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gdeusthewhizkid

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
752
41
NY|NJ
I just did mines with seas0npass after a few tries it finally worked. But after i did it im like what's the point. I can't play any movies off my portable drives.. That's what i was really excited about. I threw XBMC on it and still im like what's the big deal..

Is there anyway to connect a usb drive to the appletv2 and play most media files. tha's really why i wanted the jailbreak for like the apple tv 1
 

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
There is and never will be a way to connect a USB hard drive to the Apple TV 2. It does not have to correct USB type, it needs a host type not a device type. Nor does it have a proper dock connector for the iPad Camera Connection Kit.
 

fabian9

macrumors 65816
Nov 28, 2007
1,147
146
Bristol, UK
There is and never will be a way to connect a USB hard drive to the Apple TV 2. It does not have to correct USB type, it needs a host type not a device type. Nor does it have a proper dock connector for the iPad Camera Connection Kit.

It does have a space on the PCB for a dock connector, probably for debugging during its development - so it might be possible to retrofit a dock connector and attach the iPad camera connection kit. Nevertheless, that's a lot more trouble than most people would want to go through.

Jailbreaking opens the ATV up to a lot of good stuff, like streaming non-itunes movies using PLEX or XBMC, adding a web-browser, last.fm support, etc.
 

gdeusthewhizkid

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
752
41
NY|NJ
It does have a space on the PCB for a dock connector, probably for debugging during its development - so it might be possible to retrofit a dock connector and attach the iPad camera connection kit. Nevertheless, that's a lot more trouble than most people would want to go through.

Jailbreaking opens the ATV up to a lot of good stuff, like streaming non-itunes movies using PLEX or XBMC, adding a web-browser, last.fm support, etc.


I was able to add xbmc to the apple tv but i dont see how to add movies to it.. Plex i dont see how to add to my apple tv. and last.fm would be great to have ...

how do i do all these things...
 

kas23

macrumors 603
Oct 28, 2007
5,629
288
I would take it a step backwards and ask: what's the hoopla about a non-jailbreaking apple tv2?

People pay $99 to be able to watch iTunes content on their TV? It's like you're paying Apple $ to have the ability to give Apple more of your $. In fact, with the costs to actually make these, Apple should be sending one out to every mailbox in America (like razors). It would drive up iTunes revenue and expose more people to Apple products. People may be more likely to spend money on a new shiny Mac.

As for ATV, why not just hook-up your Mac to your HDTV? It would cost the price of a cable.
 

milbournosphere

macrumors 6502a
Mar 3, 2009
857
1
San Diego, CA
For me, PLEX was the killer app. The video library management is WAY better than iTunes, and I can stream many more formats to the thing now, including MKVs (It will play 1080p files, but I think they're displayed at 720p). I upgraded from the original model, so Netflix support is well appreciated as well. If you've already jailbroken your new ATV, PLEX isn't that difficult to install.

Instructions are here: http://dillernet.com/apple/2011/01/09/ultimate-guide-to-plex9-on-appletv-2g-with-4-2-1/

Basically, you're just adding two repositories, then using apt-get to install nitoTV and PLEX. Less than 10 commands via ssh.
 

Sedulous

macrumors 68030
Dec 10, 2002
2,530
2,577
Some people just like to tinker, others find jailbreaking allows them options they want that Apple doesn't offer. As for me, I think it is great as-is, although I wish there were a way to access videos outside of the iTunes library. Unless you have a dedicated media server, it seems crazy to fill the HD with media.
 
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