Official XBMC on Apple TV (version 2) Thread - Page 2

This is the only thing stopping me from picking one up after work today.
I only have windows PC's and am not sure I would be able to jailbreak it.

Would this work for the people who are picking them up today that are on 4.2.1, that require a windows box


http://www.shoutpedia.com/jailbreak-...le-tv-2g-7310/

The current rumor is that Apple will be switching all of their products, currently based on the A4 chip to the new A5 chip later this year. This chip has a dual core GPU and supposedly runs 1080P content like butter.

So, personally for me, I will hold off and see what happens when the next Apple TV refresh happens and see if it is worth getting one to use XBMC on at that point.

Aside from the tethered jailbreak issue (hopefully fixed soon), I have one other potential roadblock to switching over to the ATV2. My primary TV is an older (but still quite serviceable) widescreen rear projection set. It does not have any HDMI inputs, but it does have DVI. I'm fairly sure it's not HDCP compliant. I'm wondering if anybody knows if the ATV2 with XBMC will work with an HDMI to DVI cable, and if the signal is HDCP protected.

Can XBMC on the iOS devices play DVD ISOs with full menus?

Untethered 4.2.1 jailbreak "coming soon" video released:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5qNray7FHU

i believe with hidef sources, your display would have to be HDCP compliant for the ATV2 to work.

DVD isos not working right now according to xbmc forums...dev said 'soon'

Dont see anything on the AppleTV devices.. just all "i" devices

My Kindle 2 uses it as well and worked just fine to jailbreak my ATV2. I then installed the Plex client on it. They are up to version 0.6.6 . The Plex Media Server has to be running somewhere and it plays just like my Plex Clint on my Mini and iPad. Really quite impressive. In particular, it will play EyeTV HD recordingings directly from the EyeTV archives, which avoids having to export those. It does not yet respect comskip markings so you have to compactify your shows if you don't want to see ads. No big deal, it's very fast and can be automated though I don't yet trust comskip enough to do that.

I am on a wired network with the ATV2. The quality of 720p files is great. It does decode 1080p though of course the ATV2 outputs that at 720p.

I have yet to jailbreak my ATV2 living wirelessly. One at a time as the process is a bit tricky for those of us on 4.2.1 as it requires a tethered boot. The jail breaking part is easy. The tethered boot part seems to work in different ways for different setups.

From the Plex client you have access to music, photos, etc ... Living in your iTunes and iPhoto collections. The Plex Media Server will handle content from multiple locations and add metadata. It's really very neat.

For what it's worth, LG is coming out with a small low end smart TV upgraded box which will have the Plex client built in. That client will also be in their new Blu-Ray players, TV's.



Philip

Yes, only outputs 720p. That is an ATV2 hardware issue. As the ATV moves on to the A5 I assume that won't be an issue, but it is at this point.

Didn't notice any buffering issues with the Plex client and many have reported none with XBMC. I don't get buffering with XBMC on my ATV1G with a Crystal HD card, but some do. Networks can be very tricky that way.

Philip

Edit: Watched 3 hours of 720p video using XBMC on the ATV2. The GUI is still a bit sluggish, but playback was great with no stuttering, buffering, etc.... Really nice actually. At the moment I have Plex (client), XBMC and the usual ATV stuff including Netflix which works fine.
The jailbreak part of 4.2.1 using pwnage tool is very simple. After jailbreaking you have to tether boot the ATV. Have been trying a variety of ways and it really is pretty simple. The confusion usually happens when you enter DFU mode. That is easily done when the power is not plugged in. In fact I booted it that way using just the usb cable ( thus making DFU easy) and then plugged in the cable and hdmi and network. I am not using wireless so perhaps that is why I got away with it. Some people have said they lose wireless if they don't keep it plugged in for most of that process. There's an excellent You Tube video that takes you through it all ( but he manages to enter DFU with the power plugged in which I have never been able to do).

Connection via smb to a variety of NAS devices was no problem. XBMC works like it always has.

The ATV2 has just taken on a whole new character with XBMC. It's interesting. It's still well worth having a look at Plex.

Phillip, Sean asked you a question in post #26 that I was interested in also.

Thanks

Will it be able to play a DVD from my PC, if the DVD drive is shared?

I used a tethered jailbreak using pwnagetool. There doesn't seem to be a setting to prevent Apple from updating the ATV2 in the jailbreak. When I upgraded to 4.2.1 my ATV's did not upgrade without asking me. Perhaps there is some general setting in the ATV2 for that? My ATV1 would auto update until I blocked it.

Since ssh is available and you have root it shouldn't be much of an issue. The more important issue is the tethered boot part which for someone new to jailbreaking like me was the hardest part of the process. Once you do it, it's trivial. If seasonpass happens to work for you then it's all pretty simple.

Philip

Not yet. Soon they say.

Philip

Perhaps because I've only dabbled with XMBC I find it confusing (this applies to the ATV-1 instance too).

I can live with the pain of recovering from a system restore but I want to use Remote.app interact with my ATV.

I'm sure I'm not the only one a little lost on this process...
Where do we get the IPSW file needed?

And what if we're already on 4.2.1? It doesn't look like sn0wbreeze can do anything with IPSW files > 4.1

See the first post or read the original. Seas0nPass will automatically download and process the correct ipsw.

Once a new update for ATV2 comes out, you will get a pop up that ask you if you would like to update to the latest version. It actually nags you every chance it gets, but it will not automatically update you. I didn't see a way to turn this option off.

At any time, you can go into the Settings>General>Update Software to do a manual check for update.

-Daryoon

Ah now, what do you take me for? Of course I read the first post - I also double checked the original source, but as you can see from my quote, I'm looking for a Windows solution to this

Unless you're running the previous release: per Firecore

Since you're a little lost I'd suggest waiting until better tools are available for your platform.

If you have the previous release you can search for this file: AppleTV2,1_4.2_8C150_Restore.ipsw

Never considered jailbreaking my iPhone, so this is all new to me. Very interested in buying an ATV and installing XBMC (and/or Firecore's aTV Flash when it comes out) simply to use my NAS as a media repository without needing to have a full computer (a Mac) running and wasting power. Therefore, this "tethered boot" thing: Essentially, every time I restart the AppleTV I would need to have it hooked up to my laptop, right? As I understand it, if I wanted to do this now, rather than wait for an untethered option, I could simply leave the darn thing running until that option is available. Is that right?

And yeah, I realize it would marginally ding me in the electricity department (conflicting with my stated goal of no other boxes running full-time), but I would be willing to live with that short-term.

Thanks. An exciting day....

Yes but I don't think many people turn off the power.

Really? Huh.

Well, thanks - this is very helpful. Might go get myself one. Instructions look pretty darn simple.

They said the ATV2 version would be released shortly after. The tethered jailbreak is not that difficult and you can go forever without rebooting the ATV2.

Philip

The ATV2 uses very little power. I have never turned them off except to jailbreak one of them.

Philip

atvflash is out in beta. You can buy it for $20. I have it but used ssh to install Plex. In a way it's nice to know what the process is.

Philip

I got all the way through the installation process and after I completed a successful tethered boot, disconnected the USB (as instructed) and hooked up the HDMI.

It was at that point that a graphic showed up on the TV instructing me to connect to iTunes. That was it. After a few mins, it went away and nothing happened.

Any thoughts folks?