Apple TV Apple tv for a newbie

[rayjay86]

Hey guys I'm thinking of getting an Apple tv to mainly stream music to my tv sound system from iTunes for parties etc but would also like to somehow connect the 1tb external hdd I have to run xbmc and watch all the tv shows and movies etc.

I'm really confused about the apple tv and external hd and atvflash (black) because so many articles I read are contradictory. I used my my brothers atv to streams music for a party through iTunes and it worked very well but that's all I know how to do.

Basically, is there a way, with jail breaking, etc. that I can hardwire my external hdd to the apple tv and play content off that? The reason I don't want to stream it over the network is because I now live in Australia and the Internet plans here have data caps (and aren't that big). In north America the Internet was much faster and essentially I had an unlimited amount of data per month. I'm not sure how streaming would affect that cap I have now.

Thanks for the advice/tips!

 

[bpaluzzi]

Hey guys I'm thinking of getting an Apple tv to mainly stream music to my tv sound system from iTunes for parties etc but would also like to somehow connect the 1tb external hdd I have to run xbmc and watch all the tv shows and movies etc.

I'm really confused about the apple tv and external hd and atvflash (black) because so many articles I read are contradictory. I used my my brothers atv to streams music for a party through iTunes and it worked very well but that's all I know how to do.

Basically, is there a way, with jail breaking, etc. that I can hardwire my external hdd to the apple tv and play content off that? The reason I don't want to stream it over the network is because I now live in Australia and the Internet plans here have data caps (and aren't that big). In north America the Internet was much faster and essentially I had an unlimited amount of data per month. I'm not sure how streaming would affect that cap I have now.

Thanks for the advice/tips!

There is no way to do that without jailbreaking your Apple TV.

 

[rayjay86]

Yeah I'm ok with that. All my idevices are jailbroken anyways

 

[bpaluzzi]

Yeah I'm ok with that. All my idevices are jailbroken anyways

Ah, my bad -- misread your line -- thought you said "Basically, is there a way, without jail breaking", when you clearly said "with jail breaking"

Sorry - I'll let someone with experience on the JB side of things take over, while I retreat quietly into my hole

b

 

[whooleytoo]

Basically, is there a way, with jail breaking, etc. that I can hardwire my external hdd to the apple tv and play content off that? The reason I don't want to stream it over the network is because I now live in Australia and the Internet plans here have data caps (and aren't that big). In north America the Internet was much faster and essentially I had an unlimited amount of data per month. I'm not sure how streaming would affect that cap I have now.

Thanks for the advice/tips!

I can't help you with the jailbreaking - no experience, sorry - but there is an alternative to an external HD. If you have a Mac/PC running in your home with iTunes, you can stream music & videos off that. The streaming is only on your home Wifi/Ethernet network, so it has no impact on your ISP data usage.

For some, keeping a Mac/PC running is a deal-breaker. For me, it's easier as I have a Mac on which I buy my music anyway, and I have it set to boot up about the time I get home from work and shut down in the early hours of the morning.

 

[MostB]

Hi guys am new owner of a jailbreak atv 2. I've try to watch a lot of my add ons but only a small few works, also I live in Canada an would like to watch Hulu on my atv 2, but everytime i try, it gives me an error saying " geo block" Can anyone help direct me on how to solve my Hulu problem and also recommend add ons that I can watch movies, sports, canadian news and tv shows?
Thanks

 

[rayjay86]

Hulu is blocked on Canadian IP addresses.

Are you sure streaming data over home wifi doesn't use up data from my ISP? If that's the case I'm happy to do that.

 

[jlrathke]

Hey guys I'm thinking of getting an Apple tv to mainly stream music to my tv sound system from iTunes for parties etc but would also like to somehow connect the 1tb external hdd I have to run xbmc and watch all the tv shows and movies etc.

I'm really confused about the apple tv and external hd and atvflash (black) because so many articles I read are contradictory. I used my my brothers atv to streams music for a party through iTunes and it worked very well but that's all I know how to do.

Basically, is there a way, with jail breaking, etc. that I can hardwire my external hdd to the apple tv and play content off that? The reason I don't want to stream it over the network is because I now live in Australia and the Internet plans here have data caps (and aren't that big). In north America the Internet was much faster and essentially I had an unlimited amount of data per month. I'm not sure how streaming would affect that cap I have now.

Thanks for the advice/tips!

Mountain Lion will be out in two weeks with ability to Airplay.....

Just a thought....

Jerry

 

[rayjay86]

Ok so here's what I've come up with, someone let me if this is technically feasible:
1. Buy an apple tv and jailbreak
2. Get atvflash (black) - $29.99 (I'm not sure what this does but everywhere seems to say I need it for using a jail broken device?)
3. Load xbmc on the atv
4. Connect my external hdd to my Airport Extreme
5. Stream content to my atv (this will not use data from my monthly cap unless I actually download fresh content like YouTube or movies)

Does that sound about right?

 

[CocoaPuffs]

Ok so here's what I've come up with, someone let me if this is technically feasible:
1. Buy an apple tv and jailbreak
2. Get atvflash (black) - $29.99 (I'm not sure what this does but everywhere seems to say I need it for using a jail broken device?)
3. Load xbmc on the atv
4. Connect my external hdd to my Airport Extreme
5. Stream content to my atv (this will not use data from my monthly cap unless I actually download fresh content like YouTube or movies)

Does that sound about right?

I don't have Airport Extreme, but I do have a wireless router with external hdd support and it works exactly as you have described it.

Works perfect for me.

 

[maturola]

Ok so here's what I've come up with, someone let me if this is technically feasible:
1. Buy an apple tv and jailbreak
2. Get atvflash (black) - $29.99 (I'm not sure what this does but everywhere seems to say I need it for using a jail broken device?)
3. Load xbmc on the atv
4. Connect my external hdd to my Airport Extreme
5. Stream content to my atv (this will not use data from my monthly cap unless I actually download fresh content like YouTube or movies)

Does that sound about right?

YEs, but there is a few thing to note.

1) Buy ATV2 (Apple TV 3 cannot be jailbreak as right now)
2) You can buy ATVflash black, but you don't "have" to, you can use the jailbreak tool and then manually install NitoTV and install XBMC that way or installed XBMC manually as well. (however the ATVflash way is the easiest one)
3) if you "buy" ATVflash you don't need XMBC, ATVFlash player can read directly from NAS (however personally I like the XBMC or PLex interface better)

 

[scienide09]

No, you don't need ATVFlash. Both XBMC and NitoTV can be installed once you've jailbroken your ATV2. You can then stream directly from a NAS to your ATV2 using XBMC.

This does require changing some settings within XBMC to find your NAS, but it's not that difficult.

I prefer this option, as it means I don't have to have my Mac + iTunes running, and it also means I can stream video in formats that are not recognized by iTunes (e.g., .avi) without converting to an iTunes format.

 

[rayjay86]

No, you don't need ATVFlash. Both XBMC and NitoTV can be installed once you've jailbroken your ATV2. You can then stream directly from a NAS to your ATV2 using XBMC.

This does require changing some settings within XBMC to find your NAS, but it's not that difficult.

I prefer this option, as it means I don't have to have my Mac + iTunes running, and it also means I can stream video in formats that are not recognized by iTunes (e.g., .avi) without converting to an iTunes format.

Sweet thanks guys. I might wait for a potential ATV3 jailbreak to come out (not in any rush) because trying to buy an ATV2 is really expensive at the moment. They are going on eBay for about $180+ whereas the ATV3 is $109 in the AU Apple store.

I agree, I like the XBMC interface much better as well. Never really played around with Plex too much before. Is it any better or any pros/cons to it?

 

[waw74]

if you have an iOS device, take a look at plex

it will play pretty much any video you throw at it, as it's converted on the fly to a compatible format.

from what i understand, XBMC can choke the processor in the aTV if you try to play files that are too high of a bitrate.

you will need a computer powered on, and on your network, and hopefully with a little beef to it. that will run the server program. Your iOS device will connect to that, and you can airplay the file to the aTV.
your iOS device can't run plex in the background, so you won't be able to do other things with it, and depending on your computer specs, it may slow down your computer for other things.
if the file is already compatible, plex just streams it, without much processor hit.

the server is free, the iOS app is $5.

you can also connect away from your house, it's won't the best quality due to the limitations of your internet connection, but it's watchable on smaller screens.