its capabilities are a big jump up, so I've sold off 4 ATV1s replaced them with ATV2s. Would have done them all bar for the fact my bedroom TV cant do HD and doesn't have HDMI. ABsolute pain, but the wife likes the TV. Go Figure!!

LOL...does mean all my ripped BluRays aren't playable in the bedroom. Eventually that will come back and bite her.

[From A Buick 8]

My concern about messing with the season and episode number like that is when Apple does realize the problem and implement a fix then you would have to go back in and update the metadata. Using the playlist and playlist folders I cane set up the TV shows in a way that should work with what Apple will eventually implement.

[Omne666]

Agree totally with that.

Of course were assuming Apple will eventually fix it, and as the issue has been yelled about since the first release of the ATV2 and it still hasn't, that is no certainty.

[Nightarchaon]

Originally Posted by Omne666

Agree totally with that.

Of course were assuming Apple will eventually fix it, and as the issue has been yelled about since the first release of the ATV2 and it still hasn't, that is no certainty.

Isn't apples idea of a bug or feature fix actually what it calls "features" that make the new model you will have to upgrade to use them "new" and "unique" ?

[dgalvan123]

Originally Posted by Omne666

Would have done them all bar for the fact my bedroom TV cant do HD and doesn't have HDMI. ABsolute pain, but the wife likes the TV. Go Figure!!

LOL...does mean all my ripped BluRays aren't playable in the bedroom. Eventually that will come back and bite her.

Don't let the lack of HDMI stop you. I use this to connect my ATV2 to my 12+ year old CRT. Works fine. Costs $50, but that's a lot less than a new TV if you like the current TV.
http://www.amazon.com/Composite-S-vi...0454071&sr=8-7

[Gjwilly]

Originally Posted by Devie

And the sorting of TV shows (that are all under Movies for me. I can't put them into TV Shows...), if they let me sort them like I sort my music, would be great.

I use the program MetaX to set the TV show flag on the individual media files and then they appear in the TV section of iTunes.
I use the Windows version but pretty sure it started out as an Apple program.

[stordoff]

Originally Posted by Devie

And the sorting of TV shows (that are all under Movies for me. I can't put them into TV Shows...), if they let me sort them like I sort my music, would be great.

Change Right Click->Get Info->Options->Media Kind to TV Programme.

[thekb]

Originally Posted by Omne666

Would have done them all bar for the fact my bedroom TV cant do HD and doesn't have HDMI.

This is why I am very seriously considering getting a Roku box for my old TV. I'd rather have Apple TV, but why spend $50 for an adapter to get the ATV to work after laying down $100 for the ATV in the first place, when for $50 TOTAL a Roku box will do most of what I want?

[dgalvan123]

Originally Posted by thekb

This is why I am very seriously considering getting a Roku box for my old TV. I'd rather have Apple TV, but why spend $50 for an adapter to get the ATV to work after laying down $100 for the ATV in the first place, when for $50 TOTAL a Roku box will do most of what I want?

Because you'd rather have the Apple TV. And once you get the Roku you'll wish you had bought the Apple TV, and likely end up buying it later anyway.

[thekb]

Originally Posted by dgalvan123

Because you'd rather have the Apple TV. And once you get the Roku you'll wish you had bought the Apple TV, and likely end up buying it later anyway.

Can you please elaborate? I enjoy my Apple TV, but I have heard many people that adore their Roku boxes. I'd prefer to be consistent with an Apple box, but geez, for 3 times the price ($150 (box + adapter) versus $50 for basic Roku box) I think I could probably make do. Why do you dislike Roku?

Thanks

[freediverdude]

I have both a Roku XD box and an Apple TV2. The big drawback with the Roku is the horrible GUI, lol. Just very clunky and looks like a cable box interface, and too many clicks and lagging to get anything done. That being said, it does offer Amazon VOD, and Hulu Plus, which is why I have it.

Netflix is better on the Apple TV, and the GUI is leaps and bounds better. Plus most of my media is iTunes-purchased, so Apple TV is the best choice for that library.

[rayward]

So, has the new interface fixed the TV Show listing issue?

I'm about to add an ATV3 to my fleet of ATV1s, so I do not want to have to mess with the tags or with playlists to get my shows listed properly on the 3 when it would mess them up on the 1s.

TIA

[dgalvan123]

Originally Posted by thekb

Can you please elaborate? I enjoy my Apple TV, but I have heard many people that adore their Roku boxes. I'd prefer to be consistent with an Apple box, but geez, for 3 times the price ($150 (box + adapter) versus $50 for basic Roku box) I think I could probably make do. Why do you dislike Roku?

Thanks

Meh just being an apple fanboy.

Frankly there is not much you can do with a roku that you can't do with a jail broken atv (Hulu free without commercials, amazon vod, espn3, etc). And there is plenty you can't do with a roku (view home photos, movies, songs, AirPlay etc)

I suppose if all you need is Netflix or Hulu plus than a roku is probably fine.

[Gjwilly]

Originally Posted by rayward

So, has the new interface fixed the TV Show listing issue?

No.
The problem is on the iTunes side.

[rctnavylt]

I have solved the Apple TV sorting problem thanks to SpongeBob. While using MetaX to tag SpongeBob episodes, I realized that there is a sorting tab in MetaX that by default is unchecked when you add the metatags.

In the case of the improperly sorted TV shows, it's because iTunes is looking at this "Alternate" sorting field instead of the show and episode number. So, all you have to do is select all the TV shows at once, right click on them, select "Get Info," the check and leave blank the Sort Name, Sort Artist, Sort Album Artist, Sort Composer, and Sort Show. The click 'OK."

This will then delete those alternate sorts and you will then see the shows sort correctly on the Apple TV2 or 3.

R

[jlasoon]

Originally Posted by rctnavylt

I have solved the Apple TV sorting problem thanks to SpongeBob. While using MetaX to tag SpongeBob episodes, I realized that there is a sorting tab in MetaX that by default is unchecked when you add the metatags.

In the case of the improperly sorted TV shows, it's because iTunes is looking at this "Alternate" sorting field instead of the show and episode number. So, all you have to do is select all the TV shows at once, right click on them, select "Get Info," the check and leave blank the Sort Name, Sort Artist, Sort Album Artist, Sort Composer, and Sort Show. The click 'OK."

This will then delete those alternate sorts and you will then see the shows sort correctly on the Apple TV2 or 3.

R

Thanks, the shows are now in order, now I just need to fix the season numbers, those are still screwy.

[bluesk8r]

This didn't work for me
I had an old ATV1 and I just got the new AT3 and it seems that no matter what I do I can't get it to work. My TV series are all out of order, some at the top, some at the bottom. There is no Alphabetical order, no rhyme or reason that I can find for the problem. Any other ideas are more then welcome.

[Gjwilly]

Originally Posted by bluesk8r

This didn't work for me
I had an old ATV1 and I just got the new AT3 and it seems that no matter what I do I can't get it to work. My TV series are all out of order, some at the top, some at the bottom. There is no Alphabetical order, no rhyme or reason that I can find for the problem. Any other ideas are more then welcome.

iTunes 10.6 introduced a bug where no matter how your TV shows are sorted in iTunes, the ATV (and any other iOS devices that can access your shared libraries) will display the shows in a jumbled order.
Some have reported that there is an order to this jumble -- its supposedly sorted by the date that the shows were imported into iTunes -- but others have disagreed.
Nothing you do to the tags is going to fix this until Apple fixes the underlying bug.