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Is it worth getting an Apple TV 1

I

icebergx

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 27, 2012
202
3
Copenhagen, Denmark
Hi all,
My friend has offered me his Apple TV 1st gen. for free. I already have the 3rd gen one, so was thinking about jailbreaking the 1st gen and installing XBMC.

My questions:

1) Are there any advantages of the 2nd gen over the 1st gen in terms of the Jailbreak and XBMC?

2)Does the 2nd gen hold any further advantages over the 3rd gen?

3) Apart from taking up more space, would there be any downside in having both a 1st gen and 3rd gen?

Thanks,
 
The Apple TV 1G has the internal hard drive for storage and it can output to SD TVs without the need for a converter. The Apple TV 3G has many more streaming services and can output in 1080p without a problem.
 
icebergx said:
My friend has offered me his Apple TV 1st gen. for free. I already have the 3rd gen one, so was thinking about jailbreaking the 1st gen and installing XBMC.
Click to expand...

Heh, for free you have little to lose. If you hack it I suggest considering spending $40 on a CrystalHD card which if running linux / xbmc will output 1080p ... and not the 1080p the atv 3 does. It will eat up raw decrypted blu ray. Downside is the $40 bucks for the CrystalHD card and you will lose wireless (the CHD replaces the wireless card) so you would have to hook it up via ethernet.

Otherwise just use it as is. Its free after all.
 
The Apple TV for me can be hacked and expanded, but the point of an ATV for me is a frustration free and headache free experience.

I truly don't see the point in hacking it to do more than Apple provides. There are other boxes that will do it without hacking. The Roku, BoxeeBox etc. can do different things.

I'd rather have what Apple provides and not worry about updating and hacking. I'd say get an ATV 3 and enjoy what it does - if you have other needs get a Roku or Western Digital TV box.

(For free though - why not?)
 
I don't know, the first-generation Apple TV seems awfully out-of-date and underpowered to me. You might be able to do cool stuff with it though.
 
AriX said:
I don't know, the first-generation Apple TV seems awfully out-of-date and underpowered to me. You might be able to do cool stuff with it though.
Click to expand...
The 1st Gen atv is the most customizable of all of the atv's if that is your wish. It also has the distinct advantage of local media storage which the others do not. Stock, the atv 2 and 3 are more capable though.
 
Personally I would take it, put XBMC on it, and then sell it on ebay. Looks like you could get ~ $100 for it.

Upsides I have heard about ATV1 are that the user interface is better designed than the current ATV2/3. (ex: quicker to get to YOUR content, rather than iTunes Store content).

Downsides: it gets really hot, and it sucks more power than the ATV2/3.

(I have two jailbroken ATV2's. If I didn't have those, I might keep the ATV1 for running XBMC.)
 
So it only outputs SD video? I heard on a youtube clip that it can output HD 1080p... Maybe was using the hardware upgrade, but the guy didn't say so specifically.

Would it output 720p with some kind of software tweak or will I be stuck using SD video... Not the end of the world though :)
 
The Apple TV 1G can output 480i, 480p, 720i, and 720p. It can do 1080i and 1080p with the help of a hardware upgrade.
 
A box stock atv 1 plays back 720p up to 25 fps. If the framerate is 29.976 (ntsc) it has to be 540p.

Yes, hacked with the CHD + linux / xbmc it outputs much more than even the atv 3.
 
Thanks for all the help.
I've picked it up, jailbroken and installed the xvmc... But you guys have got me started now, so I'm already thinking what to do next!!!
I'm gonna pick up a broadcom card and upgrade to a linux setup. A few questions:
1) The options are to install Linux using Crystalbuntu or Openelec... Which is better? What are the main differences? Is there any additional functionality (apps, etc) that can be gained by adding one over the other?

2) Power consumption on the Apple TV1 seems to be pretty high, and it runs hot. Will disconnecting the HDD and heat sync reduce the power consumption?

3) Could the internal HDD be used for anything useful if I leave it connected to the ATV?

Thanks for all your help so far!!!

:)
 
It's worth it to me. I'm thinking of getting my third one. I like to add external storage via USB. Then I can play all my ripped DVDs and all my iTunes purchases on it. Love it!

I just wish Apple would have made a way to properly shut it down. I don't like having that little fireplace running 24/7.
 
an ATV1 with crystalbuntu and the broadcom card is so much more powerful than an ATV2 or ATV3

since getting a broadcom card for my ATV1, my ATV2 hasn't been used once...
 
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