Home Sharing not sharing computer movie library or playlists correctly

I have a massive TV/movie library (700 plus movies) and have detailed movie and TV categories, playlists, and smart playlists I created on my Mac. These all used to show up on my Apple TV and all I had to do was click the Computer icon on Apple TV and it was like looking at my Mac computer – all playlists and content there for the picking. I could click, for example, smart playlist "Cartoons" and every episode of Scooby-Doo, the Jetsons, and the Flintstones was able to play on my television through Apple TV because the playlist was created using a tag in the comments section.


With the latest Apple TV update that changed to the skinny bar on the left side, that no longer works – the majority of my playlists (smart and regular) are gone, what remains aren't complete, and over 90% of my movies/shows no longer appear. This is what I've done in an attempt to fix it:


  1. I purchased a new Apple TV (4K wifi+ethernet)
  2. Made sure AppleTV and Sonoma are both on the latest OS
  3. Deleted my entire movie library from my Mac and downloaded every single purchased movie/TV show again, which took FIVE DAYS!
  4. Spent days recreating and organizing my movies/TV shows into playlists and smart playlists AGAIN
  5. Turned on my AppleTV in hopes everything would be there and...


NOTHING! Same problem as before! Only a handful of my custom playlists show up and they're not complete; none of my TV show playlists are there, none of my smart lists, nothing!


I searched the web for an answer, searched Apple support boards, found only one promising link to make everything sync again, did it all step-by-step:


  1. Deauthorized my computer
  2. Signed out of my account
  3. Turned off Home Sharing on AppleTV
  4. Turned off Home Sharing on Mac
  5. Powered off all devices
  6. Powered on all devices
  7. Signed into my TV account on the Mac
  8. Authorized my computer
  9. Turned on Home Sharing (and actually changed the library name in hopes it would force it to load)
  10. Went to the living room and turned on my Apple TV
  11. Turned on Home Sharing
  12. Clicked the Computer icon
  13. Watched as ONCE AGAIN NOTHING WORKED!!!!


I loaded an earlier version of the TV library; no change. Deleted my TV Library file and created a new library, no change. I've tried it with "Keep Media folder organized" and with it turned off; no change. What is wrong with this?! I've tried wired and wireless, I've rebooted, authorized, deauthorized, turned on/off home sharing to the point I'm ready to give up.


I loved my Apple TV before the latest major change Apple did with the new interface. Now it's basically a hunk of junk. Please, someone help me! And don't give me some link to anything here because I literally have clicked every link I could find in hopes of fixing this problem.


Thanks in advance.


Attached are two screenshots: One showing my TV Library on my mac and the Cartoons smart playlist, the other showing what my Apple TV shows when I click on TV shows (5 shows; I have 42 TV shows on my Mac) and lists only 3 playlists (I have way more). Help!


iMac 27″

Posted on Feb 7, 2024 09:39 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 12, 2024 11:12 PM

Not that they care or will read this, but just came to validate what a complete SCREW OVER this whole Apple TV app has been. Integrated libraries. gone. Home sharing. gone. Curating and managing your own library. gone. Computer app on Apple TV. bricked. Even downloaded artwork. gone. And who did this affect most? Long term customers with a lot of purchased and integrated content. I can’t believe I’m the only one whose iTunes (what else should we call it? “Useless app”?} spending went to zero. Buy a frag file miscategorized mess that I can’t download or organize? No thanks.







Similar questions

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 12, 2024 11:12 PM in response to Sherry Stinson

Not that they care or will read this, but just came to validate what a complete SCREW OVER this whole Apple TV app has been. Integrated libraries. gone. Home sharing. gone. Curating and managing your own library. gone. Computer app on Apple TV. bricked. Even downloaded artwork. gone. And who did this affect most? Long term customers with a lot of purchased and integrated content. I can’t believe I’m the only one whose iTunes (what else should we call it? “Useless app”?} spending went to zero. Buy a frag file miscategorized mess that I can’t download or organize? No thanks.







Feb 13, 2024 03:27 PM in response to Sherry Stinson

UPDATE! Since I can't edit my original post, here's what I figured out. The culprit is the HLS movie format. Movies I've purchased from the store in any other format appear via home sharing on my living room TV and other iDevices. However, if it's an HLS movie, nothing. Now, they WILL appear in the AppleTV sidebar under Library. But not in playlists via home sharing. It is definitely an aggravation and not the level of excellence I expect from Apple. Given it's an Apple ecosystem – Mac, AppleTV hardware, TV app, home sharing software – one would think the movies they allow you to download would WORK with their creations. This is a major faux pas, Apple, and one you need to fix. I'm already looking at Plex as an alternative, so I can at least see my curated playlists and movies.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Home Sharing not sharing computer movie library or playlists correctly

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.