What it is
iTunes has a feature called "Home Sharing" - it basically allows you to share your entire or part of your library with other instances of iTunes in your home network. It requires you to login to your iTunes account on both computers. A typical scenario is to enable Home Sharing on your desktop machine and then access the library from your iPad, Apple TV, iPhone, Mac, etc.
In my case, I have iTunes on my desktop machine running Windows XP in the attic with Home Sharing enabled and then I access the library from my Macbook and Apple TV, depending on what I want. How to use Home Sharing can be found here.
Symptoms
- Home Sharing machine not showing up in Apple TV or the Macbook
- The Macbook home sharing not showing up on my desktop
- Home Sharing working intermittently
- Connections getting cut of intermittently
- Usually, restarting iTunes or the desktop computer will make things work.
- Sometimes, restarting the Macbook or the Apple TV will make things work.
- The "working" doesn't last long
The Fix
On the desktop computer where the Home Sharing is enabled, I disabled the "QoS Packet Scheduler" from the network connection: