AppleTV Doesn't Show Up in Devices List

[haze]

I got my dad an aTV for Christmas and he tried to get it to work, no go. It wouldn't show up in his iTunes on his iMac. However, it is connected to the wireless network and he can watch movie trailers.

So, I took over the computer using iChat screen sharing and checked his airport settings, all was fine there (dhcp, share range of IP addresses, etc.) Even turned off security for the time being. His laptop is visible, the Powermac in the back of the house is visible, but no aTV. I went into iTunes settings and made sure check for AppleTV was checked. Any ideas?

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Did you go into settings/computers on the AppleTV and select to add a computer? You must do that first and it will then show a code to input into iTunes. Meanwhile, it will appear on any computers running iTunes on your network and will prompt for the code. Once you input the code, AppleTV will become available for that computer. The first computer you do it for will be the primary computer. Any additional computers you repeat the process for will become shared libraries and appear as such on the AppleTV menus.

A problem I've been having recently, though is that my 2nd AppleTV unit (used for streaming music only at the moment) will disappear every so often from the device list and I have to reboot the AppleTV unit to get it to reappear. This very rarely happens with my 1st unit connected to my home theater, but seems to happen every other week or so with my 2nd unit. Given AppleTV has no reset switch (I have to pull the plug and reinsert it), it's a pain in the butt. Why Apple couldn't have the foresight to see that their software wouldn't be perfect and would need a reboot every so often is beyond me. Their arrogance is astounding.

 

[CLuv]

I noticed this the other day when I was trying to connect my parent's new TV for Xmas. The iMac upstairs has the Airport card turned off since I have them connected to the Airport Extreme Base Station via Ethernet. TV would not show up in the devices list, even though the TV was connected to the network wirelessly since it's downstairs in the living room. I then turned on the Airport card on the iMac, and viola the TV shows up in the devices list.
It appears to sync the TV makes a direct connection to the iMac and bypasses the AEBS in order to sync.

Hope that helps.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I noticed this the other day when I was trying to connect my parent's new TV for Xmas. The iMac upstairs has the Airport card turned off since I have them connected to the Airport Extreme Base Station via Ethernet. TV would not show up in the devices list, even though the TV was connected to the network wirelessly since it's downstairs in the living room. I then turned on the Airport card on the iMac, and viola the TV shows up in the devices list.
It appears to sync the TV makes a direct connection to the iMac and bypasses the AEBS in order to sync.

Hope that helps.

That should not be necessary. My PowerMac is connected to my Netgear wireless router via Gigabit and has no wireless card in it what-so-ever. My AppleTV can connect to either the Netgear router or my Airport Express router (which is wired to the Negear router) and my PowerMac running iTunes can see the AppleTV units regardless which network they connect to and regardless of the fact it has no wireless itself. My MBP can see it whether it's connected wireless or wired and so can my PC which is also connected via Gigabit wired. If your network is connected properly, it shouldn't make any difference. The ATV units should appear normally.

 

[haze]

Did you go into settings/computers on the AppleTV and select to add a computer? You must do that first and it will then show a code to input into iTunes. Meanwhile, it will appear on any computers running iTunes on your network and will prompt for the code. Once you input the code, AppleTV will become available for that computer.

Yeah, my dad got the code. It just isn't showing up. I told him to call AppleCare, so hopefully they can figure it out.

 

[danny_w]

Don't you have to enable syncing on the TV before it will show up in iTunes? I haven't done it in a while but I seem to remember that. Connecting to an iTunes library using the code is not the same thing, that is only for streaming.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Don't you have to enable syncing on the TV before it will show up in iTunes? I haven't done it in a while but I seem to remember that. Connecting to an iTunes library using the code is not the same thing, that is only for streaming.

No, syncing is something that shows up AFTER it shows up in iTunes. I don't sync anything except photos (no choice there unless you use a 2nd computer). The hard drive isn't big enough to handle my library (144GB).

If ATV isn't showing up after the code is up on the ATV, then you have a network problem of some kind.

 

[danny_w]

No, syncing is something that shows up AFTER it shows up in iTunes. I don't sync anything except photos (no choice there unless you use a 2nd computer). The hard drive isn't big enough to handle my library (144GB).

If ATV isn't showing up after the code is up on the ATV, then you have a network problem of some kind.

No, that is incorrect, at least in my case. I recently reset my TV to factory, so it of course cleared all settings and reverted to 1.0 firmware; 2.x may act differently, I don't remember. I have since been using it to stream only from 2 computers, both of which I had setup using the "Connect to iTunes Library" and the resulting 5-digit code, but the TV did not show up on either computer until I clicked Sync on the TV; it then gave another 5-digit code which I had to input on the computer, AFTER which time it showed up in iTunes. I just did the last part tonight so I know that is how it works.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

No, that is incorrect, at least in my case. I recently reset my TV to factory, so it of course cleared all settings and reverted to 1.0 firmware; 2.x may act differently, I don't remember. I have since been using it to stream only from 2 computers, both of which I had setup using the "Connect to iTunes Library" and the resulting 5-digit code, but the TV did not show up on either computer until I clicked Sync on the TV; it then gave another 5-digit code which I had to input on the computer, AFTER which time it showed up in iTunes. I just did the last part tonight so I know that is how it works.

That must be a 1.x thing because there is no such thing in 2.x. My ATV units are both 2.x in hard firmware (I cannot use 1.x no matter what) and there is no such thing as a '2nd' code or a 'sync' option on ATV itself, only in iTunes. If you're using 1.x, I can't help you. It's obsolete.

 

[danny_w]

That must be a 1.x thing because there is no such thing in 2.x. My ATV units are both 2.x in hard firmware (I cannot use 1.x no matter what) and there is no such thing as a '2nd' code or a 'sync' option on ATV itself, only in iTunes. If you're using 1.x, I can't help you. It's obsolete.

Unfortunately 1.x is the only version that can be hacked to work on a 4:3 aspect ration tv, which is why I require it. If 2.x changed the way syncing was done I never noticed it.

 

[sanPietro98]

Make sure that the computer is on the same router/hub/switch that Apple TV is connected to. If you use a hub/switch between your router and your computer, you'll have problems.