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AppleTV and External Harddrive

EricBrian

EricBrian

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 30, 2005
657
8
Is it possible to attach my 500GB Harddrive to a new AppleTV?

It is so hard to find info regarding AppleTV from Apple! :(

Oh, and what about MP4? Are they playable on AppleTV?

Thanks
Eric
 
At the moment you can't attach an external drive to the ATV but there is a website, I forgot the name but they have put up a bounty of $1000 if a hacker/modder finds a way of doing it. I dont think Apple will ever let you add an external drive, just make you buy the bigger hard drive version.
Here is a full list of the file formats supported by Apple TV:

Video formats supported
H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): Up to 5 Mbps, Progressive Main Profile (CAVLC) with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (maximum resolution: 1280 by 720 pixels at 24 fps, 960 by 540 pixels at 30 fps) in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats
iTunes Store purchased video: 320 by 240 pixels or 640 by 480 pixels
MPEG-4: Up to 3 Mbps, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (maximum resolution: 720 by 432 pixels at 30 fps) in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats

Audio formats supported
AAC (16 to 320 Kbps); protected AAC (from iTunes Store); MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps); MP3 VBR; Apple Lossless; AIFF; WAV

Photos formats supported
JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG
 
Eidorian said:
What's the mystery USB port for then? :p
Click to expand...

Ahh its just for "maintenance" ;)

Meaning apple will sell an external hard drive which has a code which unlocks a get around to add more storage externally on the Apple TV's OS and hackers will find this out put it on their external hard drives and be like MWAUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH We so cleva! And then it will get leaked and apple will be like *FIX* and hackers will be like *cry* and then a smart hacker will just check for the new code and put it on his external hard drive. *Breaths* The full stop button doesn't work or I just cant be arsed because its so late. What ever you wish to think.
 
FleurDuMal said:
I imagine for if the wireless interface fails and as a result it becomes impossible to perform maintanence remotely. But I know nothing.
Click to expand...

I guess it doesn't actually matter since I am not getting one if I can't hook up my external harddrive.

All, thanks for the info. :)

Eric
 
What you could do is get a sata -> external sata cable and then plug in an eSATA external HD into the thing, you'd need to dupe the drive and all the firmware that's on it onto the new HD and unless you're ok with having the thing running open you'll need to drill a hole for the cable to come out
 
EricBrian said:
I guess it doesn't actually matter since I am not getting one if I can't hook up my external harddrive.

All, thanks for the info. :)

Eric
Click to expand...

Cant you just stream from your external?

I do. I have a 250GB external filled with movies that I watch on my ATV.
 
MacboobsPro said:
Cant you just stream from your external?

I do. I have a 250GB external filled with movies that I watch on my ATV.
Click to expand...

Not really.... the ATV is needed during those times I am not there. I have guests for the next 5 months living with me and wanted to hook them up with movies and shows. So, they would be watching when I am at work and have my laptop with me.
 
Eidorian said:
What's the mystery USB port for then? :p
Click to expand...

I think we might see support for external DVD or HD-DVD/BlueRay drives. Perhaps as soon as Leopard is available. It might also be a port for an input device, such as a game pad. But with only 256 mb of RAM, I doubt there'll be too many sophisticated games. Perhaps for web browsing (keyboard and mouse)? Since the ATV is just a stripped-down Mac, there are lots of possibilities.
 
Cave Man said:
If you get the 160 gig version, you can simply sync your movies and music to it, then you don't need the laptop, other than for maintenance.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all of the suggestions... but, I rather not get it if I can't attached the external hard drive. I could use my iPod if I wanted to always have the trouble of sync'ing.
 
Mord said:
What you could do is get a sata -> external sata cable and then plug in an eSATA external HD into the thing, you'd need to dupe the drive and all the firmware that's on it onto the new HD and unless you're ok with having the thing running open you'll need to drill a hole for the cable to come out
Click to expand...

Well, the ATV has a PATA interface. But that's still a good idea. Hack the ATV so that it has it's PATA connector on the outside, ala Mac Mini style, but use a 3.5" drive. Heck, if the interface supports master and slave, you might be able to format two 750 gig drives in a single enclosure as a 1.5 tb volume using Disk Utility's striped RAID function. Now that would kick @$$.
 
EricBrian said:
Not really.... the ATV is needed during those times I am not there. I have guests for the next 5 months living with me and wanted to hook them up with movies and shows. So, they would be watching when I am at work and have my laptop with me.
Click to expand...
They don't have their own computer? :eek: :D

You could set your iTunes to sync a set amount (5? 10?) of unwatched movies and shows to the AppleTV.

They could watch those while you're at work. It'd take them awhile to blow through 20-30GB of shows.

Then when you come home and fire up on your laptop, iTunes would automatically replace the stuff they watched with fresh content.
 
I use a NAS with my ATV ... 1TB of formated raid 5 storage all stored in my closet :)

No ugly boxes, no messy cables: just power, toslink and hdmi coming out of my atv.
 
Diode said:
I use a NAS with my ATV ... 1TB of formated raid 5 storage all stored in my closet :)

No ugly boxes, no messy cables: just power, toslink and hdmi coming out of my atv.
Click to expand...

What is a NAS?
 
Nas....

gkarris said:
So you still need a host Mac?
Click to expand...

No, the NAS box contains a CPU, embedded system (usually linux), and hard drives. It's like a server in a box - except it's the size of an external HD, not a tower. You connect the NAS to any port on your network... likely connect it directly to an open port on the back of your router. Then configure the NAS through a web page - it's like a configuring the router.

The NAS shares the HDs as volumes (format as one or many partitions) on your network.

NAS is "Network Attached Storage"; it's one or more hard drives in an external box that is directly attached to the network, instead of being attached to a server, inside a server, or directly to a user's computer.

If you just want to connect storage to the ATV, then an external USB (with hack) is cheaper. The NAS will serve the ATV and your mac, and be configurable without going through the ATV.

A NAS box costs more than an external FW/USB drive. If you want/need to share files to multiple users/computers/devices, then NAS is an easy to setup, easy to use solution that runs on it's own.

NAS shares to Mac, Windows, and Linux computers. Performance varies by manufacturer and product - check reviews before buying, as usual.
 
Peace said:
Like I've said before..

Every device regulated by the FCC like set-top boxes must have either a USB or serial port for "maintenance" as mandated by the U.S Government.
Click to expand...
I bet Apple was pissed off when they found that out xD
 
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