Apple TV confusion-transferring movies from external/movies disappear

[skript]

ok so far this is how I've been using the ATV...

I have an external HD with all my movies. I'm only using the ATV for movies, and I am not streaming anything. What I do is have everything plugged in (usb from ATV,external HD, ATV is connected to TV thru HDMI, and im connected to network with an ethernet cable). I drag movies from external HD, while holding the option key, into the iTunes Library. After they are copied, I click on the ATV icon under the devices list where I have the 'custom sync' and 'show only synced items on apple tv' options checked.

Then under the Movies Tab, it shows all the movies that I previously copied to the itunes libarary. This is where I check all the movies that I want synced to the ATV. Then I click apply and then itunes begins syncing.

my question is, am I doing this correctly? and also, how come if I later do the same process to add another movie onto the ATV, and I uncheck the movies that were previously synced before, checking only the new movie that I want added to the ATV, when I unplug everything, why are all the other movies that I synced earlier then gone from the ATV?

I know this is long and has probably been brought up a billion times, but I have not been able to find a thread that completely answers my questions clearly.

any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[bohbot16]

ok so far this is how I've been using the ATV...
I drag movies from external HD, while holding the option key, into the iTunes Library. After they are copied, I click on the ATV icon under the devices list where I have the 'custom sync' and 'show only synced items on apple tv' options checked.

This is OK to do.

Then under the Movies Tab, it shows all the movies that I previously copied to the itunes libarary. This is where I check all the movies that I want synced to the ATV. Then I click apply and then itunes begins syncing.

my question is, am I doing this correctly? and also, how come if I later do the same process to add another movie onto the ATV, and I uncheck the movies that were previously synced before, checking only the new movie that I want added to the ATV, when I unplug everything, why are all the other movies that I synced earlier then gone from the ATV?

By unchecking the movies you're telling iTunes that you don't want them synced to the ATV. If you want to see a movie on your ATV using this method then you need to check it on the Movies tab.

I personally just tell iTunes to sync my unwatched movies and don't bother with selecting each individual one to keep things simple.

 

[mstrze]

I just stream everything from my main computer, where all of my movies exist on my external hard drive.

 

[MacBoobsPro]

Keep what you want synced ticked. If it is already synced and you add another movie it wont resync all the previously ticked stuff, that would be pointless. If you untick them and then sync it will erase any unticked files.