Comments on: How I Upgraded From Apple TV and Put $90 in My Pocket

By: superm

superm — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 06:56:22 +0000

Hi, I just found the patchstick.ca website and they have a cool prebuilt app to hack your ATV. Very cool and let’s you do heaps of stuff like stream from a NAS using XBMC (media centre). Check it out.

By: Lyle

Lyle — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:53:19 +0000

Ok, I have an Apple TV, and it is hacked with atv flash. However, it does not support streaming from a NAS which is where all my stuff is. Any ideas how to get it working over my network so I can play all my files over my Apple TV on my NAS. Email me at mlathem1998@yahoo.com thanks

By: caleb Miller

caleb Miller — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:57:26 +0000

I have a hacked atv. using atv flash. it’s quite possibly the coolest tech device i’ve ever owned. i don’t know what you’re all bitching about. how bout this. buy something apple because it works, and it’s open source, then hack the hell out of it. i have a 350 GB hard drive internal, with a 1tb external drive attached to the usb port. it woks like a charm!

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:32:52 +0000

Jason,

I stumbled across this page, and having realised that my DVD player has a USB input decided to give it a try – I’m with you, this is an awesome (and incredibly simple) solution! I’ve been contemplating buying an Apple TV, but in the meantime have been connecting my Macbook pro to my HD tv via mini-displayport/DVI/audio jack cables and watching video thru Front Row (ie basically using cables instead of an Apple TV to stream my video from either my HDD or network storage.

This is just simpler, plus i don’t have to move my macbook pro around, plus i can actually surf the web while i watch downloaded video content!

Kinda scary to think that i was just about to outlay a few hundred bucks on an Apple TV when i had a free solution already sitting in my entertainment unit…

thanks again.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:21:11 +0000

Thanks Jason. I recently bought the newest Apple router with a TB for backup to solve the problem but did not work. I have completely given up on the Apple TV, i won’t spend another minute on it.

I think the solution for me is a Mac Mini hooked up to the TV, expensive but since i have put so much time and energy into my media files, I think it is worth it.

By: JasonTomczak

JasonTomczak — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:45:07 +0000

Dave, dude that sucks. So sorry to hear about the AppleTV connection issue.

You may not need to scrap the whole AppleTV setup. Depending on the type of connection between the AppleTV and your iMac, it may be easy to determine the weak link.

If you’re using a LAN cable, then yes, you’re S.O.L. and need to dump the AppleTV setup, or at least get the AppleTV repaired/replaced.

If you’re using an AirportExtreme or AirportExpress and experiencing nasty connection trouble, then the AppleTV may need to get ditched, repaired, etc.

If you’re using another brand of wireless router (like Netgear, Linksys, D-Link or a generic wireless cable/DSL/FiOS modem provided by your ISP), that could be the weak link. I have seen countless routers just absolutely go psychotic when serving wireless to Apple devices, even when they say “Mac compatible” on the box. If you’ve got one of these routers, I would recommend getting an AirportExpress and create a nice 802.11n wireless network for your iMac and AppleTV.

If you go with one of the DivX-friendly DVD players like mine, then you’d need to convert your files to AVI (DivX codec). It’s not nearly as hard as it sounds. I just used the newest version of HandBrake to convert a 30 minute QuickTime movie to DivX AVI at 100% quality and it took about 5 minutes. I think it peaked at about 180fps, which is awesome. You could theoretically convert a full 90 minute movie in 15-20 mins. Quality stays the same.

What I like about the DVD option is the simplicity of moving TV shows and movies to a USB stick (or external USB hard drive) and never having to worry about wireless, etc. If you have more than one TV/DVD setup, then you can sneaker-net those shows in less than a minute.

Anyway, good luck troubleshooting the wireless. Otherwise, pick up one of those DVD players and test it out with a few converted files. You’ll probably like what you see. (Just don’t pay more than $50 for the player. Anything above that is crazy.)

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:49:57 +0000

Jason, I hate my apple TV. I have ripped my whole movie and TV collection (1TB), using handbrake, to Apple TV format. The problem is my computer (which is a new imac, not the one i am replacing the hard drive on) keeps losing the connection. I try and make iTunes find it, which it shows it there, but on the main itunes screen on the left it won’t show up. The only way to make this thing work is to do a reset on the Apple TV back to factory settings, than the upgrades, than sync (which takes 24 hours), and than I can watch video for a few days. But than the Apple TV is loses the connection again and the process starts again. Well maybe not, i just watch my video on the imac now and gave up.

So, enough complaining, will the DVD player you mentioned play video in Apple TV format, or is it just AVI video.

Thanks in advance
Dave