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Apple TV 1st gen in 2019

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retta283

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Jun 8, 2018
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Anyone still using the first gen Apple TV? What are you using it for now that the iTunes Store is unsupported?

I've been looking at getting one to mess with, I've never owned an ATV before. Since they can be had for around $20 I think it's worth trying.
 
Interesting. Seems like a lot of work though. I probably wouldn't do this because I'd want to have more ports on such a system, but would be a cool side project in the future.
 
Yep. 1st gen was actually a trimmed-down mac mini running a trimmed-down OS X with Front Row as the UI. So that's why it works also with a regular release package of OS X Tiger.
 
install linux and there are several flavors of xbmc/kodi for it.

FYI, I did the 2nd stage bootloader for it :) Oh so long ago.
 
venom600 said:
Would it be possible to install a linux distro on it and use it as a low power Plex server and time machine server? What about Windows?
Click to expand...
I am not sure it is that low power ;)
That machine used to heat up so you could fry an egg on it, while in use. Granted, operated in headless mode, that may not be the case any more.
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/apple-tv/specs/apple-tv-itv-specs.html

Other than that, it is a weak Intel machine (1.0 GHz Pentium M, GeForce Go 7300 with 64 MB GDDR3 VRAM), so windows should run as well. Take the BootCamp drivers disc of same era.
 
I had one of these back in the day, upgraded to the maximum.

Basically, it a 1ghz Pentium M with 256MB of RAM soldered. That's right, this thing had soldered RAM before it was cool.

Oh, it also had an nVidia GeForce Go 7300 with 64MB of RAM! But this was pretty much useless.

Between the CPU and low RAM, it's really slow. Without more, it could not decode h.264 AVC encoded video in HD.

It had a wifi card in it's only mini PCI Express slot. You could take that out, and instead put in a Broadcomm CrystalHD card which, with the right drivers, could decode h.264 AVC video up to 1080p. Pretty much anyone that ran XBMC on it did this.

Another neat upgrade was the drive. It had a 2.5" IDE/PATA spinner drive that was super slow. While rare and pricey, there were (maybe still are) some companies that make IDE/PATA SSDs. Either way, even a low quality SSD could saturate the 100MB/s speed of the PATA connection. That made booting a lot faster.

With those upgrades, it made a decent XBMC box. Not good, but decent. Even with those upgrades, it was still utter rubbish at running full OS X.

However, I believe it is still to this day the most elegant streaming box that technically supports 1080P and has composite video output. So if you're one of those suckers that bought a 1080P television before HDMI existed, and you don't like using converters/adapters, this baby is for you!
 
oneMadRssn said:
I had one of these back in the day, upgraded to the maximum.

Basically, it a 1ghz Pentium M with 256MB of RAM soldered. That's right, this thing had soldered RAM before it was cool.

Oh, it also had an nVidia GeForce Go 7300 with 64MB of RAM! But this was pretty much useless.

Between the CPU and low RAM, it's really slow. Without more, it could not decode h.264 AVC encoded video in HD.

It had a wifi card in it's only mini PCI Express slot. You could take that out, and instead put in a Broadcomm CrystalHD card which, with the right drivers, could decode h.264 AVC video up to 1080p. Pretty much anyone that ran XBMC on it did this.

Another neat upgrade was the drive. It had a 2.5" IDE/PATA spinner drive that was super slow. While rare and pricey, there were (maybe still are) some companies that make IDE/PATA SSDs. Either way, even a low quality SSD could saturate the 100MB/s speed of the PATA connection. That made booting a lot faster.

With those upgrades, it made a decent XBMC box. Not good, but decent. Even with those upgrades, it was still utter rubbish at running full OS X.

However, I believe it is still to this day the most elegant streaming box that technically supports 1080P and has composite video output. So if you're one of those suckers that bought a 1080P television before HDMI existed, and you don't like using converters/adapters, this baby is for you!
Click to expand...
I used a CRT until 2009 because I didn't watch anything new on TV... Would mostly use this to stream some local videos to my TV. The 2010 Mac mini is also something I'd consider since it features a DVD drive, and running Snow Leopard I would have Front Row. But since I'm about to spend over $1,000 on a new laptop I really don't have the money for a Mac mini, even a 2010.
 
I use it in my RV to hold movies since streaming isn't an option very often.
But I have also ripped my entire DVD/Blu-ray collection to MP4 files.
 
LOL, I was also the guy responsible for the entire Broadcom CrystalHD experience :) That was great fun. It started with a cold email to someone high up at Broadcom/CrystalHD division.

Little known fact, some later AppleTV1's had the nVidia GeForce Go 7300 with 256MBs of video ram.

I've still have my original dev box and about 3-4 sitting around gathering dust. Plus god knows how many CrystalHD's. Include a very rare pcie version that I used to do the OSX driver port.
 
How are the 2nd and 3rd gen in 2019? Can you still use YouTube on either of them?
 
Hey Retta: If you are still following this thread: The 1st Generation Apple TV is a perfect server for DTS 5.1 Surround Sound versions of recorded albums. That is what I still use mine for exclusively, even though I own a 4K AppleTV.

If you have Surround Sound receiver (I have a Samsung Home Theater in a Box with BluRay), I connect my AppleTV1 to it by digital audio cable.

I find/buy/rip DTS 5.1 mixes of primarily Classic Rock albums and use iTunes to transcode them to Apple Loseless. Then I add metadata and sync them to my AppleTV1 using the iTunes in my Mt. Lion partition on my Mac mini (I am trying to get a work around for High Sierra, but so far no go. But once sync'd, I do not need to access Mt. Lion iTunes again).

Let me know if you need more information about this use.
 
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MichaelLAX said:
Hey Retta: If you are still following this thread: The 1st Generation Apple TV is a perfect server for DTS 5.1 Surround Sound versions of recorded albums. That is what I still use mine for exclusively, even though I own a 4K AppleTV.

If you have Surround Sound receiver (I have a Samsung Home Theater in a Box with BluRay), I connect my AppleTV1 to it by digital audio cable.

I find/buy/rip DTS 5.1 mixes of primarily Classic Rock albums and use iTunes to transcode them to Apple Loseless. Then I add metadata and sync them to my AppleTV1 using the iTunes in my Mt. Lion partition on my Mac mini (I am trying to get a work around for High Sierra, but so far no go. But once sync'd, I do not need to access Mt. Lion iTunes again).

Let me know if you need more information about this use.
Click to expand...
That's one of the more interesting uses I've seen so far for one of these. I remember they touted the original AirPort Extreme for a somewhat similar use, but I think it was harder to set up than an Apple TV is. I had figured if I bought one I'd end up using it for a similar purpose, with a bit of video thrown in. If it had a DVD player I'd have one, that's the biggest thing that's stopped me so far.

I could use Handbrake on my 2008 iMac and rip them to the computer, but for all my DVDs it would take a while and a lot of space. I have considered getting an older Mac Mini for this purpose, still going back and forth between which one to get. If all you need is a music server, I can see the Apple TV being a good option. How much HDD space do you have on yours?
 
160 MB; huge for just my audio collection of 5.1 Surround; but its growing.

I have a collection of about 5 more ATV1sts; from relatives and friends that gave them to me when they upgraded. I think all but one works and most are 40 MB.
 
I have two of these.

I bought the first one in 2007, and loved it then, as there really wasn't anything like it, except maybe a Mac Mini with Front Row (which I also had).

I got a few years of use out of it, but then I made the mistake of leaving a Wii game case on top of the ATV. The top acted as a heatsink and got really hot. It ended up frying the GPU, leaving artifacts on the screen after warming up.

I did some custom work, removing the bottom, drilling air holes and adding a fan to cool things off. This worked for a while, but it was replaced at the ATV2 launch.


I picked up the second Gen 1 ATV a few years ago for $5. I always planned on doing something with it, but like many other things, never got around to doing it. I put a mSATA SSD using a mSATA to PATA adapter, but got distracted with other things and never got around to doing something with it.

oneMadRssn said:
That's right, this thing had soldered RAM before it was cool.
Click to expand...
Soldered RAM still isn't cool.
 
Your profile photo looks like my 2008 Red Chrsyler Sebring Hardtop Convertible: I can't seem to magnify the image. What car is that? Mine sits parked most of the time with a solar panel keeping the battery charged. I just enjoy driving my 2019 Red Chevy Bolt EV way too much!
 
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