Took the plunge..Apple TV & Apple Time Capsule..Help

[john1000000boy]

I would consider taking a look at a dedicated NAS, Buffalo are good and relatively price sensitive, Qnap would be better since their software now supports the Lion architecture and they have a dedicated iTunes server mode, which means you don't need to have your macbook running to stream music around your house (though not Movies and TV shows - which isnt a problem if you jailbreak your ATV).

Sorry just read your thread again... will have a look at these products....

Thanks

 

[professorhat]

Are there any NAS devices that will allow me to run itunes without having macbook switched on??

Nope. For that you'll need a different solution like a Sonos / Squeezebox

 

[professorhat]

Qnap would be better since their software now supports the Lion architecture and they have a dedicated iTunes server mode, which means you don't need to have your macbook running to stream music around your house

Sorry, that's not the case. iTunes Server just means the music stored on the NAS will appear under a copy of iTunes in the Shared section. It won't allow you to stream music to an Airport Express / Apple TV without a full blown copy of iTunes running on a Mac or PC. See here for full details from QNAP.

 

[john1000000boy]

Hi there what other NAS devices support the itunes server? Was thinking about it there and could keep the tc for backing up to and employ a single bay NAS with say 1TB installed for itunes content?? Plus i needed a router through in the lounge anyway so the tc seems to be pretty good deal for backups and wifi router alone. (justifying myself here) Looked at the Synology models and there is only 1 single bay unit (DS110j) on the market. Does it do everything the much plaudited DS212j does???

The Qnap seem to be good although a little pricier than other NAS devices. Or is this because it has the itunes server built in where others do not??

If the answer to the above is correct this would mean i could access Itunes music and photos from iphoto via itunes on my apple tv?? Sorry jailbreaked Apple tv. Want to get this right this time

 

[professorhat]

From my understanding of what you're doing, if you're going to jailbreak your Apple TV, you don't need iTunes Server, just a USB disk drive. Do a search for "adding storage to Apple TV" in Google and you'll find plenty of sites linking to instructions on how to use a USB disk for the storage of your Apple TV. Once this is done, you just use the standard sync'ing mechanisms of the Apple TV to copy all your music, photos and videos to the Apple TV and you're there.

NB - I am assuming you have the 1st Gen Apple TV i.e. the grey / silver one, with the hard drive? Not the small black one.

 

[landzw]

Its funny how Apple don't allow nas or tc to be accessed be atv, its not like it can't be done and it would make lots of people happy. You can see Apple are trying to kind off stream purchased stuff to the atv but you have to have a good internet connection but it still doesn't work as well as others like zune, netflix and lovefilm

 

[SnowyJohn]

Does this mean I cannot divide the content of the tc into folders like say music, photos,movies etc? If so this product does seem to be very limited...

I'm afraid not.. the TimeCapsule, as the name suggests, is designed as an everyday backup device to work with the TimeMachine software. It is a NAS, but not in the sense that you think. Synology/QNap etc NAS devices are running operating systems that can 'serve up' the media to DLNA devices and what not - the TC is not a server.

With regards to aTV, this is designed to play media from either 1. Apple's online iTunes library or 2. your own iTunes library. In each case the library must be on, ie. an iTunes server must be running.

I really should have done a bit more research...

I too made exactly the same mistake, although I already had the TC... Don't worry though, the TC is a pretty darn good device, albeit maybe slightly overpriced; the alternative would be having seperate HDD (and therefore another mains plug). I prefer the 'less-mess' option.

I too have a Synology NAS, which serves up my data to iPhones, iPad, iMac and a WD Live. They say data isn't backed-up unless you have it in 3 (or more) locations...

 

[SnowyJohn]

You can see Apple are trying to kind off stream purchased stuff to the atv but you have to have a good internet connection but it still doesn't work as well as others like zune, netflix and lovefilm

That's exactly what they want. They want to make iTunes an integral part of our media centre... They are also interested in making money.

I too wish the current AppleTV could play from Lovefilm but that wouldn't make good business sense for Apple to do that, and unfortunately that's what it comes down to.

 

[Chisy1]

Are there any NAS devices that will allow me to run itunes without having macbook switched on??

I've just purchased a Synology DS212j and so far I'm very happy with it. I have had some issues with it being recognised as a shared drive in iTunes but that is down to my router rather than the NAS itself.

Now this isn't a direct solution because as far as i'm aware no NAS can do what your question asks, however, the big advantage I believe is that Synology produce apps for iDevices (I see in your signature you have a bunch of them) which means you can stream via airplay your music (DSmusic+ app) and photos (DS Photo+ app) (I haven't tested the photo app yet) to an AppleTV (i have v2) without your macbook being turned on. You can also stream via DSFile app movies to your iDevice, which can then forward to Apple TV via airplay.

I think this is a possible solution provided you dont also need to use your iDevice for some other task at the same time.

I suggest you have a look at the apps on the iTunes store, they very cleverly let you demo them before you even have a synology NAS as they connect to an offiste server. Synology's tech support are also very quick to respond.

I have to say I have put XBMC on my appleTV2 - I have never done anything like it before and was a little apprehensive but it really was pretty straightforward - and this has completely freed the appleTV to accessing music and films stored on my NAS without the need to turn on my iMac.

I have yet to put on photos onto my NAS (there are issues with thumbnails creation for the Synology NAS, but there is a workaround - googling "Synology photo thumbnail problems") but from what I've read XBMC doesnt really play very nicely with photos...that's where the DSphoto app will come in very handy and I hope to get round to setting that side of my media up fairly shortly.

It's not necessarily a cheap option, especially following the price increase in HDDs, the NAS is around £160 but then you have to buy HDDs on top. The version I mention is the latest (home use) 2 bay NAS, although they do 1bay NAS as well - I think the latest for that 1 bay might be a DS111j (just googled and Amazon are selling it for £155...in my opinion better to get the DS212j - faster processer and more RAM).

Happy to answer any questions on this product, although I'm a bit of a novice and still learning.

Chisy

 

[Chisy1]

You can see Apple are trying to kind off stream purchased stuff to the atv but you have to have a good internet connection but it still doesn't work as well as others like zune, netflix and lovefilm

AppleTV2 does offer Netflix now of course. I don't know why you can't stream the lovefilm app on your iPad to apple TV though via airplay. My understanding was that this has to be turned off by the app creator...or is this Apple only approving the iPad lovefilm app if they disable airplay functionality.

 

[Chisy1]

Are there any NAS devices that will allow me to run itunes without having macbook switched on??

(just googled and Amazon are selling it for £155...in my opinion better to get the DS212j - faster processer and more RAM).

Correction £155 was for the DS111 the DS111j (slightly lower specs) is £103 on Amazon

 

[SnowyJohn]

You can see Apple are trying to kind off stream purchased stuff to the atv but you have to have a good internet connection but it still doesn't work as well as others like zune, netflix and lovefilm

AppleTV2 does offer Netflix now of course. I don't know why you can't stream the lovefilm app on your iPad to apple TV though via airplay. My understanding was that this has to be turned off by the app creator...or is this Apple only approving the iPad lovefilm app if they disable airplay functionality.

It would no doubt be down to Apple's approval. I believe that in their eyes, they would be trying to protect the investments made within Apple for the aTV. They don't want consumers buying the aTV just to act as a Airplay reciever for content streamed directly from a competitor; just as Amazon don't want consumers to buy the kindle and only read pdf's that you acquire elsewhere. The difference is, Apple are clever and powerful enough to have a means of controlling this.

I would expect Apple to announce a monthly rental subscription to combat Netflix and Lovefilm..

FYI, the Airplay functionality is also disabled from within SkyGo... I can't see any reasons for this however.

 

[Chisy1]

I can only presume that Netflix is not a direct competitor for Apple, presumably because Netflix doesn't have brand new film releases, although I'm pretty sure there is an overlap on TV shows.

 

[Paul.]

Lovefilm does not stream its newest releases, only posts them. I think Netflix is much better than the streaming arm of love film.

 

[Chisy1]

Lovefilm does not stream its newest releases, only posts them. I think Netflix is much better than the streaming arm of love film.

Hmm, which makes it even more odd that you can't get lovefilm directly onto AppleTV or via airplay from iDevice.

I've been fairly impressed with the selection on Netflix...especially on TV progs - there are a lot of TV series where I missed the first few episodes and never got into them which I can remedy via Netflix - although just how many I can cram into the first free month is proving a challenge!!

 

[john1000000boy]

NB - I am assuming you have the 1st Gen Apple TV i.e. the grey / silver one, with the hard drive? Not the small black one.

[/quote]

I have the black beer mat!! :help:

So this means no jailbreaking as i assume you need the hard drive in the original @tv??

What if i plug in my iomega 1.5tb usb hard drive, will i be able to access it like a NAS plugged into my TC?? Someone previously said its very slow accessing content this way??

 

[john1000000boy]

My, Lots of people have obviously explored this already.... Apple could make this easy for us all.... I was under the impression that the likes of synology etc could be used as itune server??

I think i have established that the tc is back up only, thats ok, will continue to use as a router (Time Capsule 2TB- £250, Airport extreme- £150. Means i have picked up 2TB of back up capacity for £100- seems ok )

May have to play about with the airplay function then...

Any other options??

The Squeezebox and sonos systems seem very pricy too, and i have to factor in the cost of a NAS as well!!

Thanks to everyone!!

APPLE SORT IT OUT!!!!!!

Welcome any other options??!!

 

[Paul.]

Spend £20 on firecore, £5 on a USB cable if you don't have one, job done.

 

[john1000000boy]

Spend £20 on firecore, £5 on a USB cable if you don't have one, job done.

Hi again Paul, This will allow my latest black apple tv to see my itunes on the tc??

The usb is for??....

Thanks

 

[amcluesent]

This thread is a useful warning to anyone who wants to have some control over how they use their equipment vs. what Apple think they ought to be allowed to do

PS Fanbois, talk to the hand! :hand:

 

[Paul.]

Firecore will allow you to connect to a nas drive, check the firecore web page for TC compatibility (99% certain you can).

The USB is for uploading the new firmware to the atv2, you cannot do it over wifi.

 

[Chisy1]

This thread is a useful warning to anyone who wants to have some control over how they use their equipment vs. what Apple think they ought to be allowed to do

PS Fanbois, talk to the hand! :hand:

Yes a 10 minute bit of jailbreaking and install of some additional software which retains all the ease and functionality that Apple provides is a real warning...yawn!

 

[Anonymous]

Qnap would be better since their software now supports the Lion architecture and they have a dedicated iTunes server mode, which means you don't need to have your macbook running to stream music around your house

Sorry, that's not the case. iTunes Server just means the music stored on the NAS will appear under a copy of iTunes in the Shared section. It won't allow you to stream music to an Airport Express / Apple TV without a full blown copy of iTunes running on a Mac or PC. See here for full details from QNAP.

Thanks for correcting.

 

[Anonymous]

The Qnap seem to be good although a little pricier than other NAS devices. Or is this because it has the itunes server built in where others do not??

It looks like the Qnap Server function wont actually solve your problem, take a look at this article here: http://www.qnap.com/pro_features_iTunes.asp

As an alternative, maybe take a look at the Buffalo LinkStation on Amazon, 2TB NAS for £120 (including the drive).
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002CI8T56/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=droonews-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B002CI8T56">Buffalo LinkStation Live 2.0Tb DLNA Certified MultiMedia Network Storage with BitTorrent</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=droonews-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B002CI8T56" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />
You have different solutions to your problem based on whether you jailbreak or not: What version ATV do you have (is it silver or black)?

 

[john1000000boy]

Black beer mat one so the usb update wont work :help: