I know that one of the primary criticisms of the AppleTV is that its hard drive is too small. The reasonable response is that you don't need a large hard drive, since everything can be streamed. While I generally agree with that response, many people have had the recurring problem of iTunes dropping out of AppleTV, thereby making streaming a frustrating experience as you repeatedly have to close and reopen iTunes. While my own problem of iTunes dropping AppleTV seems to have been largely (though not completely) solved with the last iTunes update, a larger hard drive would still be nice since then you could just sync everything without having to bother having iTunes open at all. But since I'm not a particularly technical person, I wasn't interested in the various hacks that I see discussed in this forum for putting a larger hard drive into AppleTV. The instructions alone all seemed way too complicated.
But I recently looked into the ATV Flash program that people on these forums have mentioned and decided to go with it. I installed it last night and it is amazing. For a mere $45 plus the cost of an external hard drive (I had an extra one sitting around) which I connected to the now operable USB port on my AppleTV, I now have increased the storage capacity on my AppleTV from 40GB to 1 TB. This enables me to sync all my music, photos, and my hundreds of movies directly onto the hard drive, all of which I can enjoy without having to bother with ever running upstairs to open iTunes.
The installation could not be easier, as it requires absolutely NO technical knowledge or expertise. I know that there are ways to get this same capability for free, but the simplicity of ATV Flash makes this the best $49 I ever spent. Anyone who wants to avoid having to open iTunes in order to watch AppleTV (and especially those who have the problem of AppleTV dropping out of iTunes) should get ATV Flash. There are other features of ATV Flash that I may or may not use at some point, but the ability to connect an external hard drive to my AppleTV is enough to make this purchase more than worth it. It makes the AppleTV a truly amazing product. I wish I had installed it sooner.
But I recently looked into the ATV Flash program that people on these forums have mentioned and decided to go with it. I installed it last night and it is amazing. For a mere $45 plus the cost of an external hard drive (I had an extra one sitting around) which I connected to the now operable USB port on my AppleTV, I now have increased the storage capacity on my AppleTV from 40GB to 1 TB. This enables me to sync all my music, photos, and my hundreds of movies directly onto the hard drive, all of which I can enjoy without having to bother with ever running upstairs to open iTunes.
The installation could not be easier, as it requires absolutely NO technical knowledge or expertise. I know that there are ways to get this same capability for free, but the simplicity of ATV Flash makes this the best $49 I ever spent. Anyone who wants to avoid having to open iTunes in order to watch AppleTV (and especially those who have the problem of AppleTV dropping out of iTunes) should get ATV Flash. There are other features of ATV Flash that I may or may not use at some point, but the ability to connect an external hard drive to my AppleTV is enough to make this purchase more than worth it. It makes the AppleTV a truly amazing product. I wish I had installed it sooner.