[X4U] Old vs New Apple TV vs alternatives

[Conlon Brett]

Just to update you - in case you're interested in this thread...

I finally purchased the new AppleTV (v3) and then got a refurb 2TB Time capsule. I'll use the TimeCap built-in drive for family Mac backups and I've plugged my 2TB Mac formatted "Home Videos" hard drive into the USB port on the TimeCap so all the devices in the house can see it.

As mentioned, I have an old 17" G4 laptop which can't properly play my 720p and 1080p video files (too many stutters and freezes during playback) BUT, I'm now using it as my "media centre" by running all of the videos through iTunes on the G4. I'm guessing that the AppleTV is simply having the video files sent to the AppleTV, where they are then decoded and played (a task the AppleTV is well capable of doing).

So I have my videos and music sorted but unfortunately I can't play my home photos through the G4 as the family Macs have iPhoto v9 and the laptop can only go as high as OS10.5 and iPhoto9 requires at least 10.6.

I'm now waiting for the AppleTV v3 to get jailbreaked so I can then install "aTV Flash" by fireCore (extends AppleTV functionality, like being able to directly access files off a NAS drive (ie. NO iTunes required) and wider video file formats accepted) but they say hacking AppleTV3 is not going to be easy so it may be a long wait!

Anyway, this may be helpful to someone so I thought I'd share...

Cheers,

Cojcolds



On 16/03/2012, at 2:04 PM, Neil wrote:

I have an original AppleTV.  In 2007 I ran a simple hack to install other software on it.  I downloaded the hack onto a thumb drive and booted the ATV while the drive was in the USB port, then rebooted.  At that time I read that there was a different hack that enabled the USB port for use with external hard drives. I haven't followed up on that but I'm sure a Google search would get you the info you want. 

Neil



On 04/02/2012, at 9:48 PM, Conlon Brett wrote:

Hiya,

I'm doing research for a home ent solution and have a few questions that I'm hoping experienced users can offer me.

For my TV recordings I have a Topfield PVR with 500GB which I download the video files from to an external HD connected to my MBPro, then edit the ads etc. and then re-save through MPEG Streamclip as .TS files (so that the video doesn't get re-encoded, which would take hours!!!).

I'm also currently editing my HD home video files through FCProX and saving them as h.264 .mov files. My earlier video files were either converted to DVD or are still in DV format and are yet to be cleaned up and saved out.

So, in essence:

### FILE FORMATS ###
.TS
.mov (AVC/H.264)
.dv
Video_TS (folder from DVD)
HVDVD_TS (folder from HD DVD)

### HARD DRIVES ###
2 X 1TB eSATA (USB2, FW400 & eSATA); formatted as NTFS for use with the Topfield
1 X 2TB WD Mirror (USB2); formatted as HFS+ for home videos

I really like the look of the OLD Apple TV, in that you can plug an external HD into it and it doesn't ALWAYS require connection to a Mac to run. The new one, as far as I can tell, only works when connected wirelessly to a Mac. I think this will be bad for me as I often like to do other kinds of work with my MBPro on my lap when watching TV and don't want to be restricted with what I can and can't do (even restarting the Mac).

I also really love AppleTV's Front Row interface and like how it integrates so well into your iTunes and iPhoto accounts.

However, it doesn't recognise all my .TS files nor my HVDVD_TS folders - it only recognises SD DVD Video_TS folders.

I'd love to stick with Apple but because of this I've also been looking at alternative devices, like the WD LiveTV box (slightly more expensive). It has both wi-fi and USB ports for external devices, however, it wouldn't integrate with iTunes or iPhoto, I'm guessing. It'd probably just throw up the raw folder structure and show *everything* in it - a mess, right? Meaning, I'd have to manage a separate music and Photos folder. But these non-apple devices support far more video file formats (including .ts) and also have pretty cool interfaces for navigating your files. As cool as Apple's or not - I'm yet to see...

So I have pluses and minuses on both sides.

I do have a spare 17" MBPro (G4 generation) with 2GB RAM that I've tried to run as my AppleTV but it just doesn't seem to have enough grunt to play my HD video through it - just too jumpy. Either the processor isn't fast enough or I need 4GB RAM perhaps. Anyone have suggestions on if that should work and how?

So I'm asking advice from anyone who's had a similar requirement and has found a solution to suit ALL their needs (and mine as outlined above).

Your valued experience is MOST appreciated!!!

Cojcolds