Can someone please point me in the direction of an easy to use app that I can install on my apple tv cuz so far I don't see what's the point of jailbreaking it. Thx

A very useful application that most jailbreakers probably install is XBMC. It allows the playback of a lot more formats than the native player. You can install it from the nitoTV installer, just like the other packages available.

Another vote for the superb XBMC here. Recently ported to iOS, it's already a very usable media front end, and turns the ATV2 into a much more useful appliance. A quick note, as of today XBMC is still not compatible with iOS 4.3, so I'd recommend not updating until a new release comes out.

I installed XMBC through nitoTV on my JB'n ATV2 on the latest firmware )used PwnageTool 4.3 to JB) and when I launch it, it does not see my computer's itunes, and its library is blank, what am I missing?

Thanks for any insight.

I am not sure I understand what you're saying. To browse your iTunes library from your atv2 you need to enable Home Sharing on your computer and then log into Home Sharing on the apple tv.
To use XBMC to watch movies from your computer you must have XBMC installed on the computer and enable a streaming protocol (UPNP, ftp, up to you) and then configure it on the apple tv so it connects to your computer's XBMC library.

Now I get it, thanks....I did not know I had to install software on the computer, but now I do. I have the homesharing on and it works with iTunes no worries. Is there a better protocol to use?

I tried some of the "video add ons" that I loaded through XMBC, but they seem to make the whole program crash, ie: the Cnet podcasts etc, as soon as I launch it, it crashes and returns to Front Row after going blank for a few seconds, is there any other configuration I may not be aware of ?

On my old ATV1 XMBC worked off the internal drive of the ATV so that was why I was confused as to how this works but makes perfect sense...thanks for clarifying!

XBMC is completely independant of iTunes and does not support homesharing protocol.

Some video streaming options in XBMC for iOS are still broken (especially if they stream using the MMS format). I think these are already fixed in the nightly builds of XBMC for iOS. [AppleTV2/iOS] Unofficial semi-nightly builds - XBMC Community Forum

That might explain why some video plugins don't work or crash XBMC. If you want to be sure, pastebin the crash log on the proper XBMC for iOS forum XBMC for iOS Specific Support - XBMC Community Forum (you will get a much better response than if you ask about XBMC questions here) and someone will help you.

Thanks Olethros,


My issue now has been trying to find the folder to dump movies on the Mac computer, so that XBMC on the ATV2 sees it via UPNP stream format. This has been challenging. I now have a youtube video to watch and follow to see if I can dial it in....

I will also look at the XBMC forum too!

Cheers,

You need to run a program that serves the videos in UPNP format. There are several programs that support this.

One simple solution is to run XBMC on your local mac and add the videos into the local XBMC library, then enable an option in XBMC preferences to allow remote control via UPNP. If you do this, then XBMC on your ATV2 will see the XBMC on your mac and can stream videos from that.

There are of course other options that are just a pure UPNP service.

Olethros,

Thanks for taking the time to offer tips....

I have had a very tough time trying to set this up where the XMBC on the Mac lets the XBMC on the ATV2 see whats in its source folders. A few days of messing around, and I still cannot dial this in....I have enabled UPNP on both the computer and the ATV2 however, that is where I get held up. I managed to get the communication set up via the IP thing on the ATV2 where it see the 10.1.... not sure all the numbers, but you know what I mean.... but seeing a folder on the computer I can dump a movie file in, that the XBMC on the ATV2 can see is proving impossible for me...

Is there a "best" method to set this up, meaning if UPNP is not the best method, or too difficult, is there another method you can recommend?

With the ATV1 I had XBMC running right away, but now my graphics card is fried so I had to get the ATV2 to replace and with it being completely different, it has been challenging to say the least..

If you know of a step by step tutorial like a jailbraking tutorial that explains all this in a simple and clear format, specifically to set up the streaming on XBMC between it on a Mac Computer and an ATV2, please let me know, I would really appreciate it.


Also, is there any way to set up an external HD to house the computer movie files on rather then the internal HD on the computer?

Cheers again,



Best,