ATV3 is USELESS since there is no Jailbreak

[tekboi]

I bought the ATV3 recently in hopes of there being a Jailbreak available soon. Unfortunately, that did not happen. And now i'm stuck with a $100 that does even less than my xbox 360. I can't even use PLEX with this thing. The only advantage to this thing is it's airplay capabilities.. but that alone is not worth purchasing this thing. You would think that apple would update the firmware to this thing every once in a while to make it worth using, but they have done nothing to improve it.

[0dev]

Sell your ATV, buy a Raspberry Pi for $40, install OpenELEC, and use that instead.

[jdag]

Or purchase a Roku and install Plex since it appears that's what you want.

The AppleTV cannot be jailbroken (at least at this point). You cannot install apps on it (at least at this point). Very well know limitations.

However, to say it is useless is completely misguided. I have 3 AppleTV 3 units, each of which is used every single day. I am sure many others will agree that they are quite useful.

[Mike in Kansas]

Originally Posted by tekboi

I bought the ATV3 recently in hopes of there being a Jailbreak available soon. Unfortunately, that did not happen. And now i'm stuck with a $100 that does even less than my xbox 360. I can't even use PLEX with this thing. The only advantage to this thing is it's airplay capabilities.. but that alone is not worth purchasing this thing. You would think that apple would update the firmware to this thing every once in a while to make it worth using, but they have done nothing to improve it.

Why did you buy it then? Surely you knew the limitations. You don't sound like a tech noob; a little stupid maybe, but not a noob. But I guess that makes you even more, oh I don't know...

[shyam09]

i assume that you own the following products as per your sig:
"iMac 27" | Macbook Pro | iPad | iPhone 4s"

you can do airplay on the iPad (not mirroring if it's first gen) and the 4s. You might even be able to do airplay mirroring on the imac and MBP (depending on the model year)... definitely not worthless though. You have so many apple products that link to ATV which makes it worthwhile instead.

I agree that using airplay is an extra step for some, and sometimes I don't like doing it myself (for example when i watch ted talks, i wish the ATV had a native app for that)... but it doesn't mean that you can't use the ATV to it's full potential.

[davidg4781]

Send it to me if you don't want it.

[s15119]

Snicker. I use one every day. If it's useless to you, why did you buy it. Pathetic.

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Originally Posted by tekboi

I bought the ATV3 recently in hopes of there being a Jailbreak available soon. Unfortunately, that did not happen. And now i'm stuck with a $100 that does even less than my xbox 360. I can't even use PLEX with this thing. The only advantage to this thing is it's airplay capabilities.. but that alone is not worth purchasing this thing. You would think that apple would update the firmware to this thing every once in a while to make it worth using, but they have done nothing to improve it.

The other important question is what are YOU doing to jailbreak it? You're just complaining that no one else created free software for you to use? Really? Useless is a good word, but it doesn't apply to the ATV3 that 10's of thousands of people are using.

[Davidkoh]

First of all I would say the audio Airplay alone is worth $100, the closest comparison would be the Arcam rBlink which would run at $250 or so and it is still using Bluetooth (albeit with Apt-X and a decent built in DAC).

Secondly I don't really see why you NEED Plex, I mean sure the home sharing folder system is non existant which sucks for TV-series, but for movies it ain't too bad. Plex would be nice of course, but I'd rather see Apple just update the folder options for home sharing.

Thirdly the video Airplay adds even more, I can stream the movies from my iPad and use whatever player I want on that one. I love this one as it gives me that one device option where my iPad is the only portable unit (except a phone) I use.

[tekboi]

Originally Posted by s15119

The other important question is what are YOU doing to jailbreak it? You're just complaining that no one else created free software for you to use? Really? Useless is a good word, but it doesn't apply to the ATV3 that 10's of thousands of people are using.

Dude, just stop it. Yes thousands of people use it. Thousands of people will use anything that apple sells. They would use **** on a stick if apple sold it. Power users will not find the apple tv of any use besides it's airplay capabilities.

Fact is... My xbox is a better media center than this thing. I bought this solely for airplay and hopes that a jailbreak could make this thing sort of useful. Airplay is nice, but it's not enough for me to bother keeping this thing. I'll just bring it back to the store.

What am I doing to jailbreak it? HA! pretty idiotic question considering the fact i'm NOT a hacker. But you must be right?

[justperry]

Originally Posted by tekboi

I bought the ATV3 recently in hopes of there being a Jailbreak available soon. Unfortunately, that did not happen. And now i'm stuck with a $100 that does even less than my xbox 360. I can't even use PLEX with this thing. The only advantage to this thing is it's airplay capabilities.. but that alone is not worth purchasing this thing. You would think that apple would update the firmware to this thing every once in a while to make it worth using, but they have done nothing to improve it.

Sell it and buy the AppleTV 2, problem solved, but it will be double the price or more.

[Ann P]

Why are you complaining? Clearly you didn't do you research. Return it, sell it, and move on. Good grief.

[MonkeySee....]

Originally Posted by tekboi

Dude, just stop it. Yes thousands of people use it. Thousands of people will use anything that apple sells. They would use **** on a stick if apple sold it. Power users will not find the apple tv of any use besides it's airplay capabilities.

Fact is... My xbox is a better media center than this thing. I bought this solely for airplay and hopes that a jailbreak could make this thing sort of useful. Airplay is nice, but it's not enough for me to bother keeping this thing. I'll just bring it back to the store.

What am I doing to jailbreak it? HA! pretty idiotic question considering the fact i'm NOT a hacker. But you must be right?

You can't jailbreak it so its useless?

Give me a break. I still have my Apple TV 2ng gen and use it all the. All my movies run through iTunes (as Apple intended) so it works great with Homesharing.

Itunes Festival was broadcast on there as are some keynotes.

Just because you're not using it right, doesn't mean its pointless.

[tekboi]

Originally Posted by justperry

Sell it and buy the AppleTV 2, problem solved, but it will be double the price or more.

Yeah, that's actually what I plan on doing. And I can see why the price of it is higher now...

[spyguy10709]

Originally Posted by tekboi

I bought the ATV3 recently in hopes of there being a Jailbreak available soon. Unfortunately, that did not happen. And now i'm stuck with a $100 that does even less than my xbox 360. I can't even use PLEX with this thing. The only advantage to this thing is it's airplay capabilities.. but that alone is not worth purchasing this thing. You would think that apple would update the firmware to this thing every once in a while to make it worth using, but they have done nothing to improve it.

You don't need PLEX, you don't need any of that crap.

All you need is a 10 dollar app called BEAMER. It's on the fly transcoding of ANY media you have on your computer to the ATV. It's AMAZING. It does AVI, MKV, literally ANYTHING VLC PLAYS.

If that's not good enough for you, methinks you have a stick up your arse. haha

[DOUGHNUT]

download this app called Beamer on your Mac, and stream away all your movies to your big screen wirelessly!

also, ATV3 serves as a great wireless hub for my media since i can just stream music from my iPhone/iPad/Mac to my sound system.

[musicpenguy]

The Apple TV is designed for those that want to use and buy iTunes content. It does other things like Netflix, Hulu, AirPlay, MLB, etc.

Any intelligent person would know that going in.

Just look at Apple's description page:

"HD movies and TV shows from iTunes. The entire Netflix streaming catalog. The latest hit shows from Hulu Plus. Live baseball, basketball, and hockey games. Apple TV makes you the master of your own media empire."

http://www.apple.com/appletv/whats-on/

If you just bought it blindly hoping it would do unadvertised things you have only yourself to blame - seems like a post bait thread like a teenager screaming for attention - get a Western Digital TV, a Roku or some other devices that has advertised features that do what you want.

[artschool]

i have a 2 and a 3.

just use airplay with the 3.

not that hard.

[bjm2660]

I understand your disappointment; I wish it did more too. That said, no device is "useless" if it accomplishes the tasks for which it was intended.

[NMF]

The #1 rule of buying tech is: Buy the best device for you now, not the device that has the potential to be best in the future.

You didn't listen to this sage advice and now you're complaining? Give me a break. This is a user error, OP.

[Mike in Kansas]

I bought an Oster blender a few months ago in hopes that somebody more ambitious than I on the Instructables forum would figure out how to use it to make toast. Unfortunately that did not happen. And now I'm stuck with a blender that does even less than my GE toaster oven. I can't even make chicken nuggets with this thing. The only advantage to this thing is its (spelled correctly) ability to make breadcrumbs out of toast, as well as smoothies and milkshakes... but that alone is not worth purchasing the thing. You would think that Oster would update their blenders every once in a while to make them worth using, but they have done nothing to improve them.

[JoeBlow74]

I think the AppleTV3 works very good. I use it for Airplay, streaming home movies from my HD cam, streaming music from my ripped CD library, stream photos from my home photo library, stream DVD movies from my ripped DVD library, listen to internet radio with Itunes radio, and watch HULU+.

As long as you stay within the Apple ecosystem, you are golden. Sure, I could just build a computer and sit it in the entertainment system, but the amount of power that will use compared to my AppleTV, is huge. Sure, I wish the UI was more flexible with the search menu and display of album art instead of using the list format, but it works.

[brentsg]

Originally Posted by Mike in Kansas

I bought an Oster blender a few months ago in hopes that somebody more ambitious than I on the Instructables forum would figure out how to use it to make toast. Unfortunately that did not happen. And now I'm stuck with a blender that does even less than my GE toaster oven. I can't even make chicken nuggets with this thing. The only advantage to this thing is its (spelled correctly) ability to make breadcrumbs out of toast, as well as smoothies and milkshakes... but that alone is not worth purchasing the thing. You would think that Oster would update their blenders every once in a while to make them worth using, but they have done nothing to improve them.

Wow, that's a brutal story. That Oster sounds USELESS to a power user.

[jrswizzle]

Originally Posted by Mike in Kansas

I bought an Oster blender a few months ago in hopes that somebody more ambitious than I on the Instructables forum would figure out how to use it to make toast. Unfortunately that did not happen. And now I'm stuck with a blender that does even less than my GE toaster oven. I can't even make chicken nuggets with this thing. The only advantage to this thing is its (spelled correctly) ability to make breadcrumbs out of toast, as well as smoothies and milkshakes... but that alone is not worth purchasing the thing. You would think that Oster would update their blenders every once in a while to make them worth using, but they have done nothing to improve them.

sheer genius

[warvanov]

Originally Posted by tekboi

I bought the ATV3 recently in hopes of there being a Jailbreak available soon. Unfortunately, that did not happen. And now i'm stuck with a $100 that does even less than my xbox 360. I can't even use PLEX with this thing. The only advantage to this thing is it's airplay capabilities.. but that alone is not worth purchasing this thing. You would think that apple would update the firmware to this thing every once in a while to make it worth using, but they have done nothing to improve it.

So you bought a device that works exactly as advertised, but it doesn't have the features you want even though you knew there was no way to add them at the time you bought the device, and you think the problem is with the device?

[csrini1]

Originally Posted by tekboi

I bought the ATV3 recently in hopes of there being a Jailbreak available soon. Unfortunately, that did not happen. And now i'm stuck with a $100 that does even less than my xbox 360. I can't even use PLEX with this thing. The only advantage to this thing is it's airplay capabilities.. but that alone is not worth purchasing this thing. You would think that apple would update the firmware to this thing every once in a while to make it worth using, but they have done nothing to improve it.

There is no one box that does ALL the things, If you are looking to play local content you need to spend another 100 dollars and buy boxee box or netgear ntv550 or dune's(these cost more). ntv550 is 80 dollars for a new one on ebay right now. It can play ALL your local content without any issues.