Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
I have a Gen 1 Apple TV used for displaying my photos on the lounge TV. This normally syncs with my iMac library but I discovered yesterday that the ATV no longer appears in iTunes and the ATV refused to recognise and log in to my appleID, but it is connected to my network. Has apple now decided to kill off my perfectly working system with the latest updates?
Apple TV
You would need an iTunes from before v12.7 to connect to Apple TV (1st generation), as v12.7 broke connectability.
iTunes 12.6.2 from a year ago should do, but it may not like being installed on a system with 12.7?
(iTunes 12.6.3 and 12.6.4 were released later than 12.7, ‘blessed’ for installation over 12.7 (but may not like the newer library), and are considered special editions for enterprises, including iOS App Store for deployment purposes. Not sure how they behave with ATV1, as that was not a consideration for their release.)
Syncing is not supported on current versions of iTunes, you would need to revert to an older version. Access to the iTunes store is no longer supported on the 1st gen so you would not be able to stream directly.
Thanks for the reply but the appleTV won't even recognise or connect to my appleID account any more so I can't get any connectivity to it at all, irrespective of which version of iTunes. All I really want to do is sync my photos from the Aperture library on my iMac so they can be viewed on the TV.
Which version of itunes are you running? Syncing hasn't been supported for awhile, you would likely need to revert to an older version from a backup. You wouldn't be able to access your account or any content directly since itunes store support was dropped from Apple TV.
Its version 12.7.5.9. I'm not really bothered whether I have to stream or sync, I just want to be able to use the ATV for its original purpose of viewing my photo library. It was working fine about a month ago. I totally understand products going obsolete and being unsupported, but I can't believe my perfectly functional piece of hardware has now been rendered completely useless!
That version is not supported. You would need to stream or sync via iTunes in order to view the photos on Apple TV.
Yes, the model is obsolete so it is no longer supported on current versions of iTunes nor is the store accessible. It is 11 years old after all. Again, you have the option to revert to a previous version (12.6 or earlier) from a backup (or if you're able to find a download somewhere).
"I totally understand products going obsolete and being unsupported, but I can't believe my perfectly functional piece of hardware has now been rendered completely useless!"
Believe it!
When Apple says they "no longer support Apple TV Gen 1", they really mean that they have changed iTunes to make it useless, so you'll buy a new Apple TV. iTunes simply won't recognize it. You can still play music and see your pics (at least mine worked that way, since everything is on its hard drive), but you can't use iTunes to change pics, and you can't change songs or playlists or anything.
So, I bought an ATV Gen 4. Then had to buy a new stereo receiver, since mine was over twenty years old and didn't have HDMI connector. THEN had to figure out a bunch of other stuff. It's been real educational.
And, now my new Gen 4 Apple TV has to be RESTARTED every time I turn it on to play music. It takes about five minutes to go through all that, every time I turn it on. I'm not impressed with the gen 4 Apple TV.
Again, the device is 11 years old. You can’t expect that support to remain, and there is still the option to use an older version of iTunes as was already stated.
If your’re having to restart the 4th Gen it’s either network related or due to a faulty unit.
Apple TV (Gen 1) won't sync with iTunes
