I've been looking for an all out portable media center device with tons of different functionality and options, and I've stopped myself at the old Apple TV. With tons of hacks and such, I think it might be able to do all of what I need.
Mostly what I've been looking for is a streaming device that supports Netflix, supports additional hard drives, and can output in both HD+component and composite video. I know Apple TV supports most of these right off the bat, but for other things, namely composite video and shoving in different hard drives, it's going to take some additional work.
Now, I have no problem with soldering, tinkering in smaller devices, and hooking up adapters, so don't be afraid to suggest anything like that. I'm most likely going to need this for find a way to get a working SATA to ATA conversion inside there, as I know the Apple TV has an ATA drive in there, sadly. What I'm planning to do here in the first part is figure out how to shove a 500 GB SATA 2.5" or higher into the Apple TV. I've done some searching through the forums, and found a few little success stories, but they kept linking a part that I can't find anymore.
So first things first, how do I shove a larger drive in there? I hear many people had trouble getting that SATA adapter to fit, but I though, hey what if you just shoved it into some corner of the device and soldered wires coming out of it? Not impossible, possibly a little difficult, but I think it should be able to be done (unless that whole stray capacitance, induction, and data corruption and all that junk come into play. Remember IDE? yup...).
Second, which devices (like their model numbers ex: MA711LL/A) work with Apple TV hacking? This is mainly for the composite video hack, which I saw here http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/Composite where they listed some sort of script to load to get it working without doing the HDMI to DVI trick.
Third, can you confirm my beliefs of the old Apple TV supporting netflix and such? I love Netflix, and I'm just aching to do Netflix streaming all the time on my beautiful new 1080p HDTV.
If you have any questions about my questions, feel free to PM me. Heck, you can even drop me an email if you like (thomasbags@gmail.com), and feel free to ask for any other contact info if you'd like to help me out on my quest.
Oh, just one more thing. About for how much of this process will I have to use a Mac? Personally, I don't own a full fledged Mac computer, but I do have access to some. I also have a working virtual machine of OSX as well (with some errors here and there). I'm just wondering how many trips I'm gonna have to make to my friends house to get this working properly. I know I'll have to do it for the hard drive conversion portion of this project.
Anyways, thanks in advance for anything you can provide. I've been around the mac rumors forums for years and read plenty of helpful advice.
EDIT:
Oh and before anyone notes, I do know that Apple TV only outputs 720p, which I'm perfectly fine with
UPDATE:
found this, http://forum.hardmac.com/index.php?showtopic=6995 but can anyone confirm that he got this working?
UPDATE:
Also I knew about this http://forums.macnn.com/103/ipod-iphone-and-ipad/380252/native-500gb-upgrade-appletv-let-appletv/ but no one ever confirmed if he got it to fit back in the case
UPDATE:
AHA! I find I found his part http://www.advantech.com.tw/products/PCM-233B/mod_B4573DDA-1440-4D5D-8A16-75C0B67F86E3.aspx
they changed the url but it's from the guy in the previous update
UPDATE:
After much reading of this thread (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/683178/) I think I figured out what to do for the SATA conversion. Going all the way to page 4, I found kar200's post detailing a part (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/7-15-Serial-ATA-SATA-IDE-2-5-Male-Horizontal-Adapter-/180357263601) he found from an ebay seller, and much cheaper than others provided in the thread, and can confirm it works! Already purchased the adapter, and next I'm looking into getting this hard drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136546). I also need to purchase an Apple TV, and I'm wondering if I should get a fresh refurbished one or a used one with ATV Flash already installed.
Mostly what I've been looking for is a streaming device that supports Netflix, supports additional hard drives, and can output in both HD+component and composite video. I know Apple TV supports most of these right off the bat, but for other things, namely composite video and shoving in different hard drives, it's going to take some additional work.
Now, I have no problem with soldering, tinkering in smaller devices, and hooking up adapters, so don't be afraid to suggest anything like that. I'm most likely going to need this for find a way to get a working SATA to ATA conversion inside there, as I know the Apple TV has an ATA drive in there, sadly. What I'm planning to do here in the first part is figure out how to shove a 500 GB SATA 2.5" or higher into the Apple TV. I've done some searching through the forums, and found a few little success stories, but they kept linking a part that I can't find anymore.
So first things first, how do I shove a larger drive in there? I hear many people had trouble getting that SATA adapter to fit, but I though, hey what if you just shoved it into some corner of the device and soldered wires coming out of it? Not impossible, possibly a little difficult, but I think it should be able to be done (unless that whole stray capacitance, induction, and data corruption and all that junk come into play. Remember IDE? yup...).
Second, which devices (like their model numbers ex: MA711LL/A) work with Apple TV hacking? This is mainly for the composite video hack, which I saw here http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/Composite where they listed some sort of script to load to get it working without doing the HDMI to DVI trick.
Third, can you confirm my beliefs of the old Apple TV supporting netflix and such? I love Netflix, and I'm just aching to do Netflix streaming all the time on my beautiful new 1080p HDTV.
If you have any questions about my questions, feel free to PM me. Heck, you can even drop me an email if you like (thomasbags@gmail.com), and feel free to ask for any other contact info if you'd like to help me out on my quest.
Oh, just one more thing. About for how much of this process will I have to use a Mac? Personally, I don't own a full fledged Mac computer, but I do have access to some. I also have a working virtual machine of OSX as well (with some errors here and there). I'm just wondering how many trips I'm gonna have to make to my friends house to get this working properly. I know I'll have to do it for the hard drive conversion portion of this project.
Anyways, thanks in advance for anything you can provide. I've been around the mac rumors forums for years and read plenty of helpful advice.
EDIT:
Oh and before anyone notes, I do know that Apple TV only outputs 720p, which I'm perfectly fine with
UPDATE:
found this, http://forum.hardmac.com/index.php?showtopic=6995 but can anyone confirm that he got this working?
UPDATE:
Also I knew about this http://forums.macnn.com/103/ipod-iphone-and-ipad/380252/native-500gb-upgrade-appletv-let-appletv/ but no one ever confirmed if he got it to fit back in the case
UPDATE:
AHA! I find I found his part http://www.advantech.com.tw/products/PCM-233B/mod_B4573DDA-1440-4D5D-8A16-75C0B67F86E3.aspx
they changed the url but it's from the guy in the previous update
UPDATE:
After much reading of this thread (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/683178/) I think I figured out what to do for the SATA conversion. Going all the way to page 4, I found kar200's post detailing a part (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/7-15-Serial-ATA-SATA-IDE-2-5-Male-Horizontal-Adapter-/180357263601) he found from an ebay seller, and much cheaper than others provided in the thread, and can confirm it works! Already purchased the adapter, and next I'm looking into getting this hard drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136546). I also need to purchase an Apple TV, and I'm wondering if I should get a fresh refurbished one or a used one with ATV Flash already installed.