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Would there be a problem having 2 Apple TVs setup in one house?

D

danmc00

macrumors regular
Original poster
I already have an Apple TV2 setup in my living room, but I would like one that I can take to my daughter's room and my bedroom. Would there be any problems having two in the same house? I know you probably couldn't run them at the same time.
 
bjett92 said:
Yes you can. Just name them differently so you can pick them out of the AirPlay menu.
Click to expand...

You do not even need to name them differently (except maybe for the airplay to work). If you are just wanting to use them to watch nexflix, YouTube, rent movies tv shows or to stream from iTunes you can use several at the same time. I am sure there is a limit and it may be dependent on your computer, Internet connection and router then any limitations in the ATV it'self.

I run two often times at the sometime and will be picking up a third later this year.
 
I have 4 running in my house. Main bedroom, family room, living room, and kitchen. I have no problem running them all at the same time.
 
I don't think two in the same house will be an issue (I have a first and a second gen Apple TV in the same room), as long as the same remote isn't matched to both AppleTV's and you're not using a Harmony or other programable remote to run them both. The remote app on iPhone/iPad/iPod touch won't have that problem, as you have to choose what it's controlling in settings.

The remote issue drove me crazy. I was convinced someone had hacked my iTunes user name and password because song purchases and movie rentals where showing up that I did not rent. What I didn't realize was that the signals on the harmony remote where being received by both Apple TV's and while navigating around in the one displayed on the TV, the button presses would by sheer happenstance, lock on to a movie or music/song/album in iTunes on the other Apple TV that wasn't on the TV at the time, and hitting select, completed a purchase/rental.

I fixed that issue by turning back on the setting requiring entering the iTunes store password for purchases and also put in a parental control PIN (a different one for each one) just to be extra sure.

I doubt two in the same house will have the same problem (as IR remotes only travel so far and the AppleTV remotes have to be pointed directly at the unit being controlled). But just be aware.
 
I have two appletv 2's around the house. my question is do you need to always close out iTunes and then open it back up for the appletv to work? Like for example i was watching Dexter in the living room this evening and after i was done my brother wanted to watch Big Bang Theory in his room. he went to try to watch it and it said it couldn't load the library. i then closed out iTunes and opened it up again and things worked just fine. i just hate needing to do this each time.
 
I read this tread with interest and thought i would weigh-in. Technically speaking, there are not really any issues having multiple ATVs in the same house. Each ATV can run independently of the others without conflict with the exception of the remote if they are physically next to each other (why would you do that??), and for AirPlay if they all have the same name (ie all named "AppleTV"). Every ATV is even capable of using the same instance of iTunes at the same time. That I was impressed to find true.

To solve any conflict problems:
Conflicting Remote - simply "pair" each remote to it's own ATV, including if you use a universal remote.
Conflicting Name (only applies when using AirPlay) - simply choose different names for each ATV! There really isn't any conflict, whichever one you choose will play, but you won't know which ATV is the one you're choosing.

If you are having trouble reading from one iTunes instance with multiple ATV at the same time, something else is causing a problem, because technically it works. Probably a network issue, since "out of the box" it should work - if all ATVs on the same network and also using the same home sharing account etc. Both ATV need to be set-up nearly the same except for the name of course.

My biggest challenge has been to get multiple ATVs to play the same thing at the same time, without using a HDMI splitter playing from just one ATV. Since multiple ATVs can play from the same library at the same time, i thought there must be a trick to get them to play the same thing without having to install more wires. Alas, i haven't found any way to do this, except by pressing "Play" on both remotes at the same time (one being a wireless Harmony to start the ATV in the other room)

Here I am talking specifically about playing video from the iTunes library on multiple TVs. On the other hand, it's quite easy to play the same audio on all your ATVs at once. You simply "play" from iTunes app on the computer and choose all the ATVs you want to output to. This can also be accomplished on the mobile "remote" app but NOT if playing from the mobile library itself. Using the iTunes remote app, it actually plays from the computer, just controlling it with the mobile. Mobiles are apparently NOT powerful enough to handle playing to multiple AirPlay devices - not even audio. (actually they can be "forced" to do it with jailbreak but it's not smooth and of course, you have to jailbreak your mobile)

Everything I write here is not expert speculation but actual experience. It would be cool if Apple could add the "synchronized play" feature to the mobile remote app. Seems it should be an easy feature to implement for controlling multiple ATVs at once. I thought someone might have figured out how to "hack" a solution by now, but couldn't find any. Wait and see.
 
Note that you are responding to a four year old thread…. by now I think most people are aware that you can have more than one AppleTV. 🙂 I have two, but never had any desire for both to play the same video in sync.
 
anonmooseuser said:
I read this tread with interest and thought i would weigh-in. Technically speaking, there are not really any issues having multiple ATVs in the same house. Each ATV can run independently of the others without conflict with the exception of the remote if they are physically next to each other (why would you do that??), and for AirPlay if they all have the same name (ie all named "AppleTV"). Every ATV is even capable of using the same instance of iTunes at the same time. That I was impressed to find true.

To solve any conflict problems:
Conflicting Remote - simply "pair" each remote to it's own ATV, including if you use a universal remote.
Conflicting Name (only applies when using AirPlay) - simply choose different names for each ATV! There really isn't any conflict, whichever one you choose will play, but you won't know which ATV is the one you're choosing.

If you are having trouble reading from one iTunes instance with multiple ATV at the same time, something else is causing a problem, because technically it works. Probably a network issue, since "out of the box" it should work - if all ATVs on the same network and also using the same home sharing account etc. Both ATV need to be set-up nearly the same except for the name of course.

My biggest challenge has been to get multiple ATVs to play the same thing at the same time, without using a HDMI splitter playing from just one ATV. Since multiple ATVs can play from the same library at the same time, i thought there must be a trick to get them to play the same thing without having to install more wires. Alas, i haven't found any way to do this, except by pressing "Play" on both remotes at the same time (one being a wireless Harmony to start the ATV in the other room)

Here I am talking specifically about playing video from the iTunes library on multiple TVs. On the other hand, it's quite easy to play the same audio on all your ATVs at once. You simply "play" from iTunes app on the computer and choose all the ATVs you want to output to. This can also be accomplished on the mobile "remote" app but NOT if playing from the mobile library itself. Using the iTunes remote app, it actually plays from the computer, just controlling it with the mobile. Mobiles are apparently NOT powerful enough to handle playing to multiple AirPlay devices - not even audio. (actually they can be "forced" to do it with jailbreak but it's not smooth and of course, you have to jailbreak your mobile)

Everything I write here is not expert speculation but actual experience. It would be cool if Apple could add the "synchronized play" feature to the mobile remote app. Seems it should be an easy feature to implement for controlling multiple ATVs at once. I thought someone might have figured out how to "hack" a solution by now, but couldn't find any. Wait and see.
Click to expand...
[doublepost=1499486999][/doublepost]I realize this post is old but I had a question. I am in the process of building a new house. In the house is a media room with 3 TV's on one wall. Instead of having three cable boxes I was planning to have three ATV boxes. There will be no issues with three remotes working three ATV's, correct?
 
I have 3 Apple TV's. Use them all simultaneously.

The only problem you might run into is bandwidth. I run mine on a wired network for speed. When I've used them wirelessly there were times that they'd have to pause and rebuffer (load more of the movie) because the show was progressing faster than the Apple TV could get the data over the wireless network. This was more noticeable on high def movies.

So I'd personally recommend a wired network for multiple Apple TV's running simultaneously.
 
flyinmac said:
I have 3 Apple TV's. Use them all simultaneously.

The only problem you might run into is bandwidth. I run mine on a wired network for speed. When I've used them wirelessly there were times that they'd have to pause and rebuffer (load more of the movie) because the show was progressing faster than the Apple TV could get the data over the wireless network. This was more noticeable on high def movies.

So I'd personally recommend a wired network for multiple Apple TV's running simultaneously.
Click to expand...
They will all be wired connection. I think my main concern is the remotes.
 
IHateUserNames1975 said:
They will all be wired connection. I think my main concern is the remotes.
Click to expand...

The remotes won't be an issue in separate rooms since they are line of sight (at least for AppleTV 3 and older). And if AppleTV 4 uses Bluetooth, then that should be paired specially to each unit.
 
danmc00 said:
I already have an Apple TV2 setup in my living room, but I would like one that I can take to my daughter's room and my bedroom. Would there be any problems having two in the same house? I know you probably couldn't run them at the same time.
Click to expand...

Nope.... with 2 Siri remotes, perhaps. But if they are kept their distance, then no problem, or use third party remote solves this too 😀

We have a harmony on one, and I use siri remote on mine. Although i get sick of un-pairing my remote just to use it conveniently on the other... I found it easier to just use the second siri remote when i need to... as i hate using Harmony, not all features work.

I have one Apple TV 4 constantly wireless, and never had a problem with it in second room
 
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