Fastest way to transfer files to Apple TV?

Legacy 1st gen Apple TV
1

I’ve been using FTP to transfer files to my Apple TV. I’d love to find a faster way, though. Is there one?

Thanks

2

But i think FYI, switching from Wifi to a wired connection on the AppleTV is pretty fast. FTP also did not work well in my case.

3

Nobody? Is FTP the best / only way…?

4

And use Wireless N speed as opposed to G if u have some big transfers to do. Will reduce your transfer time to about 1/4 of the time when using Wireless G. Best if you have a MAc computer as you just share your mac wireless to the apple tv and bypass your home wireless router.

5

I do have a mac, though it’s a first rev Mac Pro, so I don’t think it has an N-capable wireless card. It’s:

AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x87)
Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0

But hey, pretending for a second that it was N-capable, how do you “share your mac wireless to the apple tv”…? I can’t find the aTV on the network. Are you talking about something through the aTV menu…? (say, Network menu item?)

Thanks!

6

I’m not at my computer - but it is soemthing like this…

on my mac - go to settings and sharing. you have to share your ETHERNET connection. tell it to use the Airport. then you have to assign a name to the network - then start the sharing.

then on the appletv scan for wireless - select your new network from the mac- connect and voila!

except!

you will now have a new IP address. you must use this new address to ftp stuff to the atv fromthe mac…

i think i typed better instructionshere before - but the searcg feature on this sight says it’s not working right now and to try later…

anyways if u can’t figure it out - reply back here and i can help more.

7

When you get to your computer could you list the exact steps for this? I’d love to do this…

8

I have 10.5.5, so this might differ a little bit in 10.4.x:

  1. Open up System Preferences from the Apple Menu
  2. Click on Sharing
  3. Change “Share your connection from:” to Built-in Ethernet
  4. Check the box for Airport
  5. Check the box on Internet Sharing and then Start if the warning box comes up
  6. Close the Sharing System Preference
  7. Go up to the Airport menu bar icon, the four curved lines that look like a Chinese fan.
  8. Click Create Network and name it. (Recommended: Click Require Password and type in a password and chose 128-bit WEP.)
  9. On the AppleTV connect to your wireless network and enter password.
  10. After connecting be sure to see what the IP address is and keep it handy.
  11. Also be sure to watch a trailer or something that requires Internet so you can be sure the AppleTv is actually connected to the Internet.

Hopefully I didn’t leave anything out. Good luck! :smiley:

9

If you have a wireless router that supports G or N (and B?) , none of this is necessary, is it? Doesn’t the setup in the AppleTV detect the router and simply connect (with appropriate password, of course)? To have the aTV use a “shared” Mac of some kind, aren’t you limiting yourself to having the computer up and running all the time? Doesn’t that negate what a wireless router does? Am I missing something here? If you have a wireless router, why would you “share” your computer’s connection?

10

I don’t do this myself unless it is needed for troubleshooting steps at a client’s place. You are right, the host machine has to be on all the time. This is fine for a Mac mini maybe, but not a Mac Pro/G5 tower or any laptop. I figure I’ll let people know how to do it if they really want to, but I will stay away from it as it does me no good with two routers in my house. Especially when one has DD-WRT a very good open source router firmware.

11