Setting up Remote AppleTV (Gen1) with USB Drive

[drgrafix]

ALthough the ATV unit will be located roughly only 20 feet away, I want to ensure that my "Video Jukebox" is going to try and perform as well as possible. So I am running a CAT5 cable from my 3COM SpeedSwitch up through the drop ceiling and into the area behind my home theater equipment. I want to "dedicate" a single USB drive to my archived media, and I'm trying to find out more about how that happens. Questions abound LOL as I'm probably "Technology Challenged" so bear with me.

1. Once the ATV is powered on and connected via ethernet, should it show up on my Mac someplace with an IP address or something?

2. How does one determine what OS is on the ATV? I bought this unit used (it works) and the seller did a fresh install of XMBC and BOXEE. Likewise... are there updates to these two as well and do you start from scratch or can you simply update somehow.

3. Just to get a feel for the operational stuff, I connected everything right next to my iMac before I run the CAT5. I can power up the ATV just fine and scroll around the menus horizontally/vertically, but the actual playback is on my iMac, while all the menus and glitz stuff are on my LCD monitor which is connected via HDMI to the ATV. Shouldn't the media be showing up on my monitor and not on my iMac?

4. I looked at a blog where the writer has listed instructions on how to install XMBC & BOXEE and something called a "patchstick" that will help "find" and utilize an external USB HDD that is connected to the iMac. Any advice on this?

5. Lastly, just wondering about whether I can connect the USB drive to the AIRPORT USB? Seem to recall reading somewhere that the AP will not recognize any PC format drives.

Thanks for the help and advice, hopefully your answers will not only help me but others who are in the same boat.

 

[87vert]

1. Once the ATV is powered on and connected via ethernet, should it show up on my Mac someplace with an IP address or something?

It should pop up in iTunes. If the previous owner enabled AFP then you can connect to the file system that way or you can connect with SSH.

2. How does one determine what OS is on the ATV? I bought this unit used (it works) and the seller did a fresh install of XMBC and BOXEE. Likewise... are there updates to these two as well and do you start from scratch or can you simply update somehow.

On the AppleTV go to the Settings >> About screen to get the appletv version. I think the latest is 3.2.1. To update XBMC and Boxee you can select the Downloads menu and download and install any updated versions.

3. Just to get a feel for the operational stuff, I connected everything right next to my iMac before I run the CAT5. I can power up the ATV just fine and scroll around the menus horizontally/vertically, but the actual playback is on my iMac, while all the menus and glitz stuff are on my LCD monitor which is connected via HDMI to the ATV. Shouldn't the media be showing up on my monitor and not on my iMac?

I'm not sure what you mean the playback is on the iMac, you need to sync the movies to the internal hard drive on the AppleTV using iTunes or add wherever the files are stored as a source in XBMC.

4. I looked at a blog where the writer has listed instructions on how to install XMBC & BOXEE and something called a "patchstick" that will help "find" and utilize an external USB HDD that is connected to the iMac. Any advice on this?

The "patchstick" is used to "jailbreak" the AppleTV and load the apps. The usb port needs to be enabled then you need to mount the drive and add the share in XBMC.

You may be better off loading a new patchstick and starting over from scratch.

Use this to create the patchstick http://code.google.com/p/atvusb-creator/

5. Lastly, just wondering about whether I can connect the USB drive to the AIRPORT USB? Seem to recall reading somewhere that the AP will not recognize any PC format drives.

What do you mean Airport USB do you also have an Airport Basestation? If so I think you can use Fat32 drives but you are probably better off formatting the drive as HFS+ for compatibility sake.

 

[dissdnt]

I did this today but I don't see airplay working. Doesn't show up on the list.

 

[drgrafix]

Well, the first thing I did today was erase & reformat the host media drive in HFS+ so before I move any Video_TS files over I was just curious if I should create "category" folders (i.e. Westerns) and if so would the XMBC or similar (?) programs show a category folder and then subsequent content folders? Lets say under "westerns" I've got "Josey Wales" and "High Plains Drifter". Do I create a sub-folder named "Josey Wales" and then put the TS_Video file in it? While I don't mind plain folders, is there a way to use some sort of CD Jacket Art to be associated with the folders? For instance, if I wanted to have a folder named Jennifer's Wedding could I attach a wedding photo jpg to the folder so if I'm using XMBC, BOXEE, or whatever I'll see a picture of the wedding instead of a plain folder icon?

 

[87vert]

I just have folders for Movies and TV Shows then have all of my clips in those. It pulls from IMDB and TVDB to get the "fanart." I think you can also set custom photo's for folder icons.