[ATV2] Advice needed please.
#1
I have Acer Revo R3700 with 8TB's of USB Storage mounted to it running XBMCLive, connected to my Surround sound all running perfectly.

I've just purchased a new TV for the bedroom with a view to connect my Revo to it (from downstairs).

I've looked into the Apple TV 2 and really just need clarification that it will work how I want it too.

My entire collection is either AVI's or MKV's and available to every laptop in the house via Wireless.

Is the AppleTV 2 the cheapest, most reliable, HD extension to my setup in order to wirelessly receive my media in my Bedroom?

£98 is pretty cheap. I do not really want to buy another Revo (unless it's cheap enough).
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#2
I asked and read all the forums here and it looked ok so I tried it. My recomendation...stay as far as possible...you will not be happy with it.

I guess it is considered ok if you dont ever hook it up to a screen larger than 21" but the resolution is barely SD. It has the capability of HD playback but quite frankly the actual screen dithering and final resolution stinks.

It does not have the speed to deal with a large library and will bog down on long lists. I actually prefer my old XBMC box over this and will try to return or sell it soon.

I am running mostly on converted PC's and laptops atm. Would love to have a low power / compact soluion but with so much power on the PC's, it is hard to find something acceptable that looks good on a 50" or better screen.
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#3
rynoc Wrote:I asked and read all the forums here and it looked ok so I tried it. My recomendation...stay as far as possible...you will not be happy with it.

I guess it is considered ok if you dont ever hook it up to a screen larger than 21" but the resolution is barely SD. It has the capability of HD playback but quite frankly the actual screen dithering and final resolution stinks.

It does not have the speed to deal with a large library and will bog down on long lists. I actually prefer my old XBMC box over this and will try to return or sell it soon.

I am running mostly on converted PC's and laptops atm. Would love to have a low power / compact soluion but with so much power on the PC's, it is hard to find something acceptable that looks good on a 50" or better screen.

You must have used an outdated version or had some serious bugs, because what you say here is completely inaccurate.

The ATV2 does 720 output (it will decode/playback 1080) and looks fantastic. I have never had any dithering issues, and could not tell the difference between the ATV2 and my ATOM/BCHD based HTPC.

Speed improvements have advanced drastically and the ATV2 handles large libraries like a champ.

Wireless depends a lot on having a good router, but I've been able to stream 1080 movies wirelessly to my ATV2 without issue.

I am more than pleased with my ATV2, as well as the performance of XBMC on my iPhone 4 (same hardware). Several people here on the forums have multiple ATV2 units and feel the same way. For a new unit that requires no hardware modification, the ATV2 is indeed the cheapest way to get an HD XBMC box.
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#4
rynoc Wrote:I guess it is considered ok if you dont ever hook it up to a screen larger than 21" but the resolution is barely SD. It has the capability of HD playback but quite frankly the actual screen dithering and final resolution stinks.

Ignore these silly comments, they are so wrong.

ATV2 outputs 720p, on a 40 inch HDTV, if you are sitting more than 8 feet away, your eyes can't tell the difference between 720p and 1080p. That's a physical fact about human eyes than no amount of discussion can change. Anyone that says different is just being silly and ignorant of the numerous studies regarding this topic.

And the screen dither issue was fixed about a week ago, I had to stick my face a foot away from my 42" HDTV to see it Smile I had changed display output to rgb565 to gain some memory bandwidth, no one complained for several months until just recently. This has been changed back to rgb888.
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#5
I have installed latest update with the latest Apple TV 2 software. 720p it is not even though it claims on the output.

Netflix has the same dithering issue as XMBC and it is stock. I'll probably play with it for another week to see if it improves or if I just have something drastically wrong.

Connected to a 1080p Samsung plasma through HDMI.
Box connected to a 1Gbyte network - hard wired (not wireless).
TV is internet ready and has netflix which looks 200% better than ATV2
XBMC on XBOX is currently giving better picture than streams through ATV2
PS3 also connected through HDMI and streams with no issue / no resolution problems.

Maybe I set something up wrong running 4.3 (2557) with the latest XBMC. Tested it before jailbreak and install and Netflix stream was crap / 720p the box was reporting. Tested it after jailbreak and install - still very compressed on the picture through no issue on stream speed / movie speed for playback over network.

I like clarity....not getting it with this unit and not finding a solution yet.
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#6
Ok...found my issue and it was related to the nightly build install - did not complete. Deleted files and re-upped. I have to say it fixed ALL my gripes.

Apple native plugin is still poor.

XBMC is seems to run good now - even h264 streams and picture quality and speed is good. Cannot handle MKV on stream but posts covering this issue (known). Will continue to test / debug over the next week but last few hours have been excellent.
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#7
So the long and short of it is, as long as it is setup correctly and on a decent network - and that you make sure you read up on the whole subject, ATV2 is a fantastic addition to the XBMC world then?

I think that is my mind well and truly made up. I shall be investing in one tomorrow to join in on the fun.

Thanks for the advice lads. I shall report back on how I get on for future users reading this thread.
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#8
Thought I would update this -

I just played 2 Fast 2 Furious 1080p MKV on my new Apple TV without any problems whatsoever.

Simple process of Jailbreak - install via the guide - working like beaut.

Best £100 I have spent in a long time!

Just out of curiosity
What is the storage capacity of a ATV2? I just downloaded a new skin that is 80Mb and wondered, as it has no hard drive, what sort of space is on this thing.
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#9
I used to have a Atv2 but i returned it and just built a htpc . I really didnt like the atv2 it would work great for 2 weeks and out of the blue just stop working (xbmc) . And then i had to re jailbreak and start over. Anyhow should work fine for streaming movies. i wouldnt try to do to much on it .
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#10
Ryan00 Wrote:I used to have a Atv2 but i returned it and just built a htpc . I really didnt like the atv2 it would work great for 2 weeks and out of the blue just stop working (xbmc) . And then i had to re jailbreak and start over. Anyhow should work fine for streaming movies. i wouldnt try to do to much on it .

It is still in a development/testing phase, but what you describe is not typical behavior. At no point would you have to rejailbreak to fix an XBMC issue. You should have posted about your issue in the iOS support forum and we could have helped you out.
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#11
DejaVu Wrote:Just out of curiosity
What is the storage capacity of a ATV2? I just downloaded a new skin that is 80Mb and wondered, as it has no hard drive, what sort of space is on this thing.

SSH in and type df.

Or http://lmgtfy.com/?q=apple+tv+2+disk+size

Or in XBMC -> System - System information -> disk space?
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[ATV2] Advice needed please.0