[smalla]

Hi,

i was planning on buying an ION 2 system to run with win7 and XBMC, now the apple tv got my attention due to this site, it is cheap, goodlooking an can run XBMC apparently...

But is there a complete idiot proof manual on how to install the xbmc on the apple tv? And will it have the same codec compatibilty as a PC?

Futhermore has it Audio thrue hdmi? or it is it an extra connection?

thx for pointing me in the right direction...

Another option would be someone in Belgium willing to help me out, I would cover costs! (if reasonable)

thx,

Peter

:o

ps. one last thing i saw some youtube vids... is it possible to have XBMC boot up? I do not need the Apple tv interface, the XBMC is perfect for me, and has a good WAF! (wife acceptance factor) thxxxx

[Philmatic]

I would suggest you roll with an Ion based system, most people here wouldn't recommend you get an Apple TV if your intent is to run XBMC on it, we're more of a "trying to do the best we can, with the hardware we already own" type of crowd.

Or, if you are tied to the hip in Apple's ecosystem (or want to be).

Zotac makes a very small Ion/Ion2 based system that will provide full 1080p playback of any HD file, provided you run the Linux build of XBMC with VDPAU.

[prae5]

AppleTV is limited to SD content in its standard form, if you add a broadcom decoder card to it and remove the wifi card it will do hd content too. Its relatively stable now, but is still under development.

As mentioned above, if your are looking to buy hardware i wouldn't buy a atv as there are better choices available.

The current cheapest device available that is cable of full 1080p decoding is the single core acer revo with 1gb of ram. It is more than capable of this and can be picked up for about £150 / $200.

[smalla]

Philmatic, the zotac was indeed my choice for now... i am waiting for the Zotac Zbox to come out in Belgium!

[davilla]

Hi,

i was planning on buying an ION 2 system to run with win7 and XBMC, now the apple tv got my attention due to this site, it is cheap, goodlooking an can run XBMC apparently...

But is there a complete idiot proof manual on how to install the xbmc on the apple tv? And will it have the same codec compatibilty as a PC?

Futhermore has it Audio thrue hdmi? or it is it an extra connection?

thx for pointing me in the right direction...

Another option would be someone in Belgium willing to help me out, I would cover costs! (if reasonable)

thx,

Peter

:o

ps. one last thing i saw some youtube vids... is it possible to have XBMC boot up? I do not need the Apple tv interface, the XBMC is perfect for me, and has a good WAF! (wife acceptance factor) thxxxx

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW...he_AppleTV

Of course, this totally depends on what type of idiot you may be

[Philmatic]

Philmatic, the zotac was indeed my choice for now... i am waiting for the Zotac Zbox to come out in Belgium!

Speak of the devil, the ION2 based ZBox just started shipping, $250 USD from Newegg.

Not sure how much shipping would be to Belgium though.

[xbmc old school]

Sorry Philmatic,

I'm siding with AppleTV. The ZBOX is expensive because it has no remote, ram, or harddrive for $250. I am somewhat of a noob to hacking and i loaded xbmc & the CrystalHD card in about 35min (3-5hrs research). This was my first unassisted hack and I'm in plasma 1080p heaven!!!

Davilla's da man.

[xbmc old school]

Oh ya i got a refurbished 40gb Apple tv for $167(CAN) and a CrystalHD for $50(CAN). $200 all in is pretty sweet.

[Angrenost]

Sorry Philmatic,

I'm siding with AppleTV. The ZBOX is expensive because it has no remote, ram, or harddrive for $250. I am somewhat of a noob to hacking and i loaded xbmc & the CrystalHD card in about 35min (3-5hrs research). This was my first unassisted hack and I'm in plasma 1080p heaven!!!

Davilla's da man.

Agree,love my AppleTV connected to 50 inches of plasmic-orgasmic KURO
But still a bit away from the real nirvana...1080 output and no stuttering,solved this i will be happy!

[curlyjs]

I did the same math when I replaced the Xbox for an ATV. ATV is cheap, 200$ CAD for an used one and a crystal HD. It looks good, and near silent. Also built in support for IR, no strange wire hanging.

So far, great overall experience with the latest sw and driver. A bit slow in confluence skin, but disabling fanart does the trick.

JS

[brock_gonad]

I did the same math when I replaced the Xbox for an ATV. ATV is cheap, 200$ CAD for an used one and a crystal HD. It looks good, and near silent. Also built in support for IR, no strange wire hanging.

So far, great overall experience with the latest sw and driver. A bit slow in confluence skin, but disabling fanart does the trick.

JS

Me also. Same math, same conclusion.

Regarding skin speed - it is a bit of a bummer indeed, but I can't bear to disable fanart. I'm just really looking forward to the DXT fanart compression finally hitting some ATV builds. That looks badass, and should really help the GUI performance.

[docentore]

sorry for hijacking the thread, but I don't want to open new one as my question is similar.

I just got ATV, Broadcom card etc. I want to go with Ubuntu on that. Thanks to Davilla's link I will be grand.

One question though:
Instead of backing up and splitting existing hdd can I just install new one without cloning the old one and install linux from scratch and keep the original as backup?

Thanks

[davilla]

sorry for hijacking the thread, but I don't want to open new one as my question is similar.

I just got ATV, Broadcom card etc. I want to go with Ubuntu on that. Thanks to Davilla's link I will be grand.

One question though:
Instead of backing up and splitting existing hdd can I just install new one without cloning the old one and install linux from scratch and keep the original as backup?

Thanks

As long as you follow the rules for getting a disk to boot on the AppleTV, yes. See http://code.google.com/p/atv-bootloader/ for details.