The More You Know: Streaming Content From Multiple Sources To Your Apple TV

Posted March 7th, 2009 in How-To by Eddie V.

Did you know that you can view content on your Apple TV from multiple computer sources. There are two ways to get iTunes content from your computer to Apple TV – Paring/Syncing and Sharing/Streaming. Knowing the difference between the two can be difficult to understand at times. Syncing copies content from your iTunes library and stores it on Apple TV. Apple TV can sync with only one iTunes library at a time.

Sharing/Streaming on the other hand sends content from your iTunes library to Apple TV to enjoy during the streaming process. Content is not stored on Apple TV. Apple TV can stream up to five iTunes libraries via streaming in addition to the one it syncs with. So if your looking to get content from multiple computers on to your Apple TV, streaming is the way to go. It is important to note that your computer must remain on and awake during the entire streaming process and iTunes must be running.

How to Set Up Streaming:

1. Open the Settings > Computers.

2. Highlight the Add Shared iTunes Library menu item and click Play to continue.

3. Apple TV generates a unique passcode. Make a note of the passcode.

4. Open iTunes on the shared computer.

5. Select Apple TV in the Devices list and enter the passcode.

New Version Of Boxee Out Now

Posted March 7th, 2009 in News by Eddie V.

Update 3- Hulu seems to be up and running at this time. Boxee even created a specific Twitter account where you can follow the status of Hulu on Boxee at http://twitter.com/ishuluonboxee, because I guarantee you this will be my last update on his subject for the near future.

Update 2- It looks as though Hulu has been blocked again following todays latest Boxee update. More on the Boxee Blog.

Update- One thing I forgot to mention was that the folks at Boxee also added a new built-in RSS reader optimized for video. like IE, Firefox, or Google reader, the RSS reader supports Google Video, Yahoo!, YouTube and feeds from many other websites and it will support Hulu’s public RSS feeds.

It looks like the good folks over at Boxee have released a new version of their media center software today. You can head over to their Boxee blog to read about the latest on getting Hulu back on to Boxee. Basically it boils down to outdated licensing of the content based on agreements created before the internet. What a surprise. What is new in this version of Boxee is the App Box. This is Boxee’s first take at an application “store” that makes it easy for users to install new apps and plugins. It looks like Boxee users also get an Auto Update. No need to check on Twitter or our blog to know that there is a new version. Now you’ll be prompted to update boxee whenever there is a new release ready.

Head over to the Boxee Blog to get all of the juicy details on this new version.