Just bought AT1, now what?

Pick up a Broadcom Crystal HD card for flawless 1080p playback. Then head on over to STM Labs and install Crystalbuntu which boots directly into XBMC. Breathes life into an old product.

As far as hackerish things you can do with the ATV 1, you can check here:

http://firecore.com/atvflash

My real advice? Sell back that ATV1 and get the ATV3 that will mostly likely be announced next Wednesday (March 7).

First off, the ATV1 can't do Netflix, so I hope you knew that before hand. Netflix requires Silverlight, which the ATV1 does not support. Not sure if the ATV2 uses silverlight per se, but Apple built a custom Netflix app for it, and that is not available for ATV1.

Some people seem to get close, but it appears even then it is way more of a hassle than it is worth:
http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=32255

Even during normal operations, many ATV1 users report that the device gets incredibly hot.

Other than having the internal storage, I don't understand why anyone would prefer an ATV1 to an ATV2. But to each their own!

You would have been better off going on ebay and bought a new atv2 jailbroken for about $140 and saved yourself a lot of hassle and gotten a superior product.

dgalvan123 said:

...which requires an Intel chip and the ATV1 has an old powerPC chip in it, I think.

Click to expand...

Not that it matters a lot but the ATV1 does in fact have an Intel CPU. Doesn't help get Netflix on it, though.

For the OP, if you're happy with XBMC then the ATV1+CHD card is great and will play nearly any content you throw at it--did great with mkv blu-ray rips. I found XBMC didn't have the WAF that the stock ATV2 interface did so one of my ATV1's (now running Leopard 10.5.8) has become the iTunes server for two ATV2s in our household; all media is on an external USB drive attached to the ATV1. I still have the CHD card, should put it on eBay one of these days.

What to do next?

Sell the ATV1 and buy the ATV3...

the internal storage of the AppleTV 1 and not having to rely on my iMac having iTunes open and running to ensure local content playback beats out the Apple TV 2 anyday!

sorry but AppleTV 2 should have had 128GB SSD

omegaphil6 said:

sorry but AppleTV 2 should have had 128GB SSD

Click to expand...

I agree, but then it would have cost $299 instead of $99.

dgalvan123 said:

ATV1 has an old powerPC chip in it, I think.

Click to expand...

No, no it doesn't. It has a customised 1GHz Pentium-M.

dgalvan123 said:

Other than having the internal storage, I don't understand why anyone would prefer an ATV1 to an ATV2. But to each their own!

Click to expand...

It does 1080p when fitted with a CrystalHD card, which the ATV2 can't.
It does AirPlay to analogue outputs, which the ATV2 can't.
It can hold all your music and videos, which the ATV2 can't.
It can run a USB hard-drive, which the ATV2 can't.
It can run a USB TV card, which the ATV2 can't.
It can run OS X, which the ATV2 can't.
It can run Linux, which the ATV2 can't.

There's 7 very good reason why people would (and do) prefer the ATV1.

I have both an ATV1 and an ATV2, the ATV1 is in daily use, the ATV2 is in it's box in the cupboard.

It's been a while since I've used my ATV1 but can't you just use the Netflix add-on through XBMC?

HellDiverUK said:

It does 1080p when fitted with a CrystalHD card, which the ATV2 can't.
It does AirPlay to analogue outputs, which the ATV2 can't.
It can hold all your music and videos, which the ATV2 can't.
It can run a USB hard-drive, which the ATV2 can't.
It can run a USB TV card, which the ATV2 can't.
It can run OS X, which the ATV2 can't.
It can run Linux, which the ATV2 can't.

There's 7 very good reason why people would (and do) prefer the ATV1.
.

Click to expand...

on my very personal opinion that looks like Only 1 good reason, everything else is pretty pointless, but as preview poster said "to each their own!"

Could a jailbroken ATV1 with OS X on it run iTunes, serving the rest of the iDevices in the house with iTunes content via Home Sharing?

roidy said:

I agree, but then it would have cost $299 instead of $99.

Click to expand...

which is what the Apple TV 1 cost when it was introduced. so no big price hike there.

omegaphil6 said:

the internal storage of the AppleTV 1 and not having to rely on my iMac having iTunes open and running to ensure local content playback beats out the Apple TV 2 anyday!

Click to expand...

I grant you that the internal storage may be an advantage. But the additional features supported out of the box or with less intense hacking than would be required on the ATV1, AND the fact that the ATV2 is less than half the original price of the ATV1, are why ATV2 is more suited to my needs.

Since I leave my Macbook Pro on all the time anyway for EyeTV, it's no skin off my back that ATV needs it on all the time for access to the files on my mac. Buit-in support for access to an iTunes library stored on an NAS or an external hard drive plugged into a router would be more versatile, I suppose. But then, even if your mac could be turned off, the external hard drive would have to be left on all the time. . . and isn't spinning and reading the hard drive one of the biggest power-draws for the mac anyway (other than the screen which can be kept off while the ATV2 accesses iTunes).

As I said before, to each his own.

----------

HellDiverUK said:

No, no it doesn't. It has a customised 1GHz Pentium-M.

Click to expand...

My mistake. I've edited my post to remove the error.

The main point still stands though, that the ATV1 can't run Netflix.

helios16v said:

What are my storage options for the Apple TV 2? Does anyone make an external clone just like the external drives for the older style Mac Mini? I wouldn't mind having an Apple TV 2 with a matching stackable external hard drive?

Click to expand...

I don't think you'll be able to hook up an external hard drive directly to the ATV2. The micro USB port it has is a sort of a "client-type", meaning the type that is used for accessory devices, not the type that a computer would have to be a "server type". And I haven't seen any hack that successfully enables that port to use an external hard drive.

The micro USB port CAN be used to connect the ATV2 to your computer so you can jailbreak it though. And if you jailbreak and install XBMC on the ATV2 there are many other options available to you. XBMC can easily detect network-shared SMB drives, for example, so you wouldn't have to be running iTunes to access your stored media. I have personally tested this with an external HD that was plugged into my mac via USB without iTunes running, and it works fine. I've also seen forum posts where people have used NAS storage devices and the jailbroken ATV2 accesses the content on those, allowing you to have your computer turned off entirely, if that is what you are after. But I've never tried this myself.

I don't know if any company makes ATV2-shaped external HD's, but since you couldn't plug it into the ATV2 directly anyway there's not much point.

hafr said:

Could a jailbroken ATV1 with OS X on it run iTunes, serving the rest of the iDevices in the house with iTunes content via Home Sharing?

Click to expand...

Not jailbroken, but with a "tweaked" version of OS X Leopard installed this works great. Lots of people (myself included) are doing this.

You should have just got a ATV2 for the same price on Craiglists or eBay...

omegaphil6 said:

which is what the Apple TV 1 cost when it was introduced. so no big price hike there.

Click to expand...

The point is Apple chose the $99 price point because more people are likely to impulse buy a $99 device than a $299 device, and at the time Apple were pushing a rental only business model so internal storage wasn't needed.

re: atv2

HellDiverUK said:

No, no it doesn't. It has a customised 1GHz Pentium-M.

I have both an ATV1 and an ATV2, the ATV1 is in daily use, the ATV2 is in it's box in the cupboard.

Click to expand...

Can I have it then?

Bill.the.Cat said:

Not jailbroken, but with a "tweaked" version of OS X Leopard installed this works great. Lots of people (myself included) are doing this.

Click to expand...

That makes the ATV1 quite interesting actually... As far as I know, there aren't that many options except for "actual computers" if you want to have iTunes running, but an ATV1 should be both quieter and less power consuming...

How about the heat, how much of an issue is that? And is the streaming perfect on say an ATV2 if the ATV1 with iTunes running is being used to watch movies on as well?

just a terrible decision to buy that. nothing can fix an idiotic purchase on a 3-4 years old equipment.

super tomtendo said:

just a terrible decision to buy that. nothing can fix an idiotic purchase on a 3-4 years old equipment.

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If it can handle one's needs, then why would it be an idiotic purchase? Hardware doesn't go bad, it's your expectations that keep on increasing. The ATV1 is as good today as it was when it was released. The only way it's a bad purchase is if you want something that it can't handle, but then it was a bad purchase back then as well.

hafr said:

How about the heat, how much of an issue is that? And is the streaming perfect on say an ATV2 if the ATV1 with iTunes running is being used to watch movies on as well?

Click to expand...

Heat doesn't seem to be an issue, our main one runs 24/7 and sits in an enclosed closet with a bunch of networking gear and a UPS. I have another in my office that I use as a GoodSync sftp server to synchronize files across three computers (sort of a DIY Dropbox). Both units have been running pretty much constantly for about a year. They get rebooted once every couple of months. They each pull 10-15 watts (measured using a Kill-A-Watt) even when streaming or transferring files.

Given that it's running close to a full version of Leopard I don't think you could use one to actually play back media with great success. As a true iTunes server (i.e., it actually runs the iTunes app) it works perfectly feeding two ATV2's. All of my media is .m4v 720p blu-ray rips made with MakeMKV and Handbrake, and both ATV1/Server and ATV2 are hardwired Cat6.

To the OP: Crystalbuntu or http://dynaflashtech.net/

New image coming out soon on AtvCloner. its worlds away from atv 2.