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I need help with XBMC in Apple TV

H

HarryPot

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 5, 2009
1,083
542
I've successfully JB my Apple TV 2, and also installed XBMC in it.

Now my problem is how to add a NAS drive to be able to browse it from the Apple TV.

I go to XBMC and select, browse > add network location.

But then I don't know what to enter here. How can I find my NAS IP address? Server name?


Thanks.
 
Exit XBMC and go to the Apple Menu -> Settings. Under general you'll find the IP address of the ATV. Use that to fix your share under XBMC
 
Same here

Been trying to mess with this too all morning. I'm using Western Digital MyBookWorld Edition II. I can get the TwonkyMedia info to show up on ATV2 but it includes every file under the sun and I only want certain Movie, TV, Music or Image files added. This is simple on the MAC when you add a source it gives you an option for Volumes. On ATV2 it does not. You have to add as a UPnP Device which doesn't work. Still trying other options. Adding by IP address and volume path does not work either.
 
Finally got it going.

When you add source select Browse, navigate to the bottom of the list and select Add Network Location... Type in the IP address of your NAS where it says Server name and the name of the first share point on your NAS
where is says Shared folder. By default it's probably Public. Don't mess with any other category and hit OK. Your new network source will show in the list that you can select and then choose specific folders to add to each XBMC categories (Videos, Pictures, Music, etc).
 
IP Addresses

Depends on how many devices you have: Airport Extreme is probably 10.0.1.1, Your NAS is probably 10.0.1.2, your ATV is probably 10.0.1.3. Unless you have more devices. Start up Terminal and type "arp -a". That will give you a list of IPs on your network.
 
I still have no idea as to how to transfer files i.e. video from my iMac to XMBC. The Easy user simple anyone can follow guide on XMBC is gobbledygook.:mad:
 
Last edited:
jiminfrance said:
I still have no idea as to how to transfer files i.e. video from my iMac to XMBC. The Easy user simple anyone can follow guide on XMBC is gobbledygook.:mad:
Click to expand...


do you ssh into your atv2?
and what type of computer are you using?
 
dherrick said:
When you add source select Browse, navigate to the bottom of the list and select Add Network Location... Type in the IP address of your NAS where it says Server name and the name of the first share point on your NAS
where is says Shared folder. By default it's probably Public. Don't mess with any other category and hit OK. Your new network source will show in the list that you can select and then choose specific folders to add to each XBMC categories (Videos, Pictures, Music, etc).
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll try it today and see if it works.:)
 
No luck. It worked in my Mac, but it didn't in my Apple TV. It says "Operation timed ou".

Any ideas?
 
After many tries, I finally was able to add my NAS.

BUT...

I used a different method. Instead of the Windows SMB I used something called Zeroconf.

Does this way have any inconveniences? Is it slower or less reliable?


Thanks.:)
 
do you ssh into your atv2?
and what type of computer are you using?
No I simply bring up XBMC and go to smb:// and try various methods of planning the route to a folder I have named VLC on my desktop, so it usually goes something like name-of-my computer/Users/myname/Desktop/VLC
Then it comes up with a folder that blanks. Or error message 2, or timed out, etc.
The gurus on the XBMC are a tad unaccommodating and treat me like the simpleton that I am...
Also I find inputting on their keyboard with the Apple Remote a bit of a pain.
I have a 2.93 GHz Intel Core i7 iMac OS X 10.6.6:eek:
 
So... my problems persist.

After some time of no usage, the Air Disk enters in some kind of sleep mode (even tho the hard drive is still spinning normally) and I can't access it from my Apple TV.

From my Mac, I also have trouble. But eventually after disconnecting and connecting it reads the disk again. After being able to read it from the Mac, then it works with the Apple TV again.

Any ideas what is happening here?
 
To add a source to XBMC you need to enter the complete smb file path of the share. So smb://name of device/name of folder

And of course you have to turn on smb sharing for that folder which is an extra click in file sharing set up on a Mac. Many of us Mac users are not familiar with SMB as we are used to AFP networking and browsing our network graphically under Finder>Go to Server (Go to Computer). We aren't used to entering file paths.

Its not that hard but maybe less than intuitive if you have always used Macs.

And no you don't copy movies over to the ATV because it has very limited storage. You share them from somewhere else on your network using SMB, not the AFP file sharing Macs typically use. XBMC then scans your "sources" when the program starts up, autamatically scraping them against various online databases like MovieDB, TVDB. You have the option to ad modify your scraping databases in various ways.
 
One idea (since its easier with a real keyboard) is to install XBMC on your Mac and see if you can recreate the SMB log-in problems. If not they always logs over at XBMC showing errors.
 
seand5018 said:
And of course you have to turn on smb sharing for that folder which is an extra click in file sharing set up on a Mac. Many of us Mac users are not familiar with SMB as we are used to AFP networking and browsing our network graphically under Finder>Go to Server (Go to Computer). We aren't used to entering file paths.
Click to expand...

I was finally able to connect via SMB. Haven't had any problems so far, just a terrible slow buffering, which appears to be a XBMC bug rather than a slow network.

Just one question, this option of enabling SMB in the folder, how do I make that?
 
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