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switon

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 10, 2012
636
1
Hi all,

I apologize if this is a well worn topic. I did a quick search and didn't find exactly what I wanted, so I thought I'd ask.

Has anyone connected two or more Apple TV3s wirelessly to one computer, that is, one computer streaming two different videos to two different Apple TV3s?

How did you accomplish this? Did you use two different accounts, each running its own iTunes, to connect and control the two Apple TV3s?

Thanks,
Switon
 

Jim.R

macrumors member
Jul 19, 2012
50
0
UK
Works fine using home sharing. One computer with one running instance of iTunes will happily stream different videos to different :apple:TVs.
How many it will support will depend on your network speed and the size of the files being streamed.
 

switon

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 10, 2012
636
1
RE: Thanks, and one more query...

Works fine using home sharing. One computer with one running instance of iTunes will happily stream different videos to different :apple:TVs.
How many it will support will depend on your network speed and the size of the files being streamed.

Thanks Jim.R for the quick reply. Pardon my naiveté, but I do have one additional question on how you accomplish this.

You say that one iTunes instance can stream different videos to different Apple TV3s. How is this accomplished? I only have a single Apple TV3, and so can't test what I need to do for two Apple TV3s. But for my one Apple TV3 I see that iTunes allows me to Airplay a video on that Apple TV3 by clicking on the "TV icon" and selecting the Apple TV3. But since I need to send a second, and different, video stream to a second Apple TV3, how is this accomplished in my one iTunes instance? In other words, I did not know that iTunes could play two different videos simultaneously, sending one to one Apple TV3 and the other one to a second Apple TV3.

Thanks so much,
Switon

P.S. I am trying to answer this question for a nonprofit that wishes to use "off-the-shelf" components to animate customer interaction at multiple stations. Being nonprofit, cost is a concern.
 

viggen61

macrumors 6502
Jul 24, 2002
438
11
New Jersey
You need to go to each
blackapple.gif
TV and select the video you want to play from the Mac running iTunes. I don not think you can send video from one Mac to multiple
blackapple.gif
TVs via AirPlay.

blackapple.gif
blackapple.gif
 

Jim.R

macrumors member
Jul 19, 2012
50
0
UK
If all of your videos are already in iTunes (on a Mac or PC, not an iOS device), you don't need to use AirPlay.

1. In iTunes, turn on Home Sharing by clicking on the "Home Sharing" link on the left hand pane (where the Movies, TV Shows, Music, Playlists etc... links are) and enter your AppleID and password and click the button.

2. On the AppleTV, enable home sharing with the same AppleID and password (I did this when initially configuring the device so not sure how to do it once running, it'll be under "Settings" somewhere)
Now, from the main AppleTV menu screen, click on "Computers" and you should see your shared iTunes library listed. Click on this and you should now have access to your media.

Repeat step 2 for each AppleTV you wish to use, and Robert's your mothers brother :cool:
 

switon

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 10, 2012
636
1
RE Thanks...

and Robert's your mothers brother

Hi Jim.R and viggen61,

Jim.R, now here is an expression (quoted above) that one doesn't hear too often in the ex-colonies...

Thanks so much for the fast replies, I really appreciate it.

Thanks also to viggen61 for your response...it is helpful.

Switon
 
Last edited:

Raegor

macrumors member
Mar 4, 2010
86
0
I have another question about multiple ATVs.

If you try to airplay from an ios device, how do you chose which ATV it will go to? Or will it go to both?
 

bairdo

macrumors newbie
Dec 4, 2012
1
0
P.S. I am trying to answer this question for a nonprofit that wishes to use "off-the-shelf" components to animate customer interaction at multiple stations. Being nonprofit, cost is a concern.

switon what did you end up doing? I'm researching for a similar project for an office project.
 

MrCeee

macrumors newbie
Dec 5, 2012
5
0
I have another question about multiple ATVs.

If you try to airplay from an ios device, how do you chose which ATV it will go to? Or will it go to both?

You get a list of all found airplay targets when you touch the airplay icon and you can select only one. You will need to make sure you give each of your ATVs a different name in the options otherwise you will not be able to identify which ATV is which.

If you are airplaying from an OSX machine you can select multiple targets for audio. I am not sure if you can select multiple targets for video though as I have never tried.
 
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