I have a 3rd generation Apple TV that I use primarily for playing music on my home theater system. It's been working great, but lately it randomly stops playing music back. Sometimes I'll go for a couple hours without issue, and sometimes it happens on pretty much every other song. I'm using iTunes (latest version) to stream music to it via AirPlay. If I'm watching my network graph, I can see when it's going to happen as my upload data disappears right before the next song starts. iTunes keeps playing the song as if it were still connected, and it shows a good connection to the Apple TV, but nothing is actually happening. If I restart the song, it pauses for a moment, and the song plays through the Apple TV without issue. Has anyone experienced this? I did some searching around on the Internet, but didn't find a lot. I've tried restarting the Apple TV by unplugging it and plugging it back in, and it seems to fix this issue for a while, but it always comes back. The Apple TV is also updated to the latest version of iOS.
Hi, Could your PC/Mac be going into sleep mode? My PC was doing this a while ago and it would lose connection.
Is the apple tv connected to your WIFI network. You may have a connectivity issue with the apple tv. If you leave it long enough will it automatically start working again?
No, as this happens both when I'm actively using my Mac and when I'm not. My Mac is set never to go to sleep, it just dims and turns off the display. Yes, it is connected to my WiFi network. I don't specifically have connectivity issues in general, but perhaps rebooting my WiFi router could fix the issue. I've not tried leaving it alone for a while, I usually just restart the song, so I don't have an answer for your question.
Rather than airplay, try home sharing and access your library thru "computers" on the ATV. May have better luck that way. http://www.apple.com/support/homesharing/getstarted/
Yeah, that's an option. I believe that still uses AirPlay, though, it's just a question of which side has control. What I like about AirPlay is the ability to use my iPad or iPhone to remotely control the iTunes library in question. Does that work with Home Sharing? I have honestly done no research into that at all. It's a high-end consumer Linksys router E3000-RM. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AJ11R5052