Apple TV Why Should I Jailbreak my AppleTV? What are the Benefits?

Right now there are two apps for the ATV2...NitoTV and Plex. General info on hacking the ATV2 can be found at AwkwardTV:

http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/Main_Page

Guide to jailbreaking ATV2:
http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/Beginners_Guide_AppleTV2

NitoTV provides weather and RSS feeds right now with other functions planned for the future: NitoTV installation guide:

http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/NitoTV_Take_3

The best reason to jailbreak the ATV2 is Plex. Plex is a complete media management system that goes well beyond the capabilities of the ATV2 menu system. With Plex you can also also add over a hundred video and image plug-ins to access a whole host of other media and image sources such as CNET, Hula, CNN, MLB.com, YouTube, etc. I would suggest that you install Plex on your Mac (assuming you have a mac) and check out the capabilities. I did and quickly decided this was reason enough to jailbreak my ATV2. Check out Plex at:

http://www.plexapp.com/

Installation video and instructions for Plex for IOS:

http://iphoneblogr.com/2010/11/how-to-install-plex-onto-apple-tv-2g-play-almost-any-video-file-type-video-tutorial/

Installation instructions for Plex for IOS and Plex ATV2 Forum:

http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/20051-plex-client-for-apple-tv-2g/

I didn't take but 10 minutes to jailbreak my ATV2 using PwnageTool...and maybe another 10 minutes to install Plex. I'm very glad I did and I'm having a lot of fun utilizing Plex and all the plug-ins. I'm hooked....

Kindda related question

Can we somehow connect USB hard disk to the ATV2 (with or without jailbreak)?

jjsyht said:

Can we somehow connect USB hard disk to the ATV2 (with or without jailbreak)?

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no.

does the jailbreak still work on the new appletv 4.2.1?

87vert said:

does the jailbreak still work on the new appletv 4.2.1?

Click to expand...

I am still waiting for this answer too... Anyone?

Don't do the latest update to your ATV2 if you want to keep your jailbreak.

thank you!

is there a way to remove (or hide) the "Movies" and "Tv Shows" items from the ATV main menu using NitoTV?
I'd like mine to just have Plex and Internet.
Can Netflix be moved up a level to main menu?

Can someone who is running Plex on ATV2 explain it a bit better?

I'm assuming with no storage...you are NOT running plex on your ATV2...you are running plex on another computer and streaming to your ATV2. If this is so...this is a HUGE difference and saying plex is running on your ATV2 is not correct.

So how does the plex app work on ATV2?

dmm219 said:

Can someone who is running Plex on ATV2 explain it a bit better?

I'm assuming with no storage...you are NOT running plex on your ATV2...you are running plex on another computer and streaming to your ATV2. If this is so...this is a HUGE difference and saying plex is running on your ATV2 is not correct.

So how does the plex app work on ATV2?

Click to expand...

Plex Media Manager and Plex for OSX are running on my MacBook Pro. And Plex IOS is installed and running on my ATV2. Streaming music and videos are stored on a WD My Book Studio LX (2TB). Works great!

BlindSpoTT said:

I am still waiting for this answer too... Anyone?

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No- in fact I tried to JB a 4.0 (ios 4.1) ATV2 last night and couldn't as it seems apple does not support the old software anymore, so the custom restore fails. I successfully JB one last week and the same method last night did not work- looks like we have to wait till dev JB 4.2 for any more love

dmm219 said:

Can someone who is running Plex on ATV2 explain it a bit better?

I'm assuming with no storage...you are NOT running plex on your ATV2...you are running plex on another computer and streaming to your ATV2. If this is so...this is a HUGE difference and saying plex is running on your ATV2 is not correct.

So how does the plex app work on ATV2?

Click to expand...

The Plex app on the ATV is just a client that looks for a running Plex Media Server on your network. the PMS then transcodes the show/movie you select and streams it to the ATV. its still just a "proof of concept" and not up to the alpha/beta level, i think. you cant fast forward or rewind. and you cant stop and start at the same place or pause for too long. if your show crashes in the middle then you have to start back at the beginning.
it works great for me because my kids can figure it out and if their spongebob or pokemon episode crashes halfway then they can start it over or watch something else.
i've only probably had a show crash like 2 or 3 times out of around 100 viewings.

Is there a way to add a web browser, either Safari or Firefox? I watch alot of stuff on ustream.tv.

Wheeler said:

No- in fact I tried to JB a 4.0 (ios 4.1) ATV2 last night and couldn't as it seems apple does not support the old software anymore, so the custom restore fails. I successfully JB one last week and the same method last night did not work- looks like we have to wait till dev JB 4.2 for any more love

Click to expand...

Apple is no longer signing 4.1 so unless you saved your 4.1 blobs using TinyUmbrella, you're outta luck until a new jailbreak for 4.2 is released.

ctyhntr said:

Is there a way to add a web browser, either Safari or Firefox? I watch alot of stuff on ustream.tv.

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I'm very interested in this as well. . .

surfing the web on my big screen would be killer for me.

I can see it now, surfing the web through my atv2 with my ipad as the trackpad.

Removing unwanted ATV2 menu items

DaveNinja said:

is there a way to remove (or hide) the "Movies" and "Tv Shows" items from the ATV main menu using NitoTV?
I'd like mine to just have Plex and Internet.
Can Netflix be moved up a level to main menu?

Click to expand...

I was able to remove the TVShows and Movies menu items from my ATV2 by doing the below:
1. used cyberduck to ssh to ATV2
2. used the dropdown to get myself to the topmost directory "/"
3. clicked on applications folder (shortcut)
4. clicked on AppleTV.app folder
5. clicked on appliances folder
6 renamed the Movies.frappliance folder to Movies.frappliance .old
7. renamed the TV.frappliance folder to TV.frappliance.old
got out of cyberduck (disconnected
8. rebooted the ATV2

the menu items for TV Shows and Movies are gone, leaving the main menu alot less cluttered

Wheeler said:

No- in fact I tried to JB a 4.0 (ios 4.1) ATV2 last night and couldn't as it seems apple does not support the old software anymore, so the custom restore fails. I successfully JB one last week and the same method last night did not work- looks like we have to wait till dev JB 4.2 for any more love

Click to expand...

I haven't done it yet myself, but I think that the latest version of GreenPoison(rc6) supports an untethered 4.2.1 ATV2 boot. Greenpoison works by modifying a non-jailbroken device..not a custom restore like PwnageTool. HERE are some details

eddienyc1 said:

I was able to remove the TVShows and Movies menu items from my ATV2 by doing the below:
1. used cyberduck to ssh to ATV2
2. used the dropdown to get myself to the topmost directory "/"
3. clicked on applications folder (shortcut)
4. clicked on AppleTV.app folder
5. clicked on appliances folder
6 renamed the Movies.frappliance folder to Movies.frappliance .old
7. renamed the TV.frappliance folder to TV.frappliance.old
got out of cyberduck (disconnected
8. rebooted the ATV2

the menu items for TV Shows and Movies are gone, leaving the main menu alot less cluttered

Click to expand...

Not sure why anyone would want to but you can already remove the TV Shows and Movies menu items in the Settings on a bone stock Apple TV. No need for all that. Apple provides an easy way to do it.

I personally think, now that websites and third party apps can use airplay, the need to jailbreak has gone down. It is now possible that one could use an app on their iOS device to push media that is stored on their Mac to an AppleTV.

My advice for anyone thinking about jailbreaking-wait till the update comes out and see what developers come up with. I think this may be the killer feature that we are all waiting for

cuestakid said:

I personally think, now that websites and third party apps can use airplay, the need to jailbreak has gone down. It is now possible that one could use an app on their iOS device to push media that is stored on their Mac to an AppleTV.

My advice for anyone thinking about jailbreaking-wait till the update comes out and see what developers come up with. I think this may be the killer feature that we are all waiting for

Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly! A 10" foot TV interface with a remote will never be as good as browsing and selecting media to watch directly from the iPad in a nicely designed app. The future is not in apps on the Apple TV except for maybe games and only if they create a dedicated bluetooth controller for it with physical buttons. But as far as tv shows and movies, Airplay is where it's at. There is simply no better experience.

newagemac said:

Not sure why anyone would want to but you can already remove the TV Shows and Movies menu items in the Settings on a bone stock Apple TV. No need for all that. Apple provides an easy way to do it.

Click to expand...

I looked all over the "settings" sub-menus and can't see where you can remove Movies and TV Shows?

no benefit since 90 percent of the stuff doesnt work right anyway

xbmc is highly touted but everyone i know who has installed says it chokes on all the video

utl768 said:

no benefit since 90 percent of the stuff doesnt work right anyway

xbmc is highly touted but everyone i know who has installed says it chokes on all the video

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That's mainly the fault of the aTV2 being underpowered.

My jailbroken ATV2, Netflix subscription and XBMC and its add-ons have fully justified my decision to cut the cable. Forget streaming via iTunes... I send stuff direct from my NAS, which I've added as a video source in XBMC.

Anyone using XBMC should really look into the Icefilms add-on (http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=87703). All I can say is that it's totally worth the effort to set it up.