Apple tv and external HD

[corrado7]

I have a question that is pretty strait forward but cannot seem to find any solid answers to. I have an external hd with lots of avi and mkv. I currently use a ps3 to watch movies off the hd.

My question is: what is the simplest way to play movies through ATV2? If I plug the hd through the usb, do i need to jailbreak? or install some programs.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[5thSymphony]

Not familiar with ATV2.

I own 2 ATV1 and in order to use my USB with HDD pluged in I installed NitoTV.

You need to format your HDD in FAT32 (or any other USB drive).

I would suggest to go to http://firecore.com/, and you'll have all you need to fully enjoy your ATV.

Hope that did some enlightenment.

 

[eTip]

ATV2 does NOT support the connection of an external drive via the USB port.

If you have another computer in the house that is always (or usually) on, then connect the drive to that computer, share it on the network, jailbreak the ATV, install XBMC or Plex and you will be able to play back your movies this way.

I had an external drive connected to my ATV1 (running XBMC) so when I upgraded to ATV2, I moved the drive to my Mini. I also moved the ATV1 into the bedroom so now I have acess to all my movies in both rooms.

 

[djdirect]

ATV2 does NOT support the connection of an external drive via the USB port.

If you have another computer in the house that is always (or usually) on, then connect the drive to that computer, share it on the network, jailbreak the ATV, install XBMC or Plex and you will be able to play back your movies this way.

I had an external drive connected to my ATV1 (running XBMC) so when I upgraded to ATV2, I moved the drive to my Mini. I also moved the ATV1 into the bedroom so now I have acess to all my movies in both rooms.

How exactly do you share an externally connect USB hard drive, is my problem. I've gone under the system preferences/sharing. Clicked on file sharing to on. Have checked off the SMB button. Then what? Do you put an alias of your USB connected hard drive in your shared folder?

 

[eTip]

This should help:

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?titl...A/CIFS)#Windows_Filesharing_.28on_Mac_OS_X.29


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLiLEgEhbtc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

...if not, let me know. Make sure when you set up sharing that you share ALL the folders\subfolders that you want XBMC to have access to and that the account XBMC uses (I set up a separate acccount on the Mac specifically for this) had the rights it needs to those folders.


EDIT: Here's another YouTube guide. I think it may be the one I used originally:
http://m.youtube.com/?rdm=4mvi3lm5j#/watch?v=Z4iEl3BqhUI