Thinking about buying Apple TV

Hello!

I'm seriously thinking about buying an Apple TV and run XBMC on it. But I have a couple of questions before I make the final decision.

1) Can Apple TV run XBMC automatically on bootup?
2) Is it possible to integrate XBMC fully with Apple TV, as if it were the operating system of the unit? (So that I won't even notice the Apple TV UI?)
3) Is it practical/comfortable to use the Apple remote with XBMC? Do I have other options, e.g. can I use the Xbox DVD remote instead?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

WishfulThinking Wrote:Hello!

I'm seriously thinking about buying an Apple TV and run XBMC on it. But I have a couple of questions before I make the final decision.

1) Can Apple TV run XBMC automatically on bootup?
2) Is it possible to integrate XBMC fully with Apple TV, as if it were the operating system of the unit? (So that I won't even notice the Apple TV UI?)
3) Is it practical/comfortable to use the Apple remote with XBMC? Do I have other options, e.g. can I use the Xbox DVD remote instead?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

question 1) and 2) are the same and the answer is yes.

I'm fine with 3), others hate it. You can only use IR remotes that the ATV TR receiver understand, ie. Apple IR remote or Harmony (which can look like an Apple IR remote). If you setup the AppleTV to boot into XBMC, you will lose the ability of learning other IR remotes.

Keep in mind that you will not be able to throw any old three letter extension file at this and expect it to play. You will need to understand the decoding limitation that exist with this platform. In other works, if you try a blue-ray rip at 1080p it's not going to work.

Thanks alot for the answers.

I happen to like the apple remote for xmbc (especially with the Horizonz skin controls). It simplifies the use down to the basics and makes it easy for people to navigate. You loose some flexibility but for most of that I find I like using my PC anyway instead of a remote or handheld keyboard.

its a good start if you aren't 100% sure about going the xbmc route for your living room, but like davilla said, you can't throw everything at it and expect it to run smooth.

most hd stuff won't work unless you are encoding it yourself, the next generation of skins like stark are too much for that little appletv processor. so if you can settle for divx/xvid rips of your dvds and skins rebuilt for the xbox, go for it.

i, myself, am in the market for a mac mini and move the appletv to the smaller bedroom tv.

criti Wrote:its a good start if you aren't 100% sure about going the xbmc route for your living room, but like davilla said, you can't throw everything at it and expect it to run smooth.

most hd stuff won't work unless you are encoding it yourself, the next generation of skins like stark are too much for that little appletv processor. so if you can settle for divx/xvid rips of your dvds and skins rebuilt for the xbox, go for it.

i, myself, am in the market for a mac mini and move the appletv to the smaller bedroom tv.

That's what I just did. And as a bonus, running Plex on the Mac mini, AC3 is now working (DD surround sound never worked on either the mini or the AppleTV for me). Now if they can just get the kinks worked out to get Stark/Auriga working better on Plex, I'll be jazzed!

tuckbodi Wrote:That's what I just did. And as a bonus, running Plex on the Mac mini, AC3 is now working (DD surround sound never worked on either the mini or the AppleTV for me). Now if they can just get the kinks worked out to get Stark/Auriga working better on Plex, I'll be jazzed!

Hmmm...I could have SWORN this was the XBMC forum, not the Plex forum...I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere...

Sorry, I was just agreeing with criti about a Mac mini versus an AppleTV. I recently had to switch my Mac mini from my bedroom, where it was my media server (and fed my OTA to my TV) to my family room and am in the process of setting up the ATV back in the bedroom (need to get the composite hack working).

I love XBMC, been patiently waiting for DD5.1 so I could hear surround sound in all it's glory, which somehow Plex works with my old Yamaha receiver. And as a sidenote, what really broke the camels back was when I hooked the mini up and ran Stark/Auriga on it and it was so much smoother than even the Lite versions on the ATV (and I'm running XBMC there as well) I had a hard time putting it back in the bedroom.

This is not XBMC versus Plex thing for me, just stating the facts. When 5.1 comes along from yah 9and the other dev's) I'll be the first one jumping ship back!

All my DVDs (iso or .avi) have always played 5.1 audio on the atv.

Yeah, the same movies worked fine on a buddies ATV & Denon receiver. What's also weird is my ATV plays DD5.1 through Sapphire just fine, so it's not my ATV, setup, or receiver. I did notice in one of the Atlantis builds there was now static noise on the digital output versus nothing before...so it seems something is being worked on. BTW, there's a trac ticket submitted (5188) which was shooting for 9.04, Atlantis Beta 2 (now past?). Hopefully it won't get pushed out..