[thehammer]

Why is it that Apple TV1 gets so little recognition as a great box for using XBMC (KODI).
The Apple TV1 was built with an Intel processor running at 1Ghz, and with an upgraded video card supports 1080p video playback.
Granted the resale price of these used units, even without the upgraded video card, reflects their value. check out ebay or craigslist for dollar value.

Yes it is odd that the Apple TV2 and Apple TV3 don't surpass the original unit but Apple chose to go away from the Intel processor.

I have 3 of these units in service and although not perfect I haven't read anything that says any other box is superior for the purpose.

Any comments?

The Hammer

[Ned Scott]

I've actually been a huge ATV1 fan over the years and have sung its praises a lot :)

They're getting a little long in the tooth since the same performance can be had with various other ARM boxes, and those boxes have some additional bonuses. I still like mine and won't be getting rid of them soon. They gave me a great run and I was very happy with mine.

[thehammer]

Now...
OpenElec has stopped supporting Apple TV 1, and XBMC has stopped supporting the Broadcom Crystal HD video card, although there is a work around apparently. Crystalbuntu is changing to OMC and making their own hardware, the VERO. Undoubtedly interest in keeping the Apple TV 1 "up to date" will be cast aside in short order.

Still working well so far but the future of my Apple TV 1s seems to be more uncertain.

Still makes me wonder what hardware is better and how and why...?

The Hammer

[wrxtasy]

I have an fully tweaked and sorted RPi and and 2 Crystalbuntu ATV1's.
The only advantage I find with the RPi over the ATV1's are that deinterlacing is of a higher quality on the RPi and it refresh rate switching on my TV operates a bit quicker. Oh and HDMI CEC control.

The ATV1 still creams it for GUI navigation speed and large video library management.
Refresh rate switching, 24p, optical out, component output, deinterlacing, and a HDD still make it a very capable media streamer with a Broadcom Crystal HD card. I even run a TvHeadend backend server on one unit.

And for its 8th birthday I gitted, reverted, tweaked and compiled Kodi with CrystalHD hardware acceleration put back in again and a few other bug fixes.

Kodi on the ATV1 with Crystal HD HERE !