Apple TV general information needed please.

[carlcosby]

Hi all,

Finally I think I have found the website ive been looking for!

I need help with the ATV please, I have flashed it once whilst on the 2.4 version and everything went ok I assume? It seemed to work fine, but I am very new at all this stuff relating to the ATV.

Then I saw posts relating to patchstick/flashing working on software 3.0.1, so I updated the ATV and ran the flash, but did this after completing a factory restore. It didnt work, the option was there but the ATV wouldnt go into it. So did another factory restore and lived with the 2.4 flashed version.

I could play .AVI files fine but when it came to the .MKV ones that I specifically downloaded in x.264/H.264 at 720p, they didnt play properly, kept spluttering and stalling? Why does the purchased ones from apple play them ok?

If anybody could be so kind as to giving me any info on how to make a patchstick that works with 3.0.1 that doesnt involve all this ssh'ing and terminal stuff, and provide any info on what i can actually do with the ATV, along with XBMC (not clear on what is so good about this)? That would be ideal!!

Additional info: I just got the patchstick working on 3.0.1 but i cant get into the options within the software tab on the ATV home screen, such as 3rd party plugins, manage built in, scripts etc....? I can how ever play AVI files by going into the "files" tab and selecting my hard drive, but the MKV files arent liked! Any solutions to these problems?


Thanx
Carl.

P.S, I am new to all this so go easy aye!

 

[carlcosby]

No answer?

I take it my thread was a s h i t one, not worthy of a reply or people think I might be a government agent?

Anyway, my original thread might have been unclear (I did write it early in the morning)

ok, issues:

1. Cant patch software version 3.0.1, only the free patchstick version works. When I try the USB creator for the Mac, it has software version 2.x, cant select 3.0.1, but in the windows version it has the option to select 3.0.1. Does selecting a DMG file for the correct version fix this (I downloaded the latest DMG for 3.0.1 and did it this way, and did the flash when I had already updated the ATV to version 3.0.1 (is that correct?), the software menu appeared but I could not access. Im quite obviously doing something wrong here but dont know what, hopefully somebody can reply?? So, I factory reset and did the flash on 2.4, of which works ok, it seems.

2. Can I surf the internet? I assume couchsurfer is the one for this, but I get an error message when trying to install it. Is there any other way to surf the internet through ATV please?

3. I have watched a few paid iTunes HD movies, lovely picture! I was led to believe that their format is H.264? So, after patching I tried playing my H.264 movies through XBMC (which I found to be the most reliable way BTW, nitoTV gives me a blank screen when I leave the movie, which means I have to pull the plug to reset the ATV, annoying!!), although the movies are jumpy and the audio is out of sync. The movies are in 720p format carried by MKV, so whats the problem, as i dont understand how apples are fine and mine arent? Can I not download H.264 movies that arent carried by MKV which give the same quality. There are DivX/Xvid formats of BD and BRR but these are only a couple of gig at most so the quality isnt going to be as good as the MKV is it? Any other way around this problem please?

4. Can I watch TV through the ATV, if so, How please?

5. Can I record TV using the ATV, if so, How please?

I am a newbie at all this but I learn fast, electrician by trade, so not thick!

Thanks again and hopefully somebody will reply (i will read more threads on here at the same time though)

Regards
Carl.

 

[iOrlando]

i'll tackle your question about boxee/XBMC.

Easiest way to get that up and running on 3.0.1 is to insert the flash drive with the patchstick into the apple tv just like you would with ATV 2.X and continue the download as you would previously.

You then need to follow this:

http://support.boxee.tv/forums/49599/entries/74649

I know you said you dont like to use terminal but it honestly is not bad and they explain it very clearly for you. Once you finish the stuff you need to do in terminal you will see boxee begin to install on the apple tv and then you should be done.

regarding some of your other questions...the basic thing to apple tv is watching shows/media that a) you already own b) are on youtube c) buy/rent on itunes. There is no way to watch regular cable/internet surfing using apple tv right out of the box.

adding boxee will give you hulu, revision3, CBS, and a few other online sites that basically just let you take video from their sites. I still find quality control with boxee sub-par (videos often stop, skip, etc) but its a free hack so whatever.

 

[carlcosby]

i'll tackle your question about boxee/XBMC.

Easiest way to get that up and running on 3.0.1 is to insert the flash drive with the patchstick into the apple tv just like you would with ATV 2.X and continue the download as you would previously.

You then need to follow this:

http://support.boxee.tv/forums/49599/entries/74649

I know you said you dont like to use terminal but it honestly is not bad and they explain it very clearly for you. Once you finish the stuff you need to do in terminal you will see boxee begin to install on the apple tv and then you should be done.

regarding some of your other questions...the basic thing to apple tv is watching shows/media that a) you already own b) are on youtube c) buy/rent on itunes. There is no way to watch regular cable/internet surfing using apple tv right out of the box.

adding boxee will give you hulu, revision3, CBS, and a few other online sites that basically just let you take video from their sites. I still find quality control with boxee sub-par (videos often stop, skip, etc) but its a free hack so whatever.

Thanx for the reply, I've done a factory restore now and upgraded to 3.0.1. I'm not going to bother with any ATV hacks. Instead I will convert HD movies to m4v and stream them to ATV from my MB Pro. Although boxee and xbmc are free, I've come to realise that they don't offer much at all. I know you will be able to watch 1080p through xbmc, by installing the broadcom chipset, but that doesn't bother with me in the slightest now (even though I've just gone and bought one off eBay). I will re-list it when it arrives.

Thanx for the reply
Carl

 

[iOrlando]

Thanx for the reply, I've done a factory restore now and upgraded to 3.0.1. I'm not going to bother with any ATV hacks. Instead I will convert HD movies to m4v and stream them to ATV from my MB Pro. Although boxee and xbmc are free, I've come to realise that they don't offer much at all. I know you will be able to watch 1080p through xbmc, by installing the broadcom chipset, but that doesn't bother with me in the slightest now (even though I've just gone and bought one off eBay). I will re-list it when it arrives.

Thanx for the reply
Carl

well for me revision3 shows and hulu alone is enough for me to go through the trouble of getting boxee.