Help! How to keep tv shows on ATV?

[adrianseto]

Just bought a new ATV 2.0. Question - If you buy a TV show via ATV and sync with your Mac it will copy it over to your itunes (copy on both ATV and itunes). And then when you unsync, it will be deleted off the ATV and kept on the Mac's itunes, right? No way to keep the copy purchased on ATV on the ATV HD and NOT on the Mac's itunes?

Any suggestions on how I can move the TV shows back to ATV and keep it there only? Every time I unsync (in either itunes or ATV) it warns me it will be deleted from ATV.

Also, if I want to move the purchased TV shows from my Mac to an external HD, how do I do that? I can't seem to find the files. I want to move the TV shows out of my Mac's HD to free up some space but also to have ATV sync to the shows off the external HD. Is this possible??

Any expert advice is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Adrian

 

[shinchook]

You have to go into itunes under you apple tv and use the video tab to tell it what videos you would like have synced to the ATV. If you don't tell itunes that you want that synced it will only show up on your ATV if you have itunes open on your computer.

 

[shinchook]

Also... the Shows files are found inside the itunes music folder inside another folder called "TV Shows" Essentially you can move all of you music to an external then link itunes to that folder. I don't think you can move just your shows and keep the music on your computer because you can't link itunes to two different locations.

 

[adrianseto]

You have to go into itunes under you apple tv and use the video tab to tell it what videos you would like have synced to the ATV. If you don't tell itunes that you want that synced it will only show up on your ATV if you have itunes open on your computer.

Thanks Shinchook -
But when I unsync I want a copy to be left on my ATV and NOT on my Mac. Is this possible??

 

[shinchook]

if you unsync the apple TV all of the information about what to load onto the ATV will be lost. You can keep it synced and not have to have the computer up and running to view the files... To answer your question there isn't a way to unsync and keep the files (when you say unsync, do you mean disconnect the computer from the ATV in the menu?)

Any reason why you would want to load files then unsync?

 

[adrianseto]

I want to unlink/disconnect my itunes and ATV but have all the files reside on the ATV instead of itunes. I don't have much space on my PB and normally don't watch any shows on my laptop.

 

[shinchook]

From experience I have not been able to unlink and keep the files on the ATV... One thing you could do is link the computer and ATV and in the ATV menu you can tell it not to automatically sync, then delete the files on the computer. If the ATV doesn't sync to the computer there isn't any way for it to know to delete those files. The only thing with that is there is no way to get the files from the ATV back onto the computer... You can also use a larger external HD and put all your media files on that then link you Itunes library to the media files on the external... This may help you with your space issue.

 

[adrianseto]

Thanks. Yeah, deleting files from itunes is sketchy as I won't be able to copy it back over from ATV. Besides, every time I ask either itunes or ATV to unlink it says it will automatically delete all files from ATV.

I think the only solution is to get a large external HD and put itunes library on that and have itunes link to that which when synced/linked to ATV it will go there and pull. Do you think Time Capsule will be good for this?

 

[tom1971]

I think the only solution is to get a large external HD and put itunes library on that and have itunes link to that which when synced/linked to ATV it will go there and pull. Do you think Time Capsule will be good for this?

No, you could also patch it and just add an external hd. This would save you the hassle to sync through iTunes.

 

[shinchook]

Time capsule is nice because it is a router and hard drive in one but I think you can only use the time capsule hard drive with Time machine... You can't actually use the hard drive to manually save files like an external... for your setup it would be better to get the airport extreme wirelss N router. you can hook any external HD to it to make it a network hard drive as well as share printers as an added bonus.

 

[mallbritton]

Just bought a new ATV 2.0. Question - If you buy a TV show via ATV and sync with your Mac it will copy it over to your itunes (copy on both ATV and itunes). And then when you unsync, it will be deleted off the ATV and kept on the Mac's itunes, right? No way to keep the copy purchased on ATV on the ATV HD and NOT on the Mac's itunes?

Yes, if you have your iTunes library paired with your TV then any content you purchase on the TV will then be moved to your iTunes library with it syncs. When the file is moved it will be deleted off the TV and will then reside in your iTunes library on the internal HDD.

I do not understand your use of the word "unsync" in this context. What do you mean when you say "when you unsync?"

Any suggestions on how I can move the TV shows back to ATV and keep it there only? Every time I unsync (in either itunes or ATV) it warns me it will be deleted from ATV.

You can use a playlist to keep content in and have that playlist synced permanently to the TV. But, again, I do not understand your use of the word "unsync." Do you mean "unpair?"

Also, if I want to move the purchased TV shows from my Mac to an external HD, how do I do that? I can't seem to find the files. I want to move the TV shows out of my Mac's HD to free up some space but also to have ATV sync to the shows off the external HD. Is this possible??

All iTunes files are stored in the ~/Music/iTunes Music folder on your internal HDD. TV shows are in a folder named "TV Shows" and movies are in a folder named "Movies." You can also find files from within iTunes by Command+Clicking (right clicking) on the file and choosing "Show in Finder."

Once you have located the files on your internal HDD you can drag and drop them to the external drive. From here you have two options:
1. Delete the items from the iTunes library and delete the files from the internal HDD. You can then Command+Option+Drag the files, from the external HDD, to the Library in iTunes to re-add them to the library. The files will not be moved from their locations on the external HDD, but to access them you must always have the external drive connected to your MB.
2. If you want to maintain any recently played information then after copying the files to the external HDD you can then delete the files from internal HDD of your MB, but to not delete the items from the iTunes library. Use the Get Info command to locate the files on the external HDD and associate them with the references in the iTunes library.

Don't be afraid to experiment with different ways to get and keep your content on the TV. Playlists are an excellent way to do this.

Regards,
Michael

 

[mallbritton]

Time capsule is nice because it is a router and hard drive in one but I think you can only use the time capsule hard drive with Time machine... You can't actually use the hard drive to manually save files like an external... for your setup it would be better to get the airport extreme wirelss N router. you can hook any external HD to it to make it a network hard drive as well as share printers as an added bonus.

Yes, the Time Machine drive can be used just like any external HDD. It can be used to store files. The only difference is the TC drive is wireless.

Regards,
Michael

 

[shinchook]

good to know... Didn't know you could use the hard drive as an external as well. I may want one now!!

 

[mallbritton]

I don't think you can move just your shows and keep the music on your computer because you can't link itunes to two different locations.

iTunes files can be located on many different hard drives. I currently have iTunes reading content from 4 distinct drives.

iTunes can have only one default library, which is generally located in ~/Music/iTunes Music but files can be stored on external drives, then added to the iTunes library by dragging and dropping while holding down the Command+Option keys.

Regards,
Michael

 

[adrianseto]

Thanks guys!
I am thinking about buying the TC today. Any suggestions whether the 500gb or 1tb?

I don't have a lot of media files. About 10 gigs of music and just starting to download some tv shows. Don't think i will be buying or ripping a lot of movies as I will probably just rent from ATV.

Also, what do you think about having a hd and router being the same unit? Like in 2 years time when 'n' router versions are obsolete what do you do with the hd?

Thoughts??

Adrian

 

[shinchook]

Thanks guys!

Also, what do you think about having a hd and router being the same unit? Like in 2 years time when 'n' router versions are obsolete what do you do with the hd?

Thoughts??

Adrian

Well, you can always remove the hard drive and buy an empty external case and then plug this hard drive into your new 500TB Time capsule in 2 years!

 

[adrianseto]

iTunes files can be located on many different hard drives. I currently have iTunes reading content from 4 distinct drives.

iTunes can have only one default library, which is generally located in ~/Music/iTunes Music but files can be stored on external drives, then added to the iTunes library by dragging and dropping while holding down the Command+Option keys.

Regards,
Michael

So I have now moved only the TV shows off to my TC. But I noticed when I went to copy the files there were some strangely named files, for example 'NOTC.m4v'. For the time being I have moved all of them over. What are these? Are these integral to playing the actual tv shows? I would like to delete them as they do take up a several hundred megs.

Can anyone advise? thanks!

Adrian

 

[mallbritton]

Why don't you open the file in QuickTime and see what it is?

Regards,
Michael

 

[adrianseto]

Why don't you open the file in QuickTime and see what it is?

Regards,
Michael

I have tried that and it just shows that its playing but no video or audio comes on.