Apple TV AppleTV2, JB, AirportEx, External HD common Q

[bytor99999]

OK, I know this has been asked before as I have searched and probably read each and every one of them, but still not satisfied with their answers. So please pardon me for asking this again.

I have AppleTV2 Jailbroken. I have Airport Extreme with Gigabit network. AppleTV is connected wirelessly. I want to attach a Hard Drive to the extreme so I can stream video to the ATV. I want to make sure there is no stuttering of the video. I want to support 1080p, even though ATV2 is 720. Just for when I do upgrade later the HD solution still works.

I do not want to pay lots of money for a NAS, if there is a cheaper solution.

So which external HD should I get to get it to work?

Will USB 2.0 be enough, or should it be a gigabit connection?

I want just enough, or a little better. I don't need the super duper all out never need anything else ever again solution.

I do not want to have my Mac running. That is what I have now and it works, but I might not be home with my Mac and my wife want to watch something. I hate having to keep my MacBook pro up and running while watching TV. As well as having my media stored on my MacBookPro HD.

Thanks for your time and help

Mark

 

[maturola]

I do not want to have my Mac running. That is what I have now and it works, but I might not be home with my Mac and my wife want to watch something. I hate having to keep my MacBook pro up and running while watching TV. As well as having my media stored on my MacBookPro HD.

Thanks for your time and help

Mark

The answer is pretty much the same as what you read on other threats, ATV need iTunes to read your media, you can't (with a stock ATV) read from a NAS or External Hard drive. (Jailbroken ATV can do this)

Now, with that out of the way and with the understanding that YOU DO NEED A COMPUTER RUNNING...then yes any external HD would do the trick, you hook it up to your router (AirportEx), and the let iTunes read the media from it, and them all the ATVs on your network would be able to read and play the media.

now if you get your hands on the Jailbroken ATV2, then that is another story, with ATVFlash or XBMC you can read all your media directly from a NAS device or a External HardDrive (if your router support UPnP Sharing), on pretty much any format (No computer needed)

 

[bytor99999]

Thanks for you reply. However, that information is what I did get from the other threads, but it is beyond that that I can't find.

I run my computer without iTunes and view the media I have on my Laptop hard drive. My ATV2 is already JailBroken with FireCore and that is how I get the media from my MacBook Pro onto my ATV2 with the FireCore media player. However, I want to move that media off my laptop and onto a Hard Drive.

I guess my main question is with a Hard Drive attached to my Airport Extreme, which Hard Drive works and fast enough to stream to my ATV2 Media Player. Does it have to be a NAS, or will a USB 2.0 HD work attached to the Airport Extreme? Or will it have to be HD with Gigabit Ethernet connection to my Airport Extreme?

I don't think Airport Extreme does UPnP, does it?

That is what I don't find in those other threads.

Thanks you guys rock.

Mark

 

[bohbot16]

USB2.0 will be plenty fast. You'll be more limited by your WiFi connection, which is also fast enough.

I use my Time Capsule to store my files that iTunes (on my MacBook) serves up to my AppleTV and it's fast enough.

I've been considering FireCore media player. How do you like it?

 

[bytor99999]

I love FireCore's installation and the features. I don't need a full blown UI like Xbmc on my ATV2.

The FireCore media player plays all the types of files I have. .avi, .mkv, even music. very quick to attach to my HD on Airport Extreme, and very basic UI that is like the other menus on ATV.

The cool thing I just found out about the music part is that it went out and got pictures of the band (Porcupine Tree) I was listening too from somewhere.

I also just tested out using a USB 2.0 External HD attached to my Airport Extreme and it worked perfectly. So sort of answered my own question.

I am going to use this HD for a while and see how it does, see what its limits are.

Thanks

Mark

 

[craigsharp]

It's just a hard drive... The only real limit is it's size... If you fill it up you can't put anymore on it...

 

[kirsch92]

The most limiting factor for you will be the slow as dirt throughput the Airport Extreme is capable of through USB drive sharing.
No knock against the Extreme (I have one myself), but routers don't make very good NAS's. Hardware just isn't powerful enough.
That said, it is still good enough for streaming, as you have noticed.
However, if you add any new large files to the drive while it's hooked up to the Extreme, it's going to take a long, long time to write it.