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Apple TV Atv2 xbmc

S

SilverNCSU

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 1, 2013
4
0
I'm looking to get an ATV2 and finding some pretty good deals on e-Bay. Just looking for some advice on selection.

I'm seeing quite a few that are new in box, others used, jailbroken, tethered, untethered. I'm strictly using this for netflix, HBO Go, and mostly XBMC. Any thoughts on best choice? If I got one new in box and it's on stock firmware, any risk of complications trying to jailbreak? Most are jailbroken, tethered, running 5.3.
 
You may have some complications since Apple may not being signing 5.3 anymore, and 6.0 is currently not jailbroken.

I eventually got rid of my jailbreak for my Apple TV 2 as XBMC/Ice Films worked below average at best, plus HBO GO wouldn't work on it anymore. It was rare that I found a working HD video on the first try, or one that didn't have to buffer frequently even with my 50 Mbps connection.
 
SilverNCSU said:
I'm looking to get an ATV2 and finding some pretty good deals on e-Bay. Just looking for some advice on selection.

I'm seeing quite a few that are new in box, others used, jailbroken, tethered, untethered. I'm strictly using this for netflix, HBO Go, and mostly XBMC. Any thoughts on best choice? If I got one new in box and it's on stock firmware, any risk of complications trying to jailbreak? Most are jailbroken, tethered, running 5.3.
Click to expand...

Not knowing if its some type of cable replacement and going to sit plugged in and never move etc, generally you don't really need Netflix or HBO GO with XBMC and its a lot more convenient (and lazy!) to be able to unplug it and move it around so I would go with anything untethered.

Dookieman said:
You may have some complications since Apple may not being signing 5.3 anymore, and 6.0 is currently not jailbroken.

I eventually got rid of my jailbreak for my Apple TV 2 as XBMC/Ice Films worked below average at best, plus HBO GO wouldn't work on it anymore. It was rare that I found a working HD video on the first try, or one that didn't have to buffer frequently even with my 50 Mbps connection.
Click to expand...

Not sure how long ago you had it but now you can increase the buffer/cache size which is definitely needed since the default is wayyy toooo small for HD streams.
 
The tethered ones are almost $100 less. Not really worried about having to boot it through my MacBook Pro. It's really only going to have to be done once unless I lose power, as it's going to be stationary.

I've been trying to decide between this and a Mac Mini. Just can't justify the $500+ for a used mini just to watch XBMC. Although, I know it would be a powerhouse at streaming, just too much.

I'm just trying to figure out with the plethora of ATV2 units for sale on ebay which would be best or what to watch out for. There are plenty of units running just about every firmware version (other than 6.0) but I'm not sure of any advantages one way or the other. I'm thinking why not get one with the latest firmware that can be jb, 5.3 and run with that?
 
SilverNCSU said:
The tethered ones are almost $100 less. Not really worried about having to boot it through my MacBook Pro. It's really only going to have to be done once unless I lose power, as it's going to be stationary.

I've been trying to decide between this and a Mac Mini. Just can't justify the $500+ for a used mini just to watch XBMC. Although, I know it would be a powerhouse at streaming, just too much.

I'm just trying to figure out with the plethora of ATV2 units for sale on ebay which would be best or what to watch out for. There are plenty of units running just about every firmware version (other than 6.0) but I'm not sure of any advantages one way or the other. I'm thinking why not get one with the latest firmware that can be jb, 5.3 and run with that?
Click to expand...

I just upgraded one of my ATV2's to 5.3 I believe. It is tethered but now I have HBOGO And WATCHESPN. I have not once had to reboot the system either. The only way you will receive those two channels is through a tethered JB.
 
I will chime in as I have both an untethered and a tethered ATV2. In my opinion, the untethered is the only way to go. Just so nice to not have to worry about it (power outage, disconnect, XBMC freezing forcing a reset). Now, while it is pretty unusual to have to worry about those things, it does get a little annoying to not be able to restart the ATV without hooking up the computer. Having the untethered makes it nice to have the flexibility to take it with you anywhere you go (hotel, traveling, friends/family house) or just to move it to another room.

To me the "hockey puck" sized device is invaluable to have the above flexibility to move it anywhere you like without needing a computer. I have all my ATVs Velcro'd to the back of the TVs, so I can simply grab them and go as necessary (a lot of times I sit outside and have a TV for my bar that I plug one into and watch XBMC outside). I have a few spare power cords for my setup so I can leave all the cords in place and just grab the ATV and spare power cord and go.

The tethered ATV is in our master bedroom and has served us well, but there have been times I have needed to reboot tethered, not a huge deal, but still that is a stationary device, as the untethered ATV is always my go to. I just had to make sure the mounting of the tethered ATV allowed easy access to the micro USB for tethered booting (wall mounted TVs).

That being said, there is zero difference in operation when running, but still the untethered just has that additional flexibility. As for using it for Netflix and HBOGo, I doubt you will see the need to use those anymore after using XBMC. I previously had both Netflix and HBOGo and had cancelled Netflix within a week of using XBMC and have stopped using HBOGo all together, as XBMC will have all the programs those apps offer and way more.

All in all, that is my experience with using the ATVs/XBMC for the past 2 years, hopefully that will help with your decision.
 
The Mad Hatter said:
Do you have a link to accomplish this change?
Click to expand...

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO:Modify_the_cache

I increased the cache size on mine by 5x so the advancedsettings.xml file for this setting only would look like this:

Code: 
<advancedsettings><network>
<cachemembuffersize>26214400</cachemembuffersize>
</network></advancedsettings>

The advancedsettings.xml file does not exist by default and has to be created and added to the user preferences located at:

Code: 
/private/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/XBMC/userdata
 
blakkout said:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO:Modify_the_cache

I increased the cache size on mine by 5x so the advancedsettings.xml file for this setting only would look like this:

Code: 
<advancedsettings><network>
<cachemembuffersize>26214400</cachemembuffersize>
</network></advancedsettings>

The advancedsettings.xml file does not exist by default and has to be created and added to the user preferences located at:

Code: 
/private/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/XBMC/userdata
Click to expand...

Thanks blakkout

This'll come in handy since I use XBMC mainly for external (HTML) sources.
 
Yeah Best Buy had a huge sale on Apple tv 2's over the weekend. They must have just found a bunch in warehouses. They were going for $80 dollars and took awhile to sell out. This is why you now see Ebay flooded with them. Not a lot of people believed they were 2's and thought it was a mistake. Lo and behold when we got them they were 2's. I was able to get two of them. Haven't had a chance to jb yet. They also all came with low jail breakable firmwares, such as 4.3, 4.4.4, and etc. It was a great deal if you got in on time.
 
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