Is it worth jailbreaking Apple TV?

dragonev said:

Just got my Christmas present and was wondering whether there is any benefit of jailbreaking Apple TV?

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If it's a third-gen (current) Apple TV, you cannot jailbreak it. That's why the second-gen is still selling for over retail price.

dragonev said:

Well, my question was not about ability to jailbreak, but rather whether it gives any benefits.

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That would depend on how you use it, on my very personal case, I have all my media on a Media Center Computer and most of the media is on a format that Apple doesn't want to support so Jailbreaking for me is not only Worth it, but essencial if i want to use the AppleTV. I use Plex on it to stream all my media, I am also able to change and customized my UI to show only what i want and not what Apples "thinks" I want.

without a jailbreak, ATV is not useful to me, I would be using another device.

dragonev said:

Well, my question was not about ability to jailbreak, but rather whether it gives any benefits.

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Of course it does. Why would people jailbreak the device if there was no benefit?

It all depends on what you're using it for. Do you want something that will natively stream MKV files? Do you want something that will allow you to go above and beyond what the Apple TV can do? If so, yes, jailbreak your device... but if you just got one, it's likely the third-gen model, making this entire exchange irrelevant.

dragonev said:

Well, my question was not about ability to jailbreak, but rather whether it gives any benefits.

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Very beneficial.

You can download Apps not available on AppleTV like Amazon app, I can stream my MKV bluray rips right to my appletv without having to take the time to transfer it to something Apple will accept. I even sometimes use icefilms to watch blu-ray quality movies streamed right to appletv for free. AppleTV 3 is useless to me until it is jailbreakable.

dragonev said:

Well, my question was not about ability to jailbreak, but rather whether it gives any benefits.

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LOL, if it cannot be jailbroken, who cares what the potential benefits are.

dragonev said:

Guys as for now the only real benefit I heard is some "Amazon app". However, I have no idea what this app does. Video streaming? Seriously? Why can't you just mirror your laptop and start playing the video? I did a couple of times already and it worked perfectly.

Can you play Angry Birds on your TV? Or what other apps can be installed. As I said the only problem I had is that iPad is not streaming videos from some of the apps.

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Do a little research into Plex or XBMC on the Apple TV and you will understand the benefits. If you have any kind of video library at all, imagine having your own home version of Netflix for those videos complete with cover art and movie info. If you do not understand this, don't jailbreak and stick with iTunes. Simple.

dragonev said:

Well, my question was not about ability to jailbreak, but rather whether it gives any benefits.

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using Xbmc otherwise you have to convert your library over to itunes , then of course all your stuff will be jacked up in media center. I think if Itunes had more tunable options I could deal with it.

dragonev said:

Didn't you think that it can be sold and substituted with 2nd gen?



Thanks! Finally a quality answer. Will have a look

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I guess I shouldn't expect much from someone that is incapable of doing basic research.

Lefty29 said:

Do a little research into Plex or XBMC on the Apple TV and you will understand the benefits. If you have any kind of video library at all, imagine having your own home version of Netflix for those videos complete with cover art and movie info. If you do not understand this, don't jailbreak and stick with iTunes. Simple.

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This can also be done with the standard appletv software. Tagging your movies with art/info that is.

dragonev said:

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?

P.s. As for now the only problem for me is that Apple TV is not playing movies from the Sky Go app on my iPad, but I believe this is more of app restriction than Apple TV's.

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I recently found a small app that might make jailbraking obsolete. The app is Beamer, which used a simple drop box interface to stream many formats of movies to your ATV. The app is not perfect yet as it only stream stereo (no DTS or DD) and has issues with large MKV files (frees). I have my hopes up that in the near future these issues will be resolved and the app will fulfill all my movie needs without the need to rumix any files.

JGRE said:

I recently found a small app that might make jailbraking obsolete. The app is Beamer, which used a simple drop box interface to stream many formats of movies to your ATV. The app is not perfect yet as it only stream stereo (no DTS or DD) and has issues with large MKV files (frees). I have my hopes up that in the near future these issues will be resolved and the app will fulfill all my movie needs without the need to rumix any files.

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the benefit of jailbreaking is more than movie streaming.

xbmc alone is enough reason to jailbreak.

CocoaPuffs said:

the benefit of jailbreaking is more than movie streaming.

xbmc alone is enough reason to jailbreak.

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Guess your right, but on the other hand it depends on your needs.

CocoaPuffs said:

the benefit of jailbreaking is more than movie streaming.

xbmc alone is enough reason to jailbreak.

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I hear people say this all the time, but I really must ask, why is it so phenominal to so many people? I have researched it endlessly trying to see if it is worth it for me to jailbreak my ATV2 but I cant see a single benefit over iTunes with the slight exception that in can decode DTS audio (which honestly is only barely better than AC3 DD).

I'm not trying to be a douche, honestly. I'm just trying to see the reasoning behind using the product when iTunes seems to do such a fine job...

dragonev said:

I am not sure you are the right person to judge my capabilities. You could have walked pass this thread if you do not like the questions being asked in here.

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You could have spent 30 seconds with google instead of asking questions and then insulting the people who took the time to try and help you.Looks both lazy and ungrateful.Not to mention expecting people to read your mind and assume you are thinking of selling your brand new gift and buying the previous model.
smh

Pyromonkey83 said:

I hear people say this all the time, but I really must ask, why is it so phenominal to so many people? I have researched it endlessly trying to see if it is worth it for me to jailbreak my ATV2 but I cant see a single benefit over iTunes with the slight exception that in can decode DTS audio (which honestly is only barely better than AC3 DD).

I'm not trying to be a douche, honestly. I'm just trying to see the reasoning behind using the product when iTunes seems to do such a fine job...

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Because iTunes can't play mkv files, and I have mkv files I want to play. Remuxing is a pain in the butt.

like guys say here do some research on XBMC then navi-x, ice films,Hulu(not in canada)
you can even install xbmc on your macbook and install all the good stuff that comes with it.

Most people jailbreak because they don't want to bother with converting their .mkv's to .mp4's (AppleTV compliant format). That's fine and dandy and definitely an option.

I, on the other hand, like having the latest firmwares and updates on my AppleTV and have other devices that I put my movies and TV shows on (iPhone, iPad, etc). So for me, the best option was to just convert all my movies/shows using Handbrake's AppleTV 3 setting (with a few modifications). It's super easy to queue a folder, so if you have a decent computer (I have a 2011 iMac), it's really no work at all.

From there, I use iDentify to add meta data info, which then automatically adds the file to iTunes. So yes, it's a multistep process, but it works for me

Many would argue that PLEX is more advantageous since they have a companion app for streaming to iOS devices. That's true, but I just use Air Video and point it toward my iTunes media folder.

But whatever works for you is best. I enjoy my setup and think it works wonderfully.

EDIT - Used to use XBMC a lot... back in the day when its name was associated with the device it was actually used for (aka the original Xbox). Haven't touch it since though, so not too sure how it stacks up against alternatives. I hear it's pretty good though!

dragonev said:

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?

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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.

For me its not, I use iTunes as the main hub for all things entertainment throughout the house. Handbrake and iFlicks are my main converters for films and tv shows.

Go Plex!