Apple TV 2 + XBMC = WIN!

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Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
The fun isn't completely that it is XBMC on the new AppleTV. Part of the fun is that it works on iOS.

That means iPad 2, with its better specs, will be a perfect portable HD platform. If they put a mini displayport or HDMI adaptor on it then it will be a must have device....

Don't get your hopes up. While it works on iOS that doesn't mean the the iPad 2 or future devices will allow people to install their own software. Remember this is apple. People might be able to crack whatever protection they put on the next devices but it is never for certain.
 

morkman100

Senior member
Jun 2, 2003
383
0
0
Don't get your hopes up. While it works on iOS that doesn't mean the the iPad 2 or future devices will allow people to install their own software. Remember this is apple. People might be able to crack whatever protection they put on the next devices but it is never for certain.

Nothing is ever certain, but so far the jailbreak community is batting 6 for 6 (iPhone 2g/3g/3gs/4, iPad, and AppleTV).
 

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
Nothing is ever certain, but so far the jailbreak community is batting 6 for 6 (iPhone 2g/3g/3gs/4, iPad, and AppleTV).

If it has been good for apple sales then look for them to allow it to continue. If they decide to stop it though they could. I suspect they are intentionally leaving holes in the hardware because eventually it does increase sales. It allows them to sell the product in high volumes at launch while people try to break the protection , then increases sales later when the protection is broken.

That is the problem with reverse engineering hardware vs software. Things can be done to hardware to make it just about impossible to access.
 

poofyhairguy

Lifer
Nov 20, 2005
14,612
318
126
If it has been good for apple sales then look for them to allow it to continue.

How Hackintoshing is treated vs how Psystar was treated has proven that if Apple feels a certain hacker community does them little direct harm then they are left alone, and otherwise wrath is swift and brutal.

Jailbreaking seems to be on their ignore list, which means it will probably stay on that list...
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
48,702
5,456
136
How Hackintoshing is treated vs how Psystar was treated has proven that if Apple feels a certain hacker community does them little direct harm then they are left alone, and otherwise wrath is swift and brutal.

Jailbreaking seems to be on their ignore list, which means it will probably stay on that list...

I think it's primarily a monetary issue. Psystar was making money from hacking Apple's products and then selling them. The EULA for not putting Apple products on non-Apple products would likely never hold up in court for an individual user, given the American attitude of "I bought it, I own it, I can do whatever I want with it", but they have strong legal grounds to pursue people who sell products that violate the EULA. I think this is why they've had problems attacking EFI-X, since it doesn't directly hack anything - the user has to do it. Kind of like selling people guns and bullets, but since they haven't shot anyone, it's okay. Sorta

I also think it's a marketing issue. People who don't want a Mac might be willing to try Hackintosh, and might get fed up with the flaky operation and buy a real Mac. Grassroots psychology - Apple still has a relatively small userbase, so anything that gets them more exposure is a Good Thing. The same with jailbreaking - yeah, technically Apple is losing money on all those apps, but #1, those people probably wouldn't have purchased the apps anyway, #2, it's more incentive for people to buy Apple's hardware, and Apple makes money off that, #3, which results in more underground advertising for Apple's products because you hear that you can "get free stuff" on Apple's products, and #4, Apple knows that most people are non-technical and will just buy the apps instead of doing the hacking stuff (the app store is much too easy to use vs. hacking for a lot of people). Given their current market cap and cash reserves, I would say their strategy is working pretty well :awe:

I don't entirely believe that Apple's lack of security isn't just part of a larger marketing ploy to boost their userbase over the initial period of time. As far as MP3 players go, I don't even know anybody has an MP3 player that isn't an iPod of some sort anymore. There used to be a mix, but I hardly see non-Apple MP3 players floating around these days.
 
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Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
I think it's more that they suspect the majority of the Apple product-using populous is not going to try to hack their devices.
 

Claudius-07

Member
Dec 4, 2009
187
0
0
I hate to drag this on but if I understand this correctly from everything I have read, once I have jailbroken my ATV2, and installed XBMC, from then on, no matter what. I have to tether my ATV2 to my mac and run through the instructions to Boot it... EVERY TIME right? I mean the second you turn off the ATV2, you can't boot it unless you go through the process that is specified? I guess I can just leave the ATV2 on for ever... LOL. No harm in that right!! )
 

JackBurton

Lifer
Jul 18, 2000
15,993
14
81
I hate to drag this on but if I understand this correctly from everything I have read, once I have jailbroken my ATV2, and installed XBMC, from then on, no matter what. I have to tether my ATV2 to my mac and run through the instructions to Boot it... EVERY TIME right? I mean the second you turn off the ATV2, you can't boot it unless you go through the process that is specified? I guess I can just leave the ATV2 on for ever... LOL. No harm in that right!! )

Well, until the power goes out at your place.
 

Patranus

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2007
9,280
0
0
I hate to drag this on but if I understand this correctly from everything I have read, once I have jailbroken my ATV2, and installed XBMC, from then on, no matter what. I have to tether my ATV2 to my mac and run through the instructions to Boot it... EVERY TIME right? I mean the second you turn off the ATV2, you can't boot it unless you go through the process that is specified? I guess I can just leave the ATV2 on for ever... LOL. No harm in that right!! )

You leave the AppleTV on all of the time anyways.
 

cKGunslinger

Lifer
Nov 29, 1999
16,408
57
91
So, how easy is it to install on a ATV2? I heard rumors that you need a Mac in order to jailbreak it. And you have to re-break it each time you power off the box, etc. Is any of that true?

I'm running an orig Xbox with XBMC, and it's getting left behind with XBMC development, not to mention lack of HD. That said, I stick with it, as XBMC is the best, most intuitive HTPC interface I've ever used. I just need to (cheaply) upgrade the hardware.
 

Patranus

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2007
9,280
0
0
So, how easy is it to install on a ATV2? I heard rumors that you need a Mac in order to jailbreak it. And you have to re-break it each time you power off the box, etc. Is any of that true?

I'm running an orig Xbox with XBMC, and it's getting left behind with XBMC development, not to mention lack of HD. That said, I stick with it, as XBMC is the best, most intuitive HTPC interface I've ever used. I just need to (cheaply) upgrade the hardware.

All you do is jailbreak it. This can be done now or you can wait for the tetherless jailbreak which is days away.

Then all you do is ssh into the box and type 4 shell commands and you are done. Literally takes ~45 sec.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
All you do is jailbreak it. This can be done now or you can wait for the tetherless jailbreak which is days away.

Then all you do is ssh into the box and type 4 shell commands and you are done. Literally takes ~45 sec.

But for him, it's how to jailbreak it. It sounds like he doesn't have a mac, which as of right now is the most annoying problem. Seas0npass is an easy tool for jailbreaking the ATV2, but it's currently Mac only with a Windows version about to enter beta (I asked to get a copy of the beta, but no reply yet).

Hopefully tetherless will come out soon, which is my biggest problem. I could even hack it with my Hackintosh if I just didn't have to do a tethered boot :\. Well, I guess I could just drag my Hackintosh into the other room, do a boot and then move it back .

EDIT:

Also, according to the XBMC website ( http://xbmc.org/ ), XBMC for iOS has been updated to include a few features that members here have been wanting...

Changelog:

  • GUI speedup
  • Webserver enabled
  • RTMP support
  • AC3/DTS Audio Dialogs
  • Rotating for the iPhone and iPad
  • Black and Dim screensavers working
  • Bluetooth Support
  • SMB shares with Windows Live Essentials should work.
  • Sleep timer works
  • Add-on updates now working
  • Decrypted ISO playback works
  • Thumbnail creation fixed
 
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Emulex

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2001
9,759
1
71
dude just use a small pc and run xbmc. the atv is too weaksauce. The xbox1 is superior in that it can play multi-part rar files - nothing else can do it the same way because the vfs had some el1t3 rar code that is not licensed on xbox1
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
48,702
5,456
136
dude just use a small pc and run xbmc. the atv is too weaksauce. The xbox1 is superior in that it can play multi-part rar files - nothing else can do it the same way because the vfs had some el1t3 rar code that is not licensed on xbox1

I still haven't been able to get rid of my modded Xbox1's. I love the emulators too much. I really hope they get ported to the ATV at some point. Especially with Xbox 360 wireless controllers :awe:

The appeal of the ATV is that it's small and it's cheap. I just picked one up last night - $99 and fits in the palm of your hand. No noise, small footprint, low power, inexpensive, simple remote - if XBMC works well, I'll definitely be picking more up!
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
The appeal of the ATV is that it's small and it's cheap. I just picked one up last night - $99 and fits in the palm of your hand. No noise, small footprint, low power, inexpensive, simple remote - if XBMC works well, I'll definitely be picking more up!

I'm a rather big fan of the no noise aspect... it's crazy, but my room is actually quiet now that I removed the HTPC .
 

Claudius-07

Member
Dec 4, 2009
187
0
0
Yah I have my Acer Revo running XBMC Live in my living room (best thing ever period) but in my bedroom the ATV2 is just win. I was lucky that I had access to an Mac to get the work done on the ATV2. Now it's on permanently in my bedroom connected to my 40" LCD on the wall. There was an official update to the XBMC just 2 days ago with some improvements (detailed above a few posts up). Thus far bloody brilliant but I am not even going to try to stream my 1080p BR rips since the ATV2 is connected wirelessly. But for all my TV shows etc on my server it's just pure love.
 

cKGunslinger

Lifer
Nov 29, 1999
16,408
57
91
dude just use a small pc and run xbmc. the atv is too weaksauce. The xbox1 is superior in that it can play multi-part rar files - nothing else can do it the same way because the vfs had some el1t3 rar code that is not licensed on xbox1

I can't even image a scenario where playing "multi-part rar files" would be something I'd need to do.

Xbox1 is nice, but SD on a 54" is not so much, especially when I've gotten used to broadcast HD. I've got XBMC on every PC in the house, and it on netbooks is how my kids access my NAS to watch TV episodes and ripped movies on thier bedroom TVs.
 
Mar 15, 2003
12,668
103
106
dude just use a small pc and run xbmc. the atv is too weaksauce. The xbox1 is superior in that it can play multi-part rar files - nothing else can do it the same way because the vfs had some el1t3 rar code that is not licensed on xbox1

who the fuck watches multipart rar files? my client automatically decompresses rars anyways, it's never a big deal... WEIRDO.
 

Emulex

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2001
9,759
1
71
clearly you like to wait for PRE to watch your shows. i like to watch top gear at PRE+0:00:01
 

Emulex

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2001
9,759
1
71
you can't play until you unrar. xbox1 can play rar'd so you get instant streaming via ftp. handles holes very well too if utorrent
 
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