Critical Update Issued for Apple TV
Ten days after updating the Apple TV’s software to version 3.0, Apple has released version 3.0.1 along with an alarming warning about users’ content “temporarily” disappearing.
From the uninformative and unintentionally hilarious support document, if you are running Apple TV 3.0 and “all of your movies, TV shows, and songs appear to be missing” or “all of your movies, TV shows, and songs appear to be present,” you should update to version 3.0.1 immediately.
In a letter to unlucky Apple TV users, the Apple TV team (at least those that still have jobs) gave instructions for updating.
- Reboot your Apple TV (unplug the power cord and plug it back in)
- Select Settings > General from the main menu
- Select Update Software
- Select Download and Install
After a restart, the problem of disappearing content should be solved. That’s the good news. The bad news is there are still a number of problems with the 3.x software.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt at Apple 2.0 beat me to the Apple Support Forum and found 10,000 page views for the missing content discussion, as well as continuing complaints after updating to the latest version. Reported problems include the Apple TV no longer syncing with iTunes, surround sound problems, new purchases not showing up, as well as performance issues.
It appears Apple’s “hobby,” as the Apple TV has been described by company executives, could use a little more developer attention, not to mention a purpose besides being an iTunes Store kiosk.
Tweet This (28)
Gazoobee on November 8th, 2009 at 10:31 am
I think the funniest part is the admission that you have to “reboot” it, and that this is accomplished by “pulling the power cord out and putting it back in.”
So much for the idea that AppleTV doesn’t need to be power-cycled ever and thus needs no power or reset buttons.
:-)
Travelr72 on November 8th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
I can attest to the ongoing problem of AppleTV not syncing with iTunes 9 – I have tried all of the troubleshooting options (including rebooting and reinstalling iTunes) and *still* my AppleTV isn’t showing up in iTunes. Now looking for the nearest window in order to see how far AppleTV can fly…
Eideard on November 9th, 2009 at 7:30 am
Article? iTunes kiosk? You mean like the iPod?
Reboot? You have no experience with set-top boxes, I guess. Pretty usual for a device that needs rebooting a few time a year at worst. Why include code and hardware in addition – for a few seconds of leaving the couch?
Pete on November 18th, 2009 at 10:39 am
If they don’t sort this soon I shall only be using my ATV as a plate warmer, which it’s always done very well, along with saving me putting on the central heating !
Kris on November 25th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
I seem to be having a slightly different problem than anyone else. I purchased a tv series on my atv and there were problems with that. I purchased a movie and even a song or two, all on my atv. And in that regard, everything went smoothly. My atv shows up fine on my itunes. My music, and other movies copy over to my computer, everything BUT the tv series copy over. In fact I can’t even see the series from my computer. My software is up to date. I have done hard reboots. I have even relinked my atv which took quite a long time. I probably never would have noticed that the series did not copy over if I had not wanted to set them up to watch them during my commute on my ipod. Any help would be appreciated.
Barry on December 8th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Interesting: I had the same problems. Apple TV would start to sync and then, just stop after a few songs. The damn thing finally stopped working. Took it back to the Apple store, and without any problem, they gave me a new one. Then, after reinstalling the Apple TV and updating the software, low and behold, the very same problem. After calling Apple, they argued profusely that it must be my problem – the Apple TV is perfect and has no problems. Well, I know this is not the case. One might ask why Apple is not owning up to the problem??? Finally, an Apple store employee said that they know about the problems and that a major update is on the way – but I could not mention he told me……………………………..
This whole thing is very unlike Apple. What do you think gives????