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quackers82

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 13, 2014
340
168
Slowly we are starting to see (2) next to the airplay name as shown in the screen shot. If we look at the device name in the settings it does not have a (2), so any idea whats causing this?
 

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No idea but mine has started doing that too. Not all the time, just randomly.
 
My guess is that Apple keeps a table somewhere of all registered devices on a network. When the Airplay device loses its connection, for whatever reason, it is not purged from this table fast enough, and there is a conflict when it reconnects with the same name.

Since the Airplay service is an interesting dual server and client service on all the devices without a centralized server (each device acts as a server at first waiting for connections from a client, then when a connection is established they switch roles and the device becomes a client and the earlier client becomes a server), I am not sure how Apple keeps this table up to date on all the devices.

However they do it, it's obviously not purging prior instances of a connection quick enough and causing the conflicts you are seeing. Most likely each device keeps its own table, but once there is a single conflict on any device causing the renaming, the renaming is propagated to all other devices.

Again, this is just a guess based on my prior experiments (years ago) trying to reverse-engineer Airplay.
 
I am having this issue happen on my Imac running 10.9.5 as well. I can leave the computer off, change the Apple TV device name to something totally different. As soon as I check it using Airplay on the Ipad it shows as "name(2)". It is interesting to note that I did replace this unit from an Atv-2 to an Atv-3 a few months back, and it is always shows the "(2)" on the replacement unit, but not on an totally different Atv-2 elsewhere in the house.
 
Found that i can get rid of it by opening up the Airplay name setting and pressing submit without actually changing anything. Still a pain when you have 30+ Apple TVs to do it too.
 
I found that adding a space to the end of the Apple TV name solved the issue for me on several Apple TV's located around the house.
 
i have this issue because i re-setted all of my settings on the ATV but ended up reusing the same name. Maybe that's what you are experiencing as well?
 
i have this issue because i re-setted all of my settings on the ATV but ended up reusing the same name. Maybe that's what you are experiencing as well?


That isn't the case for me. It wasn't until Yosemite update or an AppleTV update that I started noticing it.

The issue seems to come and go as its pleases or at least I haven't noticed the common denominator. It does not effect performance.
 
Found that i can get rid of it by opening up the Airplay name setting and pressing submit without actually changing anything. Still a pain when you have 30+ Apple TVs to do it too.

This worked for me. The 2 is no longer appearing.
 
I'm up to AppleTV (179). The number just keeps growing, but I've ignored it.

"Found that i can get rid of it by opening up the Airplay name setting and pressing submit without actually changing anything."

Is this done on the AppleTV device, or on your mac?
 
Anyone figure this out yet? I've tried resubmitting the same name and changing the name. A (2) is still there when I bring up AirPlay menus in iOS and OSX.

Sometimes it won't be there. Other times it will change mid way through AirPlaying and it disconnects (that's how I notice the name change).

I currently have an active question open for every Apple device in my sig minus the AirPort. What is going on with them anymore? Feels so half assed. Wish they would stop adding features and streamline the ones they already have.
 
Just started getting this, it seems to be since the last Apple TV update for me.

Tried changing Apple TV Name, reseting Airport Express.

It seems to fix it for a few days then starts again, I only have the one Apple TV in the house too.
 
I have found a solution which is (so far) proving true..

1. Change name of Apple TV to something random temporarily.
2. Go to network settings and change setup of DHCP config to static.
3. Restart Apple TV
4. Change name to the name you wanted originally.
5. Restart Apple TV

From what I've read, this bug exists due to the way that the Apple TV sleeps. When the Apple TV wakes from sleep it temporarily exists as a ghost of itself because it wakes as a new identity. The router sees the Apple TV as a second device and bonjour issues the '(2)' you see after the name. The original identity seems to be stuck somewhere (this part I'm not sure on) and thats why at times you see the correct name and at other times you see the '(2)'.

I could be completely wrong here, it's just what I think is happening.
 
I have an ATV in each room at home. The one in the living room has Airplay enabled. This issue is annoying me so much. The name with the random (#) doesn't just show up on AirPlay... it also shows up in the remote app on my phone... my wife keeps asking why that number keeps changing and I can't really give her an answer.
 
I have an ATV in each room at home. The one in the living room has Airplay enabled. This issue is annoying me so much. The name with the random (#) doesn't just show up on AirPlay... it also shows up in the remote app on my phone... my wife keeps asking why that number keeps changing and I can't really give her an answer.

I’ve been having the same problem over the past week or so. It isn’t such a big deal, but it’s driving the perfectionist in me nuts!
 
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