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ATV2 in an NES case (possible?)

utwarreng

utwarreng

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 8, 2009
393
129
Hey all,

While I love the look of the ATV2, I'm a big fan of the unique, customized project to make people say "wow". Originally I was going to put an HTPC inside of a NES case, but when I started thinking about it, the ATV2 (once jailbroken and with XBMC installed) does everything that I really want/need it to do, and at a fraction of the price.

Admittedly I haven't done a ton of research, certainly haven't done measurements to make sure that everything would fit, but I was hoping to see if anyone had attempted to put their ATV2 in a different case/housing, or how well it may (or may not) work.

Thanks for any/all advice!
 
utwarreng said:
Hey all,

While I love the look of the ATV2, I'm a big fan of the unique, customized project to make people say "wow". Originally I was going to put an HTPC inside of a NES case, but when I started thinking about it, the ATV2 (once jailbroken and with XBMC installed) does everything that I really want/need it to do, and at a fraction of the price.

Admittedly I haven't done a ton of research, certainly haven't done measurements to make sure that everything would fit, but I was hoping to see if anyone had attempted to put their ATV2 in a different case/housing, or how well it may (or may not) work.

Thanks for any/all advice!
Click to expand...

Interesting...

The only prob I see is fitting a IR sensor to the front of the NES box. The rest is plasti-form mounting, and wiring.

Good luck
 
There is way more than enough room in an NES case for the AppleTV. It also shouldn't be too hard to put the IR receiver in the same place as the power LED for the NES. A little epoxy and it should stay put just fine.

Really, it should be a very easy mod. Gut the NES, and you could pretty much place the Apple TV in it as is with room to spare.
 
Thanks guys. I think I'm gonna give this a shot in the next few weeks. I'll post pictures throughout the process.
 
CPD_1 said:
There is way more than enough room in an NES case for the AppleTV. It also shouldn't be too hard to put the IR receiver in the same place as the power LED for the NES. A little epoxy and it should stay put just fine.

Really, it should be a very easy mod. Gut the NES, and you could pretty much place the Apple TV in it as is with room to spare.
Click to expand...

Agreed you may not even need to open the ATV.
 
Doesn't the NES have an IR sensor already? How did the Duck Hunt gun work? I really can't remember, been so long since I've seen one.
 
ipsb11 said:
Doesn't the NES have an IR sensor already? How did the Duck Hunt gun work? I really can't remember, been so long since I've seen one.
Click to expand...

Nope, no IR receiver in the NES. Duck Hunt (and other zapper games) worked by flashing the TV screen. The gun actually received the flash and signaled a hit or miss.

ft
 
Well, you guys weren't kidding about the size. The ATV takes up a minuscule portion of the case. I gutted the NES and cleaned up the case last night, but didn't get much further. Planning on doing more work tonight with a buddy.

I'll post a pic of the ATV inside the case later today.
 
Here's an image of just how much spare room there is inside of the system.
 

Attachments

  • NES ATV.jpg
    NES ATV.jpg
    1.1 MB · Views: 117
Why are we doing this?

OP - is the current Apple TV form factor too small for you? Do you need a finer grate on your TV stand, is the ATV falling through the cracks or something? :confused:
 
from the pic, it looks like the ATV2 could almost be used as a game cartridge that slides into the NES like a game! Now that would be cool! LOL!:D
 
Tomorrow said:
Why are we doing this?

OP - is the current Apple TV form factor too small for you? Do you need a finer grate on your TV stand, is the ATV falling through the cracks or something? :confused:
Click to expand...

I like the classic look of the NES case, but need to have an HTPC. A jailbroken ATV2 with XBMC installed is far cheaper than any HTPC that I could build, and since I don't need the rest of the functions of a regular computer this works great for me.

In addition, I enjoy tinkering with things to find ways to modify them beyond their original usage. This seemed like a pretty unique project, so I figured "why the Hell not!?"

I know it's not for everyone, and some people will claim it's sacrilegious either to cut up an old NES case (for the record, the system was dead, but I did keep all of the guts in hopes of resurrecting it later on) or to cut up an ATV2 because Apple did such a great job of putting it in such a sleek case (also for the record, they did do a great job of finding a way to put such a powerful system into such a small case).
 
utwarreng said:
I like the classic look of the NES case, but need to have an HTPC.

<snip>

I know it's not for everyone, and some people will claim it's sacrilegious either to cut up an old NES case
Click to expand...

To each his own, brother. :) I like how my ATV2 seems to disappear under the edge of the TV screen, like there's nothing there at all - but hey, it's your rig. :cool:
 
Just how many apple tv's do you plan to put in the NES lol:p
no room lol-you could fit a xbox 360 in a nes
 
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