[C.J. Moof]

So... since the aTV won't stream my iphotos ( http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305139 ), what's the series of steps to share the digital pics that I just got off my camera onto the aTV?

The iPhoto import step is pretty obvious.
But once I do that, when I select "Last Roll" under photos, will it be the photos I just imported minutes ago, or does aTV require some sort of "refresh" interaction?

[analogika]

Syncing must be done via iTunes.

[C.J. Moof]

So one has to go to iTunes and click some flavor of "sync now" to get the aTV to bring in new photos?

[Gee4orce]

yes, although the updates should roll across automatically if there is new content. Make sure you've got an iPhoto album selected in the Photos section of the Apple TV page in iTunes.

You could create a smart album in iPhoto that lists your most recent couple of film rolls, and then choose to sync that album to your Apple TV.

Also, remember that photos are synced last - so if your Apple TV fills up with other content, your photos won't make it across.

[C.J. Moof]

The big question for me is how often do the automatic updates happen. I'm thinking about the situation where I take a group of new photos that I'd like guests to see immediately. I import them to the iMac, sit everyone around the HDTV, fire up aTV, and I'd hope when I navigate to the Most Recent film roll, it's the one I imported minutes ago, not the one aTV last synched hours ago.

I can't figure out why aTV only synchs photos, not streams them. We've had Bonjour/Rendevouzs iPhoto sharing for a long time now.... seems it would only make sense that aTV would play the same way.

[sanford]

Originally Posted by C.J. Moof 

The big question for me is how often do the automatic updates happen. I'm thinking about the situation where I take a group of new photos that I'd like guests to see immediately. I import them to the iMac, sit everyone around the HDTV, fire up aTV, and I'd hope when I navigate to the Most Recent film roll, it's the one I imported minutes ago, not the one aTV last synched hours ago.

I can't figure out why aTV only synchs photos, not streams them. We've had Bonjour/Rendevouzs iPhoto sharing for a long time now.... seems it would only make sense that aTV would play the same way.

As for streaming, they may add that feature later or not. I think the idea was that movies and music take up the most space on most aTVs, so if you fill up your aTV, you have to stream movies and music, and because only one Mac can sync with aTV, movies and music stored on other Macs require streaming to get the content to the aTV.

As for how often. I don't know. If I buy something from the iTunes Store, it tends to trigger a sync pretty soon. When iPhoto triggers a sync, on a new import, or on a schedule, I don't know. I do know my aTV *always* syncs when I launch iTunes, or when wake my MacBook from sleep with iTunes running. Always. And of course you can after importing your new photos, just open iTunes, select your aTV and then click sync.

There's only been one time something wasn't on my aTV when I expected it. I either made a new music playlist or revised an existing one and then like one second later closed the lid on my MacBook, putting it to sleep. While the aTV will sync in its sleep mode, the MacBook of course won't. So I have it no chance to sync the changes. Otherwise, everything is almost always there, whether I rip a CD I own, add video content, buy music or movies from the iTunes Store, or add photos. But as for photos, I don't tend to pull them off my camera memory card and then run down to the living room to look at them. There's usually a sleep/wake cycle on the MacBook with iTunes running before I happen to look up some photos on the aTV.

[C.J. Moof]

Despite my iPhoto interaction reservations, I bought aTV yesterday. I now realize something I didn't before- if you don't turn off your main iTunes library machine, the synching isn't required. I set mine to only sync photos, and I'm just streaming all my iTunes content to it, which works fine.

This makes the big harddrive upgrades irrelevant. I don't care where the content is stored when the experience of accessing it is the same.

[sanford]

Yeah, it streams everything else. In fact I think the original rumors, but probably indicative of the initial plans for aTV, did not include a hard drive storage at all. It was all stream. Sort of like an Airport Express with Airtunes for music *and* video.

Also, check out some of the management features for movies, TV and photos. Even music. It's rather easy to sync onto the hard drive only subsets of what's stored on your main Mac, only what you'll watch, view or listen to in any given period. Buy a new movie, it goes on there until you watch it, then it's deleted off the aTV hard drive at the next sync, but remains in your iTunes library. Same for TV. You can also manually select movies, TV and photo albums to store on your aTV, leaving as much space you need for music -- if your music will fit in 40GB -- or allowing you to sync, say, a few movies, a huge playlist of your favorite music, then you can stream the rest.

Also, bear in mind you can stream from any Mac on your home network that you authorize to do so. So if your spouse or kids have their own music or favorite TV shows they'd like to watch in the living via the aTV, they can stream theirs without taking up space or muddling up your personal media collection with content you don't care about.

It's very flexible. I love mine.

[ph0ust]

i think all would be just great IF they allowed for your synced photos to be played in the background while listening to streamed content (music). the reason i bought my atv was because i like to listen to my music while my photos cascade on the tv. unfortunately, if you are streaming... your photos are relegated to the hard drive and not shown. lame.

my el gate eyehome would stream music and photos simultaneously... no problem. unfortunately the thing is just damn fugly as far as the interface goes. too bad, those guys made an atv years ago (got mine 4 years ago or more for only $99) and just did nothing with it.

[sanford]

Shouldn't you bet able to set your aTV's screensaver to photos and have that kick in while you stream? (The photos will have to be synchronized, of course.) If it won't use the photo screensaver while streaming, what does it use?

[C.J. Moof]

I tried the ElGato eyehome years ago. Sent it back, it was crashy, ugly, and unfinished.

Sanford's got it right- set the screensaver to a low value- I think 2 minutes is the lowest, and to show your iphoto library. Before the first song is over, your photos will be scrolling by.

I'm liking my aTV quite a bit. I like watching my favorite video podcasts from the couch, and with the latest EyeTV, I get access to my recorded TV shows. My biggest gripes so far are the lack of 5.1 audio (I have hopes that a software update will address this), and how the remote responds to fast forward and reverse commands. TiVo is brilliant at this- there's a built in "jump back" when you're in fast forward on it- so instead of dropping you 45 seconds past the end of the commercial break, it accommodates your reaction time and brings you much closer to where you wanted to be. Accurately forwarding and rewinding the aTV isn't as intuitive for me.

[C.J. Moof]

Originally Posted by sanford 

Also, check out some of the management features for movies, TV and photos. Even music. It's rather easy to sync onto the hard drive only subsets of what's stored on your main Mac, only what you'll watch, view or listen to in any given period. Buy a new movie, it goes on there until you watch it, then it's deleted off the aTV hard drive at the next sync, but remains in your iTunes library. Same for TV. You can also manually select movies, TV and photo albums to store on your aTV, leaving as much space you need for music -- if your music will fit in 40GB -- or allowing you to sync, say, a few movies, a huge playlist of your favorite music, then you can stream the rest.

If it really was 40 gigs, my music would fit on it. But an aTV ends up with 33 (?) gigs available. Standard, but frustrating all the same.
I am going to start synching the TV, movies and podcasts. Since I posted earlier, I do see that there is a startup delay that I expect a sync will overcome. I've also started crafting a Smart Playlist of music, because I do have plenty of content I really don't care about.

Also, bear in mind you can stream from any Mac on your home network that you authorize to do so. So if your spouse or kids have their own music or favorite TV shows they'd like to watch in the living via the aTV, they can stream theirs without taking up space or muddling up your personal media collection with content you don't care about.

It's very flexible. I love mine.

Yeah, I'm liking that. I was thinking about that this morning, when I came across an "unofficial frontline podcast feed" on boingboing. Expecting that wouldn't last long, I grabbed the "Spying on the Home Front" that I had forgot to record with my laptop. Now all I have to do is take it home and plug it in, and I can watch that on the big TV. Or my desktop. Or the laptop. That's pretty nifty.