[turbopanther]

I initially bought an ATV1 but returned it and went for the ATV2. The ATV1 unit I had bought had the common video fault of graphics artifacts like 'snow' or coloured pixels whenever under load.

Tried all sorts of cables and TV's and after further research found that the ATV1 is prone to overheating which seems to toast the graphics card/chips/whatever.

Put me off buying another one since I didn't want it to fail later.

Got the ATV2 and thoroughly pleased. Also exciting to be in the 'now' rather than the past. Even with the early state of apps for jailbroken units, XBMC for iOS does the job, and well.

It's definitely more of a 'set-top-box' solution in its current state, perfect if you already have a media server on your network and want to cheaply add access to it in another room.

If you want to have something that can run OS X, then an ATV1 might be better.

[LazarusLong]

Totally new to the XBMC world (just got it installed on my office workstation this past weekend). Just wondering if there are any non-Apple hardware devices that perform as well (or better) than either of the ATV devices ?

Looking to add this to the living room TV and just trying to decide which way to go...

Thanks in advance.

[procrastinator]

Just wondering if there are any non-Apple hardware devices that perform as well (or better) than either of the ATV devices ?

Looking to add this to the living room TV and just trying to decide which way to go...

Thanks in advance.

Wow! Short question, but enormous possible answer! Apple TVs (1 or 2) are just about the cheapest way to get XBMC set up, but there's a ton of things that'll run it better. There's an entire forum dedicated to the best hardware for XBMC:
http://forum.xbmc.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=112
waaaaaay more information than anyone could stick in a single post to answer that question.
I suppose the closest thing to a "standard" XBMC setup was an Acer Revo (don't know if that's still the case though). I was going to give you a link to a guide from Lifehacker.com on setting one of these up, but then realised how dated it was! in fact, here's the link anyway, but take that with a pinch of salt (it's from late 2009!).

Your best bet is a good long browse of the hardware forum that I just linked to above. There's something for every taste and every budget over there.

Good Luck!

[keith]

Totally new to the XBMC world (just got it installed on my office workstation this past weekend). Just wondering if there are any non-Apple hardware devices that perform as well (or better) than either of the ATV devices ?

Looking to add this to the living room TV and just trying to decide which way to go...

Thanks in advance.

I've owned:
Boxee Box
Mac Mini
Zotac HD-ID11
Acer Revo

All of which ran XBMC better than the current implementation on ATV2 in most aspects. But all of which took configuring. All of those have an operating system that needs updating, something that I've always found annoying.

Which is why I've tried several 'media streamer' devices as well:

Popcorn Hour A100
WDTV HDTV Live Plus!
(and a few others I've forgotten)

These, while were quicker to setup and maintain, were much uglier and not user friendly.

So that's been the usual balance. Do you go with a full-fledged (but same form factor) linux machine, or do you go with a low-powered media streamer?

The ATV2, in my opinion, is the best of both worlds. It's a small, low power, limited os perfect for media playback. Very little configuration is needed (compared to say, trying to get HDMI audio to work in pre-dharma linux days) and it just works.
The problem is, 'just works' doesn't fully apply to xbmc-ios yet. It will, eventually. The port is very usable right now, but bugs definitely exist. If you want a polished setup you can give to your mother and never have to care about again, like the original xbox with xbmc was, this is not it.

(correction, remembered I still own my Boxee Box. It's not an OS, but its buggy, worse than xbmc-ios currently, so while this convo doesn't really talk to them, thought I'd throw that out there.)

Eventually I hope, and I'm sure the rest of the team does too, we'll get there. In the meantime, if this makes you uncomfortable, don't use this platform.
Linux is much easier to debug/find answers/etc.

ATV1 is more mature. It's just x86, so that as a platform has been supported by XBMC for several years. But you need to put in hardware to get 1080p to work and remove wifi. And you need to do other tweaks beyond that. Because, at the end of the day, with this hardware you're either using a customized/slimmed down version of OSX, full blown OSX or Linux.

My favorite box is still my Mac Mini. Plays the most, has the least problems. I know ATV2 will get there soon. Just give it time.

[pmcd]

[ ]

(correction, remembered I still own my Boxee Box. It's not an OS, but its buggy, worse than xbmc-ios currently, so while this convo doesn't really talk to them, thought I'd throw that out there.)

[ ]

My favorite box is still my Mac Mini. Plays the most, has the least problems. I know ATV2 will get there soon. Just give it time.

I really agree with your Mini statement. Great unit.

I had several Boxee Boxes at one point and just couldn't take to them. I didn't realize they ran XBMC. Is that recent?

The ATV1+CHD+Linux (ubuntu 8.04)+XBMC is great. I can't say enough about it. Assuming the CHD card is installed the rest is trivial. There are two really simple ways of doing it via "sam's" automated method or using atvcloner.

One issue with the ATV2 is the space problem if you have posters and such locally. The 6gigs can decrease fast, especially if videos are cached on it ( and stay in the cache at /private/var/mobile/Library/Caches/AppleTV/Video/LocalAndRental). Otherwise, it's pretty darned nice.

philip

[keith]

I really agree with your Mini statement. Great unit.

I had several Boxee Boxes at one point and just couldn't take to them. I didn't realize they ran XBMC. Is that recent?

The ATV1+CHD+Linux (ubuntu 8.04)+XBMC is great. I can't say enough about it. Assuming the CHD card is installed the rest is trivial. There are two really simple ways of doing it via "sam's" automated method or using atvcloner.

One issue with the ATV2 is the space problem if you have posters and such locally. The 6gigs can decrease fast, especially if videos are cached on it ( and stay in the cache at /private/var/mobile/Library/Caches/AppleTV/Video/LocalAndRental). Otherwise, it's pretty darned nice.

philip

No XBMC on Boxee Box, that's not what I meant. I meant in my opinion the performance of the device is worse than XBMC-iOS currently in nightlies.

To get around the space issue, you can do remote library w/ mysql and pathsub.

I've always wanted to try ATV1. Having to put it in an oven to put a CHD in it is something I never really got over doing on a $150+ device.

[doc.horn]

the best advantage of using atv2 compared to "real" computers is the absence of a fan AND an HD. so you have ABSOLUTELY no noise while watching video content or listening to music.
all other solutions I used before were quiet more or less, but this baby is really soundless.

[LazarusLong]

Thanks for all of the replies everyone! I believe I've decided to go with an AT1 and dedicated video card running Linux. I'm not afraid to tear it apart or hack it.

Now onto ebay to search!

[pmcd]

the best advantage of using atv2 compared to "real" computers is the absence of a fan AND an HD. so you have ABSOLUTELY no noise while watching video content or listening to music.
all other solutions I used before were quiet more or less, but this baby is really soundless.

It's really great to hear someone else comment on the joys of not hearing a fan noise. That is one of the things that has really bothered me as I bought a variety of media players. Those small noisy fans, that are always described as whisper quiet, drove me crazy. The ATV2 is great that way. I should point out that I can't hear the ATV1. In fact until I replaced the hard drive I didn't know it had a fan. Same thing with the recent Mac Mini. It is totally silent for me and I am very tuned to listening to fan noise! Of course the ATV2 will never make a noise, and that's great...

philip

[activate]

I got to say I haven't had as much experience with different toys as most of you. The aTV2 was my first little venture. Quite impressed. Recently, I had to help install xbmc for a friend of mine who has atv1 and I was taken aback with all the other software features and functionality. But hey, I'm not complaining! (yet)

[ZombieRobot]

I havent had a chance to test a atv1 but i am starting to like the atv2.
At first i just hated it. the interface was terible no 1080p ,skins were so slow. i also have a core i5 htpc powerhouse that will play everything i throw at it the thing is is i am using the atv2 as my main setup (for now) its quick to access and easy comes with a remote and uses no power, quiet.
im starting to like it i know i could use xbmc live on my core i5 but its for skin development

looking at atv1 vs atv2 i think they both have advantages but i would recommend the atv2 now to anyone.


Linksys router with built in usb port for upnp, 2tb hdd, atv2 no pc/power great for small system

[LazarusLong]

I got to say I haven't had as much experience with different toys as most of you. The aTV2 was my first little venture. Quite impressed. Recently, I had to help install xbmc for a friend of mine who has atv1 and I was taken aback with all the other software features and functionality. But hey, I'm not complaining! (yet)

Just wondering what you saw as all of the additional features and functionality the aTV1 had ? What OS was he running on it (and did he have the upgraded video card) ?