Ripped DVD Library no longer showing up on Apple TV app

[morningsong]

I have the same issue as the OP.
I am coming from a pair of old Apple TV 2nd gen devices (which still play all my old files) to the new Apple TV 4K.
Now, my computer is older than some posters here (2009 iMac) running Sierra 10.12.6 and iTunes 8.2.3
Am I just out of luck seeing my library on the new Apple TV?
PLEX works, but I always enjoyed searching more on the apple software.
I have home sharing on in iTunes, same ID as I have set up on the Apple TV. I've tried everything.
Super frustrating..

 

[Boyd01]

You might be out of luck with iTunes 8, that is really old! But I just fired up my 2013 MacBook Air running Sierra with iTunes 12.7. I am able to connect to it from the Computers app on my AppleTV 4 (aka AppleTV HD) and can access movies in the library.

Don't know if this has changed on the AppleTV 4k however, I don't have one of those.

 

[morningsong]

Thanks Boyd.

 

[jz0309]

I have the same issue as the OP.
I am coming from a pair of old Apple TV 2nd gen devices (which still play all my old files) to the new Apple TV 4K.
Now, my computer is older than some posters here (2009 iMac) running Sierra 10.12.6 and iTunes 8.2.3
Am I just out of luck seeing my library on the new Apple TV?
PLEX works, but I always enjoyed searching more on the apple software.
I have home sharing on in iTunes, same ID as I have set up on the Apple TV. I've tried everything.
Super frustrating..

I used iTunes with ATV4k (previous gen) and all movies were displayed in the computer app.
Thing is, you need to check which "media kind" your ripped DVDs have, in iTunes, right-click on the file and there should be an "option" tab with a drop-down for media kind (movie, home video, tv show), make sure it is set to "movie".
I had to do this as I migrated to Big Sur from Mojave but I recall that I had the same issue years back with iTunes, I think when I got my 1st ATV ...

 

[jz0309]

You might be out of luck with iTunes 8, that is really old! But I just fired up my 2013 MacBook Air running Sierra with iTunes 12.7. I am able to connect to it from the Computers app on my AppleTV 4 (aka AppleTV HD) and can access movies in the library.

Don't know if this has changed on the AppleTV 4k however, I don't have one of those.

it works the same with ATV4k, at least the previous gen but I cannot imagine that would have changed with the latest version

 

[Boyd01]

This suggests that iTunes 8 might be the problem. Is it possible to upgrade farther on your iMac? IIRC 12.7 was as far as I could go with Sierra.

 

[morningsong]

I'm at 12.8.2.3, not 8.2.3...sorry.

As for media kind, they are all tagged correctly.
I've been using iTunes for a dozen years housing all sorts of media.
I've got a connected Drobo with a few terabytes of my media collection. Digitized so much of my DVD/music...even ripped some HD DVDs! ha
I can see them in iTunes as usual, just no longer accessible on anything other than the iMac they're on (via Apple software). PLEX does work.

 

[SigEp265]

I use Plex for this very reason.

 

[jz0309]

I'm at 12.8.2.3, not 8.2.3...sorry.

As for media kind, they are all tagged correctly.
I've been using iTunes for a dozen years housing all sorts of media.
I've got a connected Drobo with a few terabytes of my media collection. Digitized so much of my DVD/music...even ripped some HD DVDs! ha
I can see them in iTunes as usual, just no longer accessible on anything other than the iMac they're on (via Apple software). PLEX does work.

so your iMac and ATV are on the same network? Does your iMac show up in the computer app on the ATV?

 

[One2Grift]

I use Plex for this very reason.

Plex is superior for keeping a ripped movie library. IME it's not worth the added hassles of iTunes or others. Plex is designed specifically for this purpose and does it well.

 

[morningsong]

so your iMac and ATV are on the same network? Does your iMac show up in the computer app on the ATV?

You magnificent bastard!!! ;-)
I feel so stupid, never once did I think to click on the computers app in the interface.
Everything is there!
I just figured it would be in the apple TV where the sharing icon is, and my user..
Thank you so much (and everyone else)...talking out loud helps!


As for PLEX being superior...I agree and disagree.
But I definitely don't want all my hard work of going from mkv to m4v to waste! ha

 

[jz0309]

You magnificent bastard!!! ;-)
I feel so stupid, never once did I think to click on the computers app in the interface.
Everything is there!
I just figured it would be in the apple TV where the sharing icon is, and my user..
Thank you so much (and everyone else)...talking out loud helps!


As for PLEX being superior...I agree and disagree.
But I definitely don't want all my hard work of going from mkv to m4v to waste! ha

I am glad it was that simple
and frankly, Apple is not doing it right, but it is what it is ...
As I was struggling through my upgrade, I looked into Plex but saw a comment that it does not support iTunes purchased movies (aka DRM) - is that actually true?

 

[morningsong]

I am glad it was that simple
and frankly, Apple is not doing it right, but it is what it is ...
As I was struggling through my upgrade, I looked into Plex but saw a comment that it does not support iTunes purchased movies (aka DRM) - is that actually true?

Good question...not sure how PLEX handles those, the only iTunes movies I own were never downloaded...so I assume they wouldn't appear in a folder for PLEX to see. I'm not a huge PLEX guy, have only used it a handful of times when my library stopped working.

 

[Boyd01]

Glad you figured it out. Yeah, starting with the Apple TV HD (ATV 4) you need to use the computers icon.

 

[michaelsaxon]

Sorry to just now come back to this again… Here’s my entire setup: I have a 27” iMac running Big Sur connected to a Drobo 5D. On my Drobo 5D, I have a folder that has all of my ripped movies, home videos, TV shows, etc. In the past, I just pointed iTunes to this folder and when I went to my library, everything was there with movie poster artwork, IMDB data, etc. Also, when I went to my Apple TVs, I could click computer and then stream from my movie library.

Now, when I point TV to the folder, it never shows the content. All I can see are movies I’ve bought directly from Apple. When I go to computers (or library, or whatever it is called on the most recent version of TVOS…) I can’t see my own content either. All I see is the stuff I’ve purchased from Apple.

All of my devices are on the same wireless network.

Hope this helps and thanks for all of the suggestions!

 

[Boyd01]

I only go as far as Catalina, and am still running Mojave on my media server so that I can use iTunes. But I did a little test just now on the machine with Catalina. If I drag a media file directly to the TV app, it is added to the library and I can access via the computers app on my Apple TV's.

Look in the Movies folder in your home directory. There should be a folder named TV inside there. That's where the TV app stores everything, there's a Media folder inside that with subfolders like iTunes (these will only appear if you have added your own media however)

Automatically Add to TV
Home Videos
Movies
TV Shows

You could directly drop your media files into the TV like I did, or you could put them into "Automatically Add to TV". I think they will then be accessible on your Apple TV - unless something is very different on Big Sur. All the existing metadata was included when I just tried this.

I did not try pointing the TV app to an existing library, since I don't have one on the Catalina machine.

 

[pmiles]

Sorry to just now come back to this again… Here’s my entire setup: I have a 27” iMac running Big Sur connected to a Drobo 5D. On my Drobo 5D, I have a folder that has all of my ripped movies, home videos, TV shows, etc. In the past, I just pointed iTunes to this folder and when I went to my library, everything was there with movie poster artwork, IMDB data, etc. Also, when I went to my Apple TVs, I could click computer and then stream from my movie library.

Now, when I point TV to the folder, it never shows the content. All I can see are movies I’ve bought directly from Apple. When I go to computers (or library, or whatever it is called on the most recent version of TVOS…) I can’t see my own content either. All I see is the stuff I’ve purchased from Apple.

All of my devices are on the same wireless network.

Hope this helps and thanks for all of the suggestions!

Just a random note here... but didn't Apple get rid of iTunes on Catalina and later... meaning it now stores everything differently? You shouldn't have an iTunes folder past Mojave.

 

[Boyd01]

Just a random note here... but didn't Apple get rid of iTunes on Catalina and later... meaning it now stores everything differently?

Yes, see my post above, it explains where everything is stored. However, the TV app does have a preference just like iTunes where you can choose any location for the library. The basic structure (Media folder with sub-folders for Movies, TV Shows, etc) is still the same, so you'd think it would be backwards-compatible. Apparently this isn't working for the OP however.

 

[priitv8]

Yes, see my post above, it explains where everything is stored. However, the TV app does have a preference just like iTunes where you can choose any location for the library. The basic structure (Media folder with sub-folders for Movies, TV Shows, etc) is still the same, so you'd think it would be backwards-compatible. Apparently this isn't working for the OP however.

What they did, essentially, is that they separated the iTunes media server from the iTunes app and split iTunes into two - Music and TV (ok Podcasts and Books took over some of the duties as well, plus device management moved over to Finder).
The TV and Music are now only front-end clients to iTunes media server and the latter has been moved to system level. It runs at all times, when Media Sharing has been enabled in the Sharing Preferences.
I still run the setup with my media folder (the one where songs and clips are housed, not the one where library databases are stored) on external drive, as it has been for years.
If I remember correctly, upgrade to Mojave also correctly migrated both movie- and music libraries, without touching the media folder.
So, by and large, the changes are more visual than functional. And it works, also with migrated libraries.
Only the library files themselves were renamed and moved to ~/Movies/TV and ~/Music/Music respectively.
By default iTunes placed the media folder also in there, but it does not have to be.
It can even be on a NAS or USB-storage, like I have. One just needs to configure its location in the app preferences (now in 2 separate locations, unfortunately).
It was already established in post #36 that the local library is only accessible via Computers app on the appleTV.