Apple TV 3 and iTunes

I just got an Apple TV yesterday to be used with my MBP and iPhone 6, upgrading from just an Airport Express for audio.

So far I like it a lot. The sound quality is better, and I like how the TV displays what is playing when I stream from iTunes.

A few questions...
Is there a way to have iTunes display everything through Apple TV? I guess in other words, is there a more functional Remote App for Apple TV? I would like to be able to have all the functions of iTunes (genius, ratings, shuffle, Up Next, etc) displayed on my TV.
I tried using Apple TV as an extended desktop and moving iTunes to that display, which sort of worked, but it seems like theres far too much information being streamed and the network can't handle it and simply moving the mouse causes the audio to drop.

My setup is: Apple TV > HDMI > TV > Optical Audio > 5.1 receiver
If I go Apple TV > Optical > Receiver, does the TV need to be on, or will the audio alone be streamed like an Airport Express?

I can operate all itunes functions easily from my device, whether laptop, iphone, or ipad easily without any delay or sound dropping. Make sure you are running the latest itunes version on all devices and that the Apple tv has the most recent update. Sometimes, I have to restart the Apple TV device itself because it will become glitchy...you may want to try that.

I think I have played just the audio from the ATV to my receiver??? Not sure any more because my receiver has Airplay, so I usually just do that when only listening to music.

If your receiver has built in HDMI switching, I'd connect the AppleTV to the receiver and then HDMI to the TV.

If your receiver does not have HDMI switching, I'd move the optical cable direct from the ATV to the receiver instead of going from the TV to the receiver.

@OP I'm not sure what you are on about. The only thing Music on the ATV doesn't show, is Ratings.
If your on the Apple TV, you can goto Music>My Music and under that heading on the right, it shows Genius, Playlists, Genres, Search and even Shuffle.
Mind you there isn't Up Next until you actually play a song, and long hold down the ▶︎pause button and another menu comes up.
This is on a ATV3 with the latest update. You don't need iTunes do do all this, or even the Remote App, you just need ATV and the remote that comes with it.

bobtomay said:

If your receiver does not have HDMI switching, I'd move the optical cable direct from the ATV to the receiver instead of going from the TV to the receiver.

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Agreed, as this is the fix I had too do, to not get Audio Loss when watching HD video.

TattooedMac said:

@OP I'm not sure what you are on about. The only thing Music on the ATV doesn't show, is Ratings.
If your on the Apple TV, you can goto Music>My Music and under that heading on the right, it shows Genius, Playlists, Genres, Search and even Shuffle.
Mind you there isn't Up Next until you actually play a song, and long hold down the ▶︎pause button and another menu comes up.
This is on a ATV3 with the latest update. You don't need iTunes do do all this, or even the Remote App, you just need ATV and the remote that comes with it.

Click to expand...

Forgot all about that since I don't use it very often - you need to set up Home Sharing in iTunes - link and then do it all on the ATV with it's own remote.

nyyanx18 said:

My setup is: Apple TV > HDMI > TV > Optical Audio > 5.1 receiver
If I go Apple TV > Optical > Receiver, does the TV need to be on, or will the audio alone be streamed like an Airport Express?

Click to expand...

In response to this part of your question, yes you can play music with the TV off if you pipe your audio appropriately. I have a surround sound system with two optical-in ports; I have one direct from the ATV and one from my TV. Most of the time I take sound from the TV, as that covers all my video sources. If I just want to play music via the ATV I can switch channels on my surround system and take the audio directly from the ATV without the TV being on.

A question re your setup. Where are you serving your media from? I have a Mac Mini which is my media server. I can use the Remote App to access my library on the computer with a full-feature interface and then use AirPlay to send the music to the device of my choice. You might be able to do similar?

bobtomay said:

[...]...you need to set up Home Sharing in iTunes - link and then do it all on the ATV with it's own remote.

Click to expand...

Yes good point. I keep presuming people know this :-/

A lot of my questions have been answered through some usage of the ATV. I use the ATV a great deal for music. I am able to turn off the TV display through the TV and only have audio going. I could hook the optical directly to the audio receiver, but this would be a pain when switching between devices (all of my audio is played through the receiver, only 1 optical port on the receiver, best setup with least hassle is everything going through the TV).


I must say, that after 2 weeks of using my ATV3, I am very unhappy. This device is supposed to flawlessly integrate all of my Apple devices -- iPhone, iPod, MacBook Pro, and I have found that this is actually what it is worst at. I have an Airport Express, which was predominantly used for Airplay, and it worked more or less flawlessly when streaming from MBP. ATV was purchased for its additional services and ability to do the same thing as the Airport, Airport was moved to the bedroom and continues to work without issue.
I really am unable to stream ANYTHING from my MBP to the ATV due to the constant skipping/dropping. The periods of silence are longer than the periods of music! I have tried just about everything-- the ATV is now hardwired via ethernet to my router. The Airport express is also now hardwired (my thought was there was not enough wifi bandwith, so hardwiring a device should help). I've changed the wifi channel on my router. I really thought none of this would have to be done, as I am in a 1 bedroom apartment with my own WiFi network consisting of only the above mentioned devices. Nothing helps.

This only happens from MBP. From my iPhone, connections are much better, which gets me to thinking that this is an issue with Yosemite (10.10.3).
Is there anything else I can do to fix the connectivity issues? I'm just about ready to return it altogether.

All I can say is that mine works perfectly, running the latest software on both my Mac Mini and ATV3.

I'd suggest doing a factory reset and software update on your ATV to see if that helps iron it out.

dbm said:

I'd suggest doing a factory reset and software update on your ATV to see if that helps iron it out.

Click to expand...

I'll try this out tomorrow, although not thinking it will accomplish much as the ATV is only a week out of the box.

Could this be a router issue? I have Verizon FiOs router, Wireless N 2.4ghz, wired 1000mbps, wireless 300mbps.

nyyanx18 said:

Could this be a router issue? I have Verizon FiOs router, Wireless N 2.4ghz, wired 1000mbps, wireless 300mbps.

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If this router is a fairly new router, 2-3 yrs old, it should have the capabilities to create a 5GHz network.
The ATV3 and your iPhone, iPad and Mac can all run on this 5GHz network, so after doing a factory reset on the ATV, I would go ahead, and just restart the router, login, and create a 5GHz Wireless network. Then log into that on your Mac, and ATV and see if this makes any difference.
I personally have found, my ATV runs a lot better on a 5GHz network. Keep this network for your Mac, ATV and iPhone/iPad and let everyone else run off the other.

My setup at home, is a NetGear Router, with a network called KidsBedroom, on 5GHz with a WiFi Extender half way between the router and the back of the house. This way the kids have WiFi anywhere in the house at 5 bars. On the 2.4GHz network, I use for Visitors, and is set to 200Mb/s . . .
I then have a TimeCapsule Hardwired into the Router. From the TimeCapsule, I have a 2.4 and 5GHz Network, where I have my ATV, iMac (my media hub) my MBP, iPhone5 and iPad Air 2 all running from the 5GHz.
It all works well, and I have no issues with my ATV, because I know whats on that network, and don't have to worry if the kids are throttling it . . .
HTH

EDIT: the reason I have the ATV running from the TC, is I found, that no matter what I did, I could not get my iTunes from my iMac, stream to the ATV. It just couldn't pick it up. Both iMac and ATV where on the same network, with Home Sharing turned on, but for the life of me, (2 weeks and many calls to NetGear) I couldn't get the 2 to talk to each other. I found that using my AirPort Express did the trick, so I bought a TimeCapsule and killed 2 birds with 1 stone.

Brent:

Verizon FIOS routers do not have 5 GHZ capability as they are designed specifically for the fiber network. The router is a dual device in that it provides WiFi and a TV programming menu signal for Verizon cable TV. He would have to bridge the router with another that provides a dual signal if he wanted 5 GHZ.

nyyanx18 said:

I have an Airport Express, which was predominantly used for Airplay, and it worked more or less flawlessly when streaming from MBP. ATV was purchased for its additional services and ability to do the same thing as the Airport, Airport was moved to the bedroom and continues to work without issue.

Click to expand...

Just to check - your AirPort Express is in bridge mode?

dbm said:

Just to check - your AirPort Express is in bridge mode?

Click to expand...

At the moment, it is. It is hardwired to the router. I found no difference when it was in 'connect to a network' vs. 'create a network.'

I would think that ATV being ethernet-ed to the router would be better than having a 5ghz network...

If the Airport is not in bridge mode my understanding is that it will attempt to assign local IP addresses to devices which attach. You would then have two devices assigning local IPs (router and Airport) and so two different devices could get the same IP.

It might be worth checking the DNS settings on your Airport to make sure this isn't happening?

nyyanx18 said:

I would think that ATV being ethernet-ed to the router would be better than having a 5ghz network...

Click to expand...

Yea, that is fine IF you are playing Movies Bought/Rented from iTunes and Netflix type stuff, but i was refering to a wholly wireless network, or if you are streaming straight from iTunes to the ATV.

chscag said:

Brent:

Verizon FIOS routers do not have 5 GHZ capability as they are designed specifically for the fiber network. The router is a dual device in that it provides WiFi and a TV programming menu signal for Verizon cable TV. He would have to bridge the router with another that provides a dual signal if he wanted 5 GHZ.

Click to expand...

This I didnt know, and goes to show how different our regions are.