[Coop]

XBMC have just announced that XBMC is now available for install on the AppleTV 2, iPhone, and iPad. Do note this is only available to users with a jailbroken device.

I'm going to guess this will drive more people to jailbreak their devise's.

AppleTV2
Full XBMC install, this is not a remote or thin client streamer.
No longer is your AppleTV2 chained to iTunes.
Who wants transcoded video anyway?
Share files on your network your way.
Full hardware decode for 720p/1080p movies.
Everything else you know and love about XBMC.

iPad/iPhone4
You guessed it, this is full-blown XBMC. Not a remote.
Launch XBMC like any other app.
Drag and drop media from your computer, or share it on your home-network
Also fully hardware accelerated for most formats.
Works on iPhone4, though it’s currently frustrating to use.
Challenge: Who will be the first to create a gesture-driven skin?

 

[hugh]

Thanks for the post.

I have an original Apple TV with ATV Flash. I have been considering adding an ATV2 with ATVFlash. Looks like its just about time.

 

[willise]

Looks like my Future Shop gift card now has a purpose!

Hope they have one in stock.

 

[willise]

I bought an ATV2 yesterday and spent about 4 hours getting it to jailbreak and install XBMC. There is a lot of reading to be done to get this right unfortunately.

My initial impression is not that great. I have a plasma that has a resolution of 1366x768. The XBMC defaults to 1280x720 so the sides and top of the images are outside my screen. There are no other selectable resolutions available. However the ATV menus fit the screen perfectly.

Navigating the XBMC menus with the ATV remote is frustrating at best.

It did find my windows shares easily, and played them quickly. I haven't noticed any buffering issues...yet.

I had to install NitoTV in order to get XBMC installed, but I can't figure out how to remove Nito now.

Overall, I think it can be a nice addition, but it does have a fair bit of work that needs to be done. I remember the MC360 version of XBMC that I ran on my old XBOX 1, and I think that was better. Having said that, I has only been released for a week or so - it can only get better!

 

[hugh]

and spent about 4 hours getting it to jailbreak and install XBMC

Well that scares me! What were the main sticking points?

 

[willise]

Looking back, it wasn't terribly difficult, per se, but I found that you had to find things out via trial and error.

For example, I used the Pwnage tool and VMware to jailbreak the ATV. I spent about an hour trying to get the device into DFU mode. I couldn't do it, then it wouldn't even show up in Itunes. I thought I had bricked it. Took it over to my iMac, and ITunes recognized it right away.

After an hour, I found a post that mentions you cannot have the power connected until AFTER it is placed into DFU mode.

Little things like that took a lot of time.

I could probably do it again fairly quickly now, so if you decide to try it, I'll help you through it.

 

[Larry]

I read through the instructions to jail break my ATV2 - it seems you need to have a mac? is that true or can you do it from a PC?

 

[willise]

You need Mac software for a portion of the process. So, you can use a Mac or you can use VirtualBox or VMWare to create a virtual mac in order to create the custom firmware.

Once you have the firmware, you can switch to a PC and do everything else.

In my case, I have an iMac, but it is in another room. With this being a tethered jailbreak, I used the VMwWare to do my work on a PC.

 

[thegluchow]

So now with the 'jailbreak', the Apple TV 2 has popped up onto the board for a potential purchase. I had the Boxee Box on the list as I'm looking to add another streamer in my house. I currently have the WD HD TV Live, however, as I have been goofing around on my Macbook Pro, I've become addicted to the looks and usage on Plex. It makes my WD player look ancient sadly.
So I'd like to add it on. I like Netflix (as I also have a PS3) and like to get kid shows for the little ones.
Any system one likes over the other? How are the shows on Boxee compared to that on the Apple TV? I know Apple has a monster selection of shows and such to purchase.

It'll all stream through a 42" LCD tv connected to a NAS server with tonnes of movies in HD (1080p and 720p) as well as a tonne of kids movies.

Just trying to get peoples thoughts on preference.

Thank you.

 

[willise]

I have a WDTV Live, Boxee on my kids laptops to hook to their TV's in their rooms, and now the ATV2. Without jailbreaking, I would say Boxee wins hands down over ATV2. However, once you install XBMC, it changes everything.

I would like to learn how to run Plex on my Imac, but all my movies are contained on my windows 7 server machine in my basement. Plex does look very nice from what I've seen.

It's a tough choice

 

[Ham.Clan]

I am really excited about this development.
Was looking at some of the "how-to" videos today and the jailbreaking process seems relatively simple (using SeasOnPass), as does the installation of the XBMC itself .
Installation using this method is limited to Macs right now, but apparently a Windows version is forthcoming.
Even better, Apple is selling ATV2 refurbs for $99.
I am seriously considering this as the media player for my new home theatre room

 

[Coop]

For anyone wanting to have a go at this the Untethered Jailbreak for iOS 4.2.1 was released yesterday. A how to video & links are here.

 

[Ham.Clan]

Coop, your link directs to the RC5 release of Greenpois0n which doesn't support ATV2.
The RC6 untethered jailbreak compatible with ATV2 has been released today.
Software and guide found here

 

[Coop]

I actually downloaded RC6 late last night and was going to up date it here this morning but you beat me to it

I did the jailbreak on my wifes iPad yesterday. Installed XBMC and so for it has been work pretty good with just a few stutter issues while playing mkv vidoes. My mp3's had no issues at all. I may go out and pick up an ATV2 and replace the BB I bought so I can get Netflix too.

 

[Ham.Clan]

Glad to hear it's working for you, Coop.
Going to try it now on my ATV2.
Fingers crossed.....

EDIT: Man, I can not get it into DFU mode. Tried both methods from the guide. Does the timing have to be exact?
UPDATE: Got it into DFU mode on wife's XP laptop, however, RC6 program doesn't advance. I get a windows "Found New Hardware Wizard" pop up asking to install drivers. Don't know where to go from here.
UPDATE: Wait a sec - do I need iTunes? I don't have it on either computer.

 

[Coop]

You don't need iTunes for the jailbreak but the unit may not have the 4.2.1 update. Try that first.

Another thing you'll want to in iTunes is to uncheck the "check for new software updates automatically" after you update your ATV2. You'll find this under.. "Edit> Preferences > General" otherwise iTunes will try to update it when the next firmware comes out.

 

[Coop]

Not sure if you've seen the how to ATV2 XBMC Wiki so here it is. Good luck

 

[Ham.Clan]

Finally got it to jailbreak on my son's older Toshiba laptop, and even then had to install it twice.
Very fickle program.
But, it's working very well streaming with UPnP settings and PS3 media server.
Play around more with it tomorrow, but impressed so far.
Pretty powerful little machine.

 

[habskilla]

I had a bugger of a time getting the ATV2 into DFU mode also. Took many many tries.

 

[habskilla]

I installed xbmc. Very easy to do. I was concerned that xbmc would replace the polished ATV2 UI, but it doesn't. It adds a NitroTV tab and XBMC tab to the interface.

The "official" xbmc that installs with NitroTV worked alright. Had a few problems like lossing wifi after a reboot, buffering issues when playing mkv's and slow UI. I googled around and found a forum that had nightly builds. Installed a nightly build and it was heads and shoulders better than the "official" release.

The xbmc port for ATV2 has enough functionality and stable enough to send my WDTV LIVE HD to a drawer to start collecting dust. I'm amazed of the all the functionality the xbmc has. I love how you can tinker with xml files to customize it to how you want things presented.