Apple TV deletes sync'd content (photos)

Question

My ATV setup is demonstrating a variant of what seems to be a frequently reported problem - erratic sync behavior. In general, the sync process will often (but not always) delete (all) previously sync'd photos from the ATV, despite the fact that the photo sync setting either did not change or they changed in some minor way (ie added another album to the sync selection list). The sync process will complete without complaint, the photos will be gone from the ATV and the "capacity bar" in iTunes, but the settings for photos will still show the "Sync photos from iPhoto", "Selected Albums", and the individually selected albums checked. If I then quit iTunes and restart it, the sync settings for photos are all now mysteriously unchecked, the sync process runs and no photos are sync'd. To get them to sync again, I can sometimes recheck the photo sync boxes and album selections and apply the changes. After waiting for 20 minutes (2500 photos), the sync (sometimes) works and the photos are available on the ATV, the "capacity bar" reflects the photos. As often as it works, the sync will "finish" without complaining, all the boxes will still be checked, yet no photos will be on the ATV or in the "capacity bar". I try this over and over until it finally works and all is well...until something triggers another sync between ATV and iTunes...which usually (but not always) results in another cycle of the above. Very frustrating, very fragile, very beta.
As I would like to solve this problem for myself and others, I am going to provide as much detail as possible to paint a complete picture. I am also happy to try suggested solutions or data gathering ideas. After all, I need to re-sync a few times a day any way!
Environment:
Brand new ATV - s/w up to date - using wi-fi not ethernet - full signal strength
Brand new Apple Extreme in "N, (B,G compatible)" mode
Macbook Pro (10.4.11)
iTunes 7.5 (19) - library on Macbook Pro - content on NAS
iPhoto '08 7.1.1 (358) - library freshly rebuilt - library on NAS
Infrant ReadyNAS NV (network attached storage)
iTunes settings:
Sync selected movies
No TV show sync
No music sync (I use streaming for this - works fine)
No podcast sync
Sync photos from iPhoto, selected albums
Interestingly, I never have problems with the movies (there are only 3 right now) - they never disappear or need to re-sync. To date, this has only happened with the photos. I have reset the ATV to factory settings a number of times - no change. Streaming iTunes music works fine.
I noticed a very similar post on MacRumors:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=316340
+As subject indicates, why does iTunes insist on deleting all the music content that's already been synced to the ATV? It seems like if I launch iTunes following a reboot it immediately goes and "syncs" to the ATV by deleting all the music on the ATV. I've had to re-sync 12GB of music at least 5 times now. Running latest version of iTunes on XP.+
+After it deletes everything, If I just click "sync" for ATV (to get the music back on the device) it doesn't do anything, even though I have the option checked to sync all music and playlists on the music tab of the Apple TV device. Only way to get the music back over there is to ctrl-click my music library (select all) and THEN click sync, and it starts copying. It's almost as if it's doing it by design (because the entire library isn't checked at startup?), but they couldn't have possibly been that ******** designing this, could they? The REALLY stupid thing is that it doesn't bother the 2 podcasts I have sync'd, one the D5 interview with Gates & Jobs and the other a Macbreak. Space is not an issue, as I said I have a 12GB music library and the two video podcasts are about a Gig; that's all that's on it. Any ideas? Anyone else experience this behavior?+
Thanks,
Jim
Pretty much the same behavior, but with music. He seemed to pinpoint a connection with "unchecking" songs in iTunes (iTunes, not ATV sync) as the root cause. I can't see a parallel with photos.
*Hi Jim,*
*I just came across your post and joined the forum because I am having the same exact trouble with my new ATV and Windows XP pro. What I've noted (very frustratingly) is that the ATV will ONLY sync with songs in my iTunes library if they are checked.*
*I have the option "Sync ALL music and playlists" checked in the settings. There is no mention in the manual that sync only happens with content that is check-marked in iTunes...*
*So I have the same thought - surely that cannot be as designed, could it??*
*If it IS by design, it doesn't make sense, because iTunes requires you to check and uncheck songs if you want to only play certain ones, etc - so this means that each time you might happen to uncheck a song because you don't feel like listening to it on your PC iTunes, then it will also get deleted from ATV?!*
*I have to beleive this cannot be how it's supposed to work... I'm going to do some more testing, but for the moment I'm waiting for it to finish syncing my library of 12,600 songs so it'll be a few days...*
Cheers,
Jcd
+Unfortunately, it IS how it is designed to work; despite others in the thread saying theirs works like an iPod, I called AppleCare after I purchased a 2nd ATV for downstairs and it exhibited the exact same behavior. The girl I spoke to thought that maybe it was a windows only thing (though I told her for test purposes I'd changed the syncing to my macbook and it worked exactly the same), so she tested from both the Macs & PCs in their lab and confirmed that she experienced the same behavior. I asked her why it didn't sync like an iPod and she said "because that's how they designed it." So I tried a different tact, and asked her if SHE thought it was logical for it to work the way it does, and of course she answered "Yes, because that's how they designed it." Quite frustrating! For my first experience with AppleCare I wasn't overly impressed (is she what they call a "Genius" or do you need to go up the foodchain before reaching the geniuses?), though I do give her credit for taking the time to go find an XP machine to test on -- I was on hold about 10 minutes while she tested that out.+
+Anyway, if you think it should sync like an iPod when you've checked "Sync ALL music and playlists" then definitely send an e-mail to [email protected]; I only have 12GB of music, I can't imagine how frustrated I'd be if I accidentally opened iTunes without everything checked and had to re-sync 12,600 songs!! But the bottom line is I think this design decision was ********, so I let them know that... other than that I do like them, as I mentioned I liked it enough to buy another.+
Thanks in advance for any ideas out there!
Cheers

Answer 1

Thanks for the quick response...I was hoping to get your input given the amount of time you have put into other posts on this topic.
+My thoughts are that each time your sync occurs the tv is seeing your library as a different library to the one before or perhaps the other way around, this may be due to the way your network assigns it's IP's and other info.+
Hmmm...I don't think my network could be any more simple. The Extreme is connected to Comcast cable modem and dishes out addressed via DHCP. The NAS and the Macbook are connected to the Extreme via ethernet, and the ATV uses wifi. If it were an IP addressing problem, wouldn't you expect problems with the other content? Why just photos? Also, iTunes/ATV never has problems reading the album list. I can add a new album in iPhoto and it shows up in iTunes immediately.
+However the second observation is that you are using a network drive for your library which whilst many have reported success in using such a device is not so far as I know supported by itunes/tv. Are your photo libraries also on this drive and if so have you tried relocating them to a local drive for the purpose of diagnostics.+
Yes, the iPhoto library is on the NAS. I am willing to try the relocation but have a few questions on that. What is the most expedient method to generate a new library in a new location? command+option when bring up iPhoto gives me all of the library/thumbnail rebuild options (which I have done), but it does not give you the option of a new location, does it? Also, I was under the impression that unlike with music, I cannot separate the "library" from the content with iPhoto - which means that I would need to copy all of my photos to the MacBook, which defeats the purpose of the NAS. Again, willing to try this out to pinpoint the problem but would like to keep my photos on the NAS.
I have pondered the possible role of the NAS in the problem long and hard but music on the NAS works in every which way - it syncs fine, it streams fine, etc. The only difference between music and photos that I can come up with is the location of the library itself - the music library is on the laptop while the photo library is on the NAS.
Thanks - will try some things out based on your reply.