“Along with iOS 6.1 this morning, Apple also put out a minor update to its Apple TV system software that lets users control the device with a Bluetooth keyboard,” Josh Lowensohn reports for CNET.
“That feature — which requires a second- or third-generation Apple TV — was outed inside a beta developer last year, and came as part of today’s update,” Lowensohn reports. “Other additions in today’s update include an ‘up next’ feature that lets you see what song will follow when listening to music, as well as an option to play music that’s been purchased from iTunes.”
Read more in the full article here.
9to5Mac’s Jordan Kahn reports on “The 10 best Bluetooth keyboards for your Apple TV” here.
Still no love for my 1st generation Apple TV? Can’t we at least have Flickr groups, please?
supposedly ethernet is working now
I’ve never had 1 bit of trouble with Ethernet in my Apple TV Gen 3. I’m current on Apple TV OS up to this new release.
Are you referring to Gen 2 devices?
it is an old and documented bug
the latest version of apple tv on ethernet instead of wifi some of the features will not work. photo stream, MLB, NBA and maybe other apps. netflix and itunes worked along with airplay
the reason i have it on ethernet is i have 20 wifi networks around me and there is too much interference. it got so bad i would get disconnected from xbox live all the time and i wasn’t playing online. after i put the apple tv and xbox on ethernet reliability improved a lot
and the latest update fixed it. photo stream finally works
What is the problem with your Ethernet connection? Working fine on mine.
What are you talking about?
I bought a second generation Apple TV shortly after it was released. Mine has always been connected via ethernet. It has *never* had a network connectivity problem.
I wish they had added iTunesU in the apps section.
This better be true. I have had a bluetooth KB sitting by my Apple TV for over a year now, waiting for this event.
Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please.
Lol me too, d’ling now.
Yes, BT will enable pairing with your Apple wireless keyboard.
It wouldn’t pair with my Apple Bluetooth keyboard. Search and searched. Works fine on my Mini.
Turn off your BT keyboard completely by pressing the power button on the right until the green light goes off. Then turn it on again. It should pair now.
The keyboard was probably paired with another device. This will remove any previous pairing. Also ensure that the BT on the device that the keyboard was previously paired with is turned off, otherwise the keyboard will automatically pair with it again upon turning on.
Why won’t they allow Bluetooth or AirPlay without the need for a separate wifi??
Not sure what is the nature of your question but I will attempt to answer it.
Bluetooth is independent of Wi-Fi and creates its own connection using the BT wireless protocol. So whether you have Wi-Fi enabled or not, BT will always work.
AirPlay is a wireless (or wired) protocol that enables the transmission of movies, music and photos from your device (Mac) or iOS device that is connected over Wi-Fi or physically over Ethernet. However, all of your devices wanting to use AirPlay will have to be on the same network domain.
I want to AirPlay or Bluetooth to my AppleTV for video from my other iXXXX devices without the need for a wifi.
For example. I want to plug one of these into a projector/flat screen at work to allow employees the ability to AirPlay or bluetooth send their screens to the AppleTV. I don’t want another wifi network to have to deal with. I want ONE box, the AppleTV, nothing more.
just buy the PROJECTOR kit Darren.
connect to your projector with a simple cable to your iDevice
In the first place the new BT capability that was installed through the software update is only to allow a BT enabled keyboard to enter text into the search field (or any other field) in the Apple TV. And navigate through the menu using the arrow keys. It is not meant as a transportation medium for movies, photos, audio, etc.
Secondly, the Apple TV cannot act as a router and cannot assign a routing protocol (TCP/IP) that transports the data stream over the network. For that you need a Wi-Fi router such as an AirPort Express to act as a router. You may use an Ethernet cable to connect the AirPort Express to the Apple TV or leave it as an over the air wireless connection but you need a router in the network to mediate network transport protocols.
The bottom line is you cannot establish a direct connection between the Apple TV and a MacBook Pro or iOS device unless it is via a router which assigns IPs either via DHCP or you can assign a static IP yourself within the same subnet mask (network domain). Much simpler to leave it as DHCP (dynamic host control protocol).
Not exactly true oh hairy one.
Any Mac with wifi can create its wifi own network. In that situation the Apple TV will be able to AirPlay from any device on that network.
I’ve done that before at work but connecting my mac to the network and creating a wifi hub so that I can surf the web with my phone.
So you created your own ad-hoc network and added the ATV to it? AirPlay worked when you did that? Nice.
If as hairy one said, you really do need a router/access point, etc, why won’t Apple just build that into the device itself, all-in-one?
Step 1 of 2, Preparing Apple TV for update: 2 hours and counting….anyone else running into this?
Mine took 15 minutes at most. Apple TV 3.
okay thanks, I have a huge movie library, not sure why this is taking soooooo long.
Mine doing the same. Only have about 7 movies in the library and those are from digital downloads that I have in itunes from DVD codes.
odd, it finally finished, took a little over 3 hours to complete installation…never happened before on either of my tv’s I & II.
the bluetooth on wireless keyboard is great way to navigate tv, they shoulda done this long ago.