I forgot about the iMac. One thing I can tell is that even though Home Sharing craps out all the time on my ATV2, I seem to have no problems with Airplay from my computer or phone. So if the computer is not far from the TV, and he's familiar with iTunes, he could always just turn on Airplay to watch stuff.
I thought of something else too... you can connect the AppleTV to a PhotoStream account right? Then just get photos onto the PhotoStream. No computer required to view, so if Home Sharing craps out you still have PhotoStream.
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Home: 2006.5 iMac 20"
Me: 2010 MacBook Pro 13", iPad Mini Wifi 32GB Black, iPhone 4 16GB Black
Wife: 2011 MacBook Air 11.6", iPhone 4 16GB White
Are you backed up??? If so, why? Psyllium Fibre is not free but will do wonders!
I thought of something else too... you can connect the AppleTV to a PhotoStream account right? Then just get photos onto the PhotoStream. No computer required to view, so if Home Sharing craps out you still have PhotoStream.
Sorry I haven't replied in a while. After a week or so of using Apple TV on my new flatscreen(we broke down and bought one ) I brought it back to him and hooked it up. I cannot get Home Sharing to work at his house. It work flawlessly at mine. I've been reading that the latest update to ATV may be the issue but who knows. I've got a G5 iMac, he's got a 5-6 yr old Intel. I'm going to do a reset on it and try again. Next step, buy it back from him I think.
Thanks everyone for your input. The photo DVDs seems like a good idea but the menu navigation on his player is torturous. Very DOS-like in my mind, very 90's.
Sorry I haven't replied in a while. After a week or so of using Apple TV on my new flatscreen(we broke down and bought one ) I brought it back to him and hooked it up. I cannot get Home Sharing to work at his house. It work flawlessly at mine. I've been reading that the latest update to ATV may be the issue but who knows. I've got a G5 iMac, he's got a 5-6 yr old Intel. I'm going to do a reset on it and try again. Next step, buy it back from him I think.
Thanks everyone for your input. The photo DVDs seems like a good idea but the menu navigation on his player is torturous. Very DOS-like in my mind, very 90's.
I have had my ATV2 for about a year, and home sharing has never worked consistently since the day I got it. Updates neither fixed, nor made it worse. It seems like it works well for some people, and not for others. And unfortunately there are a bunch of reasons why that could be happening that make it hard to trouble shoot.
I recently dug out a 2nd Gen Airport Extreme I had in storage, and I will say the Home Sharing seems to be working a lot more consistently since using it. But, when it disconnects, it's impossible to figure out why or what ends up reconnecting it. You can mess around with all kinds of settings that won't work, then it will just randomly connect at some point.
The Home Sharing thing has been a pain, but all Internet Services work great as does Airplay, and when you jailbreak it, it runs pretty much any other form of sharing (XBMC etc) completely fine. So I consider it worth the money.
If you father just wants to view his pictures, why not get the original ATV? It has a internal hard drive, so once it syncs he no longer needs to connect it a computer.
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When you stare into the abyss, the abyss is staring into you!
MacBook C2D 2GHz 2gigs ram 80gig hard drive
Imac CD 1.83GHz 2gigs ram 120gig hard drive
MDD Dual 1.25GHz 1gig ram 500gig hard drive
I'd rather get the one he has working 'as advertised.' If I can't get this one to work, I'm not putting out more money for an older gen model to fix what should work in a newer one.
Unless your father has an illness that affects his cognitive functions or fine motor skills, the problem most likely lies with the instructions you're giving him or his interest.
It's important to not make off-the-cuff pronouncements about "cognitive functions" on the basis of others' difficulties. I know many young(er) computer users who have a very narrow understanding of what computing is all about. Consequently, they get stuck with minor glitches. I have found that anxiety about "doing the wrong thing" stymies many. They don't want to press a key and 'loose everything' or 'see smoke coming out of the computer.'
Educating users about what they are doing and things they can do to overcome glitches, and perhaps what they actually have to do to "loose everything" can give them confidence.
I'd rather get the one he has working 'as advertised.' If I can't get this one to work, I'm not putting out more money for an older gen model to fix what should work in a newer one.
If the iMac is in the same room as the television, give Air Parrot a try. It's easy to use (1 click) and works very well for air mirroring. And if it works for you, it's all of $10 to buy.
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Entropy isn't what it used to be
) I brought it back to him and hooked it up. I cannot get Home Sharing to work at his house. It work flawlessly at mine. I've been reading that the latest update to ATV may be the issue but who knows. I've got a G5 iMac, he's got a 5-6 yr old Intel. I'm going to do a reset on it and try again. Next step, buy it back from him I think.
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