[soulchar]

Hello,
thank you very much for developing xbmc.
I have both versions of ATV(Gen 1 & Gen 2). They are not patched in any ways, but I would like to run xbmc on them. I´m reading not only good things about the new release 10 for ATVs, so my question is: When is xbmc REALLY stable on the mentioned devices? Should I wait for 10.1 or should I use the nightly(beta) builds?
For my ATV 1: Is it best to use the 9.11 Release?

Thank you very much.
Tom

[ddingle]

If you haven't yet hacked your ATV1 I wouldn't even bother with XBMC for that at this point and just jailbreak your ATV2 and run XBMC on that. It's plenty stable already for average daily use and will only get better once the minor iOS kinks are worked out.

.02

[bmcclure937]

I do not particularly agree with that advice. The AppleTV (original) with Broadcom CrystalHD can outperform the ATV2. The ATV2 is limited in codec support along with 720p output.

Yes, the ATV2 can "play" 1080p sources but the output is still 720

[soulchar]

thank you very much for your reply.
When I install the current version - how will I get the patches and updates?
Do I need to connect it again to my computer and hack something via terminal?

The atv is in my living room and I'm not a poweruser. The only thing I need is a working smb connection to my NAS. Mostly I use it for music, not for video. But I would be disappointed when I want to use it one day a month and it is not working because it has no network connection, or xbmc hangs or something like this(I've read about those issues in other threads).

Are the developers working more on a stable atv2 version than for atv1. Or is it the same for both?

Thanks for your time,
Tom

[ddingle]

The AppleTV (original) with Broadcom CrystalHD can outperform the ATV2.

Very true, but hacking the ATV1 to get the Broadcom chip installed (physically opening the case) and getting XBMC on there is kinda a PITA compared to a relatively simple jailbreak + nitoTV XBMC install for the ATV2 and the OP doesn't sound like an advanced user (by their own admission). And unless you're dealing with a crazy, huge projection system or something the average 32-42" HD TV @ 8-10' away, to my eyes anyway, displays 720p just as nicely as 1080p. I can't tell the difference anyway. As someone who downloads a lot of content with limited bandwidth 1080p is just plain annoying to me.

.02 YMMV

[tanakasan]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but given your comments, I'd suggest not installing anything.

If you don't want to your hands dirty technically (ie - have no desire to hack into the system, use the Terminal application, learn basic UNIX commands, tinker + fix things in software to upgrade or when they break, etc) then I don't think XBMC is for you -- while many people find it easy enough to work with, it's not really a product meant for typical everyday Apple users.

Someday perhaps, but today it's not as simple as double-clicking an icon on your desktop to have it automatically get and install the latest updates.

[soulchar]

thanks again for reply.
knowledge is not the problem since I'm a professional software developer working with unix machines for more than 20 years. opening and modding the devices is also not a problem. I'm not the typically mac user, but I just don't have very much time to fix too much problems.
So when I understand you right, the system is not as stable that I can install now and don't care anymore.
Still one question left: will future releases and patches come via autoupdate?
thank you very much in advance.

[tanakasan]

Well, if you're a software developer with such experience than all of this should be a walk in the park for you!

With regards to stability, even though there are occasional quirks, overall it's pretty stable, esp. for video. Many people have no problems, and the issues + complaints you read about are almost always is due to the differences in peoples hardware / software set up or user error, so read those with a grain of salt.

However, for music -- which seems to be the application you are most interested in -- with the ATV2 version there's a known bug that prevents it from being as stable as it could be, at least when it comes to scraping music.

Re: upgrades -- as far as I know you need to do this via shell command. It's a manual process, it doesn't happen automatically. As for finding out when releases are available -- this forum is your best bet.

[soulchar]

thank you all and thank you tanaksan.
I think you're right: in those forums there are many people with problems but you never know how much people are very satisfied.
I will try xbmc on my atv2. If it runs well I will try it on my atv1 too. In my opinion the 1. gen is the better concept because the harddisk. It should not be too hard to upgrade the 160gb hd with a larger one using a sata/ide adapter.
Thank you very much for your time and hints.

[fultotop]

Re: upgrades -- as far as I know you need to do this via shell command. It's a manual process, it doesn't happen automatically. As for finding out when releases are available -- this forum is your best bet.

I used iFunbox to transfer the file to my iPad, then used IFile to install the deb file. No shell commands where needed.

[kcarney]

XBMC on AppleTV1 is far more stable than on AppleTV2 at this point in time. If you have a new AppleTV2 with current firmware you will need to connect a computer to the unit before each boot (tethered jailbreak).

If using AppleTV1 and you're familiar with *nix it will be a walk in the park.

[ddingle]

I'm a professional software developer working with unix machines for more than 20 years. opening and modding the devices is also not a problem.

Well geez... why didn't ya say so?

Get a broadcom card, 160GB (or more) hard drive, install Crystalbuntu and you'll looooove your ATV1!

[soulchar]

would you recommend xbmc 9 or xbmc 10 for atv1?

[kcarney]

Current version. apt-get install xbmc

[soulchar]

ok, thank you very much!