[VonMagnum]

Is anyone else having problem with playing songs gaplessly over a network? I have XBMC installed on my 1st generation AppleTV units and I cannot get gapless playback with AAC or Flac. It always shows "working" and puts a pause between tracks, which is unacceptable on albums like those by Pink Floyd that lead into the next track. I have no such trouble using Apple's interface, but that limits the formats I can use (e.g. I'd have to convert FLAC to ALAC first, etc.) I don't generally have this problem if I run XBMC on the computer server the music is stored on, although occasionally I'll get a very brief 'click' during the transition. Crossfading is turned OFF.

Is there anything I can do to fix this problem over the network?

[Ned Scott]

IIRC, improved gapless playback will come when Audio Engine (wiki) is merged into XBMC's master trunk (code). I don't know the details on this, if it's a network issue or some kind of special buffer or what.

For a first generation Apple TV 1 (wiki), this means you'd have to switch to a Linux-based OS, as XBMC v11 is the last version that will work on Mac OS X 10.4 (which is what the ATV original OS basically is).

[VonMagnum]

That's a shame to hear about the end of AppleTV Gen1 support. I won't just trade out the OS for Linux because the Apple interface does some things better (e.g. 720p never briefly pauses which it sometimes does in XBMC and thus far there is no IDtag support for videos/movies in XBMC. I was hoping at least that feature would be added to XBMC before they dumped support. In some ways, the newer AppleTVs are inferior (e.g. take forever to load photos and libraries because they're almost entirely streamed every time due to so little on-board storage on the device). Oh well. I'll just convert to ALAC and save XBMC for non-standard movie formats and what not. I'll eventually have to move to newer ATVs when I go to 1080p in my main home theater from 720p anyway.

[Ned Scott]

Never had an issue with 720, but then again I installed a Broadcom Crystal HD (wiki) chip inside my Apple TV 1. I do know what you mean about the lack of tag support for movie files, and am eagerly waiting support for that as well. However, over-all, running something like Crystalbuntu (wiki) on my Apple TV 1 has given it new live and turned it into a real power house for media. Much more powerful than the ATV2 or ATV3, and even does a full 1080 output (not just upscaled, like it does in the original ATV OS). Plays everything I throw at it without stuttering.

The plus side is you can dual boot by just putting Crystalbuntu on a USB drive and plugging it in when you want Linux, and unplugging it when you want the original ATV OS.

[VonMagnum]

Maybe that's a good solution for the future (still have a 720p projector downstairs; I've been waiting for a 1080p 3D one that will work there, but the new cheaper Optoma models don't have lens shift (needed for my room) and the ones in the $2xxx range (e.g. Panasonic) have some 3D crosstalk problems (who wants to see double images at times?) so I keep waiting (just looked again and it seems an Acer model might be the ticket, although I had one of their monitors die in just over a month and a few days past warranty so that put me off to that brand).

The other issue, of course, is that I'd need to run Ethernet cables to the home theater room since the Broadcom chip takes up the WiFi spot (or use a USB one?) and of course it's on the exact opposite side of the house (distance and floor) so that would be a PITA unless I use one of those AC wall type ones (not as fast, but supposedly saves a massive headache).