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Progress of Easy Divx Access Continues

RustyM

RustyM

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 8, 2004
105
0
Update:

Now you can play local files (including divx avis) with the instalation of ATVFiles. This is a 0.1 release of a plugin for AppleTV that adds an addition menu to the main list. Instaltion of Perian and A52Codec are also necessary to playback more than mpeg and h264 files.

Download ATVFiles
Instalation Instructions
 
M

madmaxmedia

macrumors 68030
Dec 17, 2003
2,932
42
Los Angeles, CA
That is the sweetness!!

Yeah, now we just need some sort of auto-install via thumbdrive to install this plugin, Perian, and the other codec.

But...can you browse video files on your network? It looks like it currently just finds files in a preset folder on the ATV. It does say this-

AFP mounts don't seem to show up if they're in a location symlinked to. Mount them directly under Movies instead.
Click to expand...

I guess you just have to mount a network drive within that folder, and you'll be able to play media files over your network.
 
RustyM

RustyM

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 8, 2004
105
0
Update:
I have successfully booted my appletv on an external USB drive and enabled divx playback of files stored locally and on my network.

The folks at awkwardtv.org and hackint0sh.org have provided some great step by step instructions on how to complete this mod.

DISCLAIMER: If you break your appletv or blow up your cat while following any of the information provided, I'm sorry (but I'm not going to buy you a new one). Use caution and common sense.

Basically I did this: (Don't forget to backup your appletv's internal drive.)
1. Created an appletv bootable USB drive and started up my ATV in full OSX.
2. Enabled SSH on the internal drive.
3. Booted my ATV on the internal drive and enabled AFP from ssh. (I didn't see hostconfig in /etc/ so i just turned it on with "sudo /usr/sbin/AppleFileServer").
4. Disabled Watchdog.
5. Now I could easily access my appletv from the finder just like any networked computer.
6. Installed ATVFILES and some codecs.
7. Copied over a few videos.
8. Finally became fully satisfied with my ATV purchase.

TONS of great info at wiki.awkwartv.org.

joshwest said:
So we have to open the :apple: TV to complete this mod?
Click to expand...
Not anymore! But even the External USB mod requires some tech background and some work.

Two last notes:
A new, slick version of ATVFILES should be coming out this weekend.
If this stuff scares you, a project called patchstick is in progress.
 
atari1356

atari1356

macrumors 68000
Feb 27, 2004
1,582
32
I'm waiting a few months to see how all of this plays out - but this is good news.

(plus, I don't have an HDTV yet, so there's not much point in me getting an ATV at the moment... )
 
dongmin

dongmin

macrumors 68000
Jan 3, 2002
1,709
5
RustyM said:
Update:
I have successfully booted my appletv on an external USB drive and enabled divx playback of files stored locally and on my network.
Click to expand...

1. Any performance issues in playing DIVX files over the network?

2. Am I correct in assuming that you can play files off of an external HD connected to the ATV via USB?
 
RustyM

RustyM

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 8, 2004
105
0
dongmin said:
1. Any performance issues in playing DIVX files over the network?
Click to expand...
I haven't tested playing over the network yet, but everyone i've talked to hasn't had a problem with most network playback. I just finished this up last night and only played the divx files from the internal harddrive. I'll find out tonight, but i'm pretty sure it'll play just fine on my wireless g network.


dongmin said:
2. Am I correct in assuming that you can play files off of an external HD connected to the ATV via USB?
Click to expand...
Currently I don't have anything plugged into the harddrive. In short, I did one hack so i could perform another. I created the bootable external usb drive so i could enable ssh without voiding the warranty. I then removed all me usb drive (hub actually, cuz i needed a mouse and keyboard too) and booted up on the internal drive. The divx files I was playing were stored on the internal disk, through the appletv ui. Sorry for making that confusing.
 
M

madmaxmedia

macrumors 68030
Dec 17, 2003
2,932
42
Los Angeles, CA
I doubt playing avi files (with reasonable bitrates) over a network will be a problem. I get good playback of avi files on my softmodded XBox (733MHz Celeron CPU) over 802.11b.

These are DVD rips into 1 to 1.5GB avi's, so they're good quality.
 
Diode

Diode

macrumors 68020
Apr 15, 2004
2,443
125
Washington DC
RustyM said:
Two last notes:
A new, slick version of ATVFILES should be coming out this weekend.
If this stuff scares you, a project called patchstick is in progress.
Click to expand...


Looks good! Thanks for the effort! I am waiting for the patchstick version mainly because I don't have a working OSX machine to muck around with nor do I have a large enough usb drive :p
 
7on

7on

macrumors 601
Nov 9, 2003
4,939
0
Dress Rosa
madmaxmedia said:
I doubt playing avi files (with reasonable bitrates) over a network will be a problem. I get good playback of avi files on my softmodded XBox (733MHz Celeron CPU) over 802.11b.

These are DVD rips into 1 to 1.5GB avi's, so they're good quality.
Click to expand...

ooo glad to see another modded Xbox user ;P I ripped all my movies as Divx and have about 130 ripped movies. I'd rather not have to rerip them when I decide to get an :apple:tv.
 
H

h00ligan

macrumors 68040
Apr 10, 2003
3,028
136
London
i'm trying to scp the atvfiles component over - and i am getting a permission denied, which strikes me as odd as

1) i have mounted the drive as rw
2) I have chowned the parent dir to frontrow
3)I have also tried to chmod the parent dir with global access (777)

I have since undone the last two parts, but i am still getting a permission denied with winscp...

any thoughts?
 
rodti

rodti

macrumors member
Jul 31, 2006
74
0
Scotland
h00ligan said:
i'm trying to scp the atvfiles component over - and i am getting a permission denied, which strikes me as odd as

1) i have mounted the drive as rw
2) I have chowned the parent dir to frontrow
3)I have also tried to chmod the parent dir with global access (777)

I have since undone the last two parts, but i am still getting a permission denied with winscp...

any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Try transferring the ATVFiles stuff onto the AppleTV's /User/frontrow folder, then in an SSH session move them to the correct folder as root.
 
M

marcowind80

macrumors newbie
Sep 2, 2007
2
0
Hi, someone give me a hand to modify my apple tv for watch divx, because i have got pc not mac and i can't plug mac disk to pc to make patchstick or disk backup.
Excuse me for bad english.....please, help me.
thanks in advance.
 
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