Just got my Christmas present and was wondering whether there is any benefit of jailbreaking Apple TV? Are there any apps or anything that should motivate me to do so?
I have a jailbroken Apple TV. Here are the real benefits as I see them.
-Access to more Hulu content.
With the Hulu plugin for XBMC, I can watch any of the free Hulu programs that are available on a PC browser. This includes programs that are restricted from playing on a set-top-box, even if you pay for Hulu Plus! Hulu/Hulu Plus can show you ALL its content on a computer browser, but it's not allowed to show you some of its content if you're using a set-top box. The XBMC plugin gets around this. So even if you have a Hulu Plus account for $8/month, you can see more shows/movies using the XMBC plugin than you can using the ATV's built-in Hulu Plus app. (see here for more info on why Hulu can stream certain shows over a PC browser, but not over set-top-box:
http://www.hulu.com/plus and click on Frequently Asked Questions)
-No ads in Hulu.
Also, in XBMC I can keep Hulu from displaying ads. Note that with the built-in Hulu Plus functionality, you have to pay $8/ month AND you have to watch 30-second ads. I don't pay a dime for Hulu but I watch Daily Show every day without a single ad.
-Access to Amazon Instant Streaming.
While this is a real benefit, I don't really use it. I do have Amazon Prime, but I also have Netflix, and Netflix has way more content than Amazon Instant Streaming. But, anyway, if you want to watch Amazon instant streaming on your Apple TV, jailbreaking, installing XBMC, then installing Amazon plugin lets you do that.
-Watch your locally stored videos without going through iTunes.
Others have described this benefit already. I don't take advantage of it, because iTunes works great for my needs. I suppose if you already had a library of ripped (or "obtained") videos that wasn't already in .m4V format, this would be a handy benefit. *shrug* But do realize that you can always just use the free Handbrake program to convert videos to iTunes format, and you can use programs like the free MetaX to "tag" those videos so they will still display with descriptions and movie posters, etc. So I don't see this as a critical benefit, more of a time-saver if you've already invested effort to ripping your DVD collection and don't want to also convert to iTunes.
-But can't I just use Airplay Mirroring or AirParrot to mirror my computer's screen to my Apple TV anyway? Meaning I can watch anything my computer can display anyway and eliminating the need to jailbreak to get these benefits?
Yep. But it's inconvenient. You have to task your computer to play the video, then use Mountain Lion's Airplay Mirroring or AirParrot to send the screen to your Apple TV. It works fine, but it means you can't do anything else on your computer while watching, and you control what you're watching by controlling your computer, not by using your TV remote from the couch. If you jailbreak, you don't have to task your computer at all, and you can controll it all with your remote from the couch. The only time I use Airplay mirroring (via AirParrot) is when we're watching a live TV event like the Oscars or olympics or something (via EyeTV) and we want to be able to pause and skip commercials.