Answer:

A:

You might want to try a different cable. I had to do that:





Someone reported trying a differnet micro USB cable was the only solution, so it appears it's possible that the compatible cable is not only for making sure the ATV can be seen by iTunes, but that the restore can't even complete successfully without that compatible cable.





EDIT: So I guess there could be 3 types of micro USB cables: Those that don't connect the ATV to iTunes at all, those that connect to iTunes but stop completion of the Restore (erro 1611?), and those that are able to achieve both needs.