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Apple TV 4 and Apple TV 3 questions about Home Sharing (1 Viewer)

Nelson Au

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Hey guys,

I was doing some additions to content in my iTunes on my Mac Pro and I was curious how it would look on the Apple TV. I have a later generation Apple TV 3 and an Apple TV 4. I don’t have an Apple TV 4K yet. In the past I had no trouble doing Home Sharing with my Mac Pro to the Apple TV 3. But I do have the latest iTunes running as I needed it for the iPhone X. So in attempting to connect the Mac Pro to the Apple TV 3 this morning, it would not work. It’s just not seeing my Mac.

So I fired up the Apple TV 4 in the Home Theater set-up and Home Sharing works great there. I realize that the Apple TV 4 is essentially a new platform and OS. So what does this mean? Is the Apple TV 3 obsolete?

Up until today, the AT3 has been working OK as I can stream from my CBS All Access account. And watch YouTube. Perhaps there is something I’m missing as I would think that Home Sharing would still work. Could anyone shed some light on this? I’ve already thought of replacing the ATV3 with a 4. But I have two ATV3. Hate for them to go to waste. But then I realize in our tech world, devices go obsolete very fast. Thanks for any insight.
 

Nelson Au

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Thought I’d report back to anyone who might be interested, I reset my Apple AirPort Extreme by unplugging it for 10 minutes. That was the one thing I didn’t try yet. Last night I had tried a test of the Home Share on the ATV4 and noticed the connection would cut in and out and the streaming content from my iTunes would stop. So restarting the Airport seems to have fixed the problem with the ATV3 as now I can do Home Sharing.
 

Ted Todorov

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Is the Apple TV 3 obsolete?
Yes, I know you fixed the Home Sharing. That said:
I'd say yes - aTV 5 (aka 4K) is radically better than the aTV 3 it replaced for me. Just the existence of the Infuse Pro app would be enough. Support for Apple Music. Speed/reliability - the aTV3 needed to be rebooted often (or even more often would self-reboot). With a 4K/HDR TV the video quality is radically better as well. Also something like Netflix works far, far better on the aTV 5 vs the 3 - subtitles, etc. etc.
 

Nelson Au

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Thanks Ted! I was going to hold off on a 4K ATV because I don't have a 4K TV yet. But then it sounds like there are other benefits it provides.

Just to add more clarity, the Airport Exteme's green LED had been flashing amber for some time and I didn't know what was causing that, but because Home Sharing was still working on the ATV4 and wifi was still working, I let it go. So the moral of the story perhaps is the AirPort Extreme played a key role on my ATV3 not being able to do Home Sharing and probably made it flaky on the ATV4. :)

I had thought of replacing the ATV3 with another ATV4. But maybe I add the ATV4K to the home theater set-up and use the old ATV4 in the kitchen/family room set up the ATV3 is now. One other benefit of the ATV4 I see is just the ability to add more apps.
 

Ted Todorov

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Just to add more clarity, the Airport Exteme's green LED had been flashing amber for some time and I didn't know what was causing that, but because Home Sharing was still working on the ATV4 and wifi was still working, I let it go.
One thing that could cause it is that there is a firmware update for the Airport - login via you AirPort Utility and check: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201519
 

JohnRice

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Yeah, any time the amber light is blinking, check the airport app to see if there's an update. If not, restart then entire system from modem to router. Unplug them both, then plug the modem back in. Once it's completely started up, plug in the router. I've found that it can be important to do it in that order. In essence start it up in the order it enters the house.
 

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