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Jailbroken AppleTV - what video formats will it play?

J

jataga

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 16, 2009
5
0
Atlanta
New to the forum so hopefully I can get as much detail in my question and logic behind what I'm asking.

My question: Will a new jailbroken AppleTV play all of the most common video file formats? Those being .AVI, .MKV, .MTS, .MP4, .MOV, .WMV, .MPV and others.

I had the original AppleTV about 4 years ago and sold it to buy a Boxee Box because the AppleTV would not play .AVI, .MKV, .MTS and other file formats besides .MP4, .MOV and few other video files. The Boxee has been perfect for what I use it for which is simply viewing my own video files. I can care less about Hulu, Vudu and features of Boxee and AppleTV.

A friend of mine mentioned that a jailbroken AppleTV 2 would read any video format. True?
 
heisenberg123

heisenberg123

macrumors 603
Oct 31, 2010
6,496
9
Hamilton, Ontario
jataga said:
New to the forum so hopefully I can get as much detail in my question and logic behind what I'm asking.

My question: Will a new jailbroken AppleTV play all of the most common video file formats? Those being .AVI, .MKV, .MTS, .MP4, .MOV, .WMV, .MPV and others.

I had the original AppleTV about 4 years ago and sold it to buy a Boxee Box because the AppleTV would not play .AVI, .MKV, .MTS and other file formats besides .MP4, .MOV and few other video files. The Boxee has been perfect for what I use it for which is simply viewing my own video files. I can care less about Hulu, Vudu and features of Boxee and AppleTV.

A friend of mine mentioned that a jailbroken AppleTV 2 would read any video format. True?
Click to expand...

True a jailbroken Atv will play all those
 
G

Gjwilly

macrumors 68040
May 1, 2011
3,216
701
SF Bay Area
A jailbroken ATV won't play any of those until you install 3rd party software.
Might be obvious but since you are new I thought it was worth mentioning.
Didn't want you to think it was a magic one-step process.
Welcome and good luck.
 
F

fullsmoke

macrumors newbie
Nov 12, 2008
29
0
maturola said:
once you are jailbroken you can install other players that can read any of those formats.
Click to expand...

What players do this? I just jailbroke my 2g but I'm doing research into the different players (NitoTV, XBMC) but am getting very confused. Do I have to install both of those to play other formats over my network? Or can I just install XBMC (without NitoTV)?

Basically, all I want my 2g Apple TV to do is play videos (in all different formats) over my network (from my computer and NAS drives). What is the simplest thing I can install to accomplish this task?

Thanks! (Sorry, didn't mean to hijack but it seemed relevant)
 
maturola

maturola

macrumors 68040
Oct 29, 2007
3,863
3
Atlanta, GA
As on any platform each player have some pros and cons... it all depend on what you need..

Here is some of the bigest:

XBMC: can read from NAS, don't need a computer running, it can read pretty much any format. on the other hand, it required quite a bit of setup, it can be somehow complex.

Plex: Require a computer running the plex server.

ATV: flash, lightwight, easy to setup, can read from NAS, doesn't required a computer. it cost money: $30.

I personally use Plex, since i can stream my media over the internet and i got a media server running all the time anyways.
 
F

fullsmoke

macrumors newbie
Nov 12, 2008
29
0
Thanks for the info.

One more question: in order to use XBMC, does NitoTV have to be installed? After reading XBMC's wiki page it seems as if it instructs you to install NitoTV when installing XBMC.

I'm going for a very minimalistic setup/install...
 
maturola

maturola

macrumors 68040
Oct 29, 2007
3,863
3
Atlanta, GA
fullsmoke said:
Thanks for the info.

One more question: in order to use XBMC, does NitoTV have to be installed? After reading XBMC's wiki page it seems as if it instructs you to install NitoTV when installing XBMC.

I'm going for a very minimalistic setup/install...
Click to expand...

Nitotv is really pretty small, and it is not a bad thing to have, however it is not really required for XBMC, you can install XBMC manually. (however, that way you will have to install, update and maintain all package you need/want manually).

You can read here how to install it manually:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO:Install_XBMC_on_Apple_TV_2
 
K

Kevinleeowen

macrumors newbie
Feb 13, 2011
5
0
Hi,
Sorry for being completely stupid on this, but I have Apple TV with NitoTV and also XBMC. On my Mac I have a .mkv file (with subtitles) that I want to stream - how do I do this using either Nito TV or XBMC? I have tried converting to .mp4 but it loses the subtitles. Ideally I'd just like to stream the mkv file.
Thanks
 
Mr. Zarniwoop

Mr. Zarniwoop

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2005
751
139
Infuse for Apple TV, part of aTV Flash (black), is the best stand-alone player. Files can be almost anywhere on your network, like another Mac, PC, NAS or USB drive on an AirPort Extreme.

PlexConnect, which doesn't require jailbreaking, is the best client/server player. It requires that your files be accessed by a Plex Media Server.

Both are exceptional because they look, feel and act like native Apple-delivered software with an experience that matches the rest of the "channels" on your Apple TV.
 
K

Kevinleeowen

macrumors newbie
Feb 13, 2011
5
0
Mr. Zarniwoop said:
Infuse for Apple TV, part of aTV Flash (black), is the best stand-alone player. Files can be almost anywhere on your network, like another Mac, PC, NAS or USB drive on an AirPort Extreme.

PlexConnect, which doesn't require jailbreaking, is the best client/server player. It requires that your files be accessed by a Plex Media Server.

Both are exceptional because they look, feel and act like native Apple-delivered software with an experience that matches the rest of the "channels" on your Apple TV.
Click to expand...
Many thanks Mr. Zarniwoop. How do I get those on to my Apple TV?
 
maturola

maturola

macrumors 68040
Oct 29, 2007
3,863
3
Atlanta, GA
Kevinleeowen said:
Hi,
Sorry for being completely stupid on this, but I have Apple TV with NitoTV and also XBMC. On my Mac I have a .mkv file (with subtitles) that I want to stream - how do I do this using either Nito TV or XBMC? I have tried converting to .mp4 but it loses the subtitles. Ideally I'd just like to stream the mkv file.
Thanks
Click to expand...


If you have XBMC already installed all you need to do is to go to the settings and tell XBMC where your media is and it will scrum it and show it to you. No conversion necessary. I stream mkvs files everyday
 
Bl0ckHe1d

Bl0ckHe1d

macrumors 6502
Nov 19, 2009
443
80
Caledonia
Kevinleeowen said:
Hi,
Sorry for being completely stupid on this, but I have Apple TV with NitoTV and also XBMC. On my Mac I have a .mkv file (with subtitles) that I want to stream - how do I do this using either Nito TV or XBMC? I have tried converting to .mp4 but it loses the subtitles. Ideally I'd just like to stream the mkv file.
Thanks
Click to expand...

Have you tried using the Opensubtitles / etc subtitle addon, this shall enable the subtitles. You can also download subtitles too for the movie you are watching!
 
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