Apple TV and Movies

Hmmm, do you have a Mac?
You can dump them into iTunes and play them through Home Sharing
Or you can Air Play Mirror them
You can also load them on an iPad or iPhone

The first step to playing your movies on the Apple TV is to get your files into iTunes on your computer (mac or pc).

After you have your files in iTunes, you would enable home sharing in iTunes to allow iTunes to share it's content with your ATV (on the same network).

Then enable home sharing on your Apple TV and your movies (and other media) will show up under the "computers" menu on the ATV.

An important note is that iTunes must be running to use home sharing. We have all our iTunes content on a server that runs 24/7 so it's always available to the ATV (and iPad/iPod/iPhone/other computers).

We have several hundred movies in our iTunes libraries and the kids watch them frequently (both on the ATV and via other devices in the house).

swimanole said:

I have a MacBook Pro as well as an iPhone 4. So do I have to have my MacBook up and running in order to access my movies through Home Sharing if I already dumped them into iTunes?

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iTunes has to be running, however, if the computer is asleep, it will wake to serve the network request if your settings are correct.

I use a mid 2010 mac mini server to handle the iTunes content for the house in addition to handling the other server tasks it does (mainly it's used as an account server so that all the kids accounts are available at any mac they want to use).

Pretty much any computer on your network that will run iTunes can act as an iTunes server. You don't need any special software for that. Simply load all your content into iTunes on that computer, enable home sharing, and you're all set.

swimanole said:

One more question. Is more advantageous to use Home Sharing over AirPlay Mirroring my MacBook Pro?

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Airplay Mirroring will share whatever is on you MacBook screen. So if your browsing the internet, you could do that on your TV using Airplay Mirroring. Airplay Mirroring content is pushed to the ATV and requires that you use the MacBook to control what's on the TV.

Home Sharing only works for content in iTunes and that content is pulled by the ATV. You only need the ATV remote for this.

Home sharing is the better choice then because with Airplay you get some quality loss.

swimanole said:

But in terms of playing movies, is one a better option than another?

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HandySam said:

Home sharing is the better choice then because with Airplay you get some quality loss.

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Don't forget that with home sharing, the ATV is pulling down as much of the movie it can, as fast as it can. Airplay is "live". This means that Home Sharing isn't as sensitive to interference or spotty network, and the computer can even go to sleep after the movie is downloaded instead of having to be turned on during the whole thing.

swimanole said:

Perfect. Thank you!

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also make sure you macbook pro is even compatible for Airplay Mirroring only MBP from 2011 and onward are

btbrossard said:

I use a mid 2010 mac mini server to handle the iTunes content for the house in addition to handling the other server tasks it does (mainly it's used as an account server so that all the kids accounts are available at any mac they want to use).

Pretty much any computer on your network that will run iTunes can act as an iTunes server. You don't need any special software for that. Simply load all your content into iTunes on that computer, enable home sharing, and you're all set.

Click to expand...

Have you set up your server to automatically login and run iTunes or have you figured out a way to run iTunes without having to be logged in? I would like to determine how to do the latter but am having difficulty finding anyone who has successfully done so.

The mini is logged in and running iTunes at all times.

If the computer restarts or there is a power failure, it's set up to auto log in and start iTunes on sign in.