Apple TV to play Other Formats

[admin_exported]

Hi forum members.

I have one Apple TV at the moment in my main listening room. I want to get more out of it so then I can add more Apple TVs to other rooms and sync them all to one library.

Is there a way to get an Apple TV to play AVI and other common video formats?

I tried searching on Google and there seem to be many many conflicting arguements and ways to do this.

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Hi mate, have a look at aTV Flash, it's an Apple TV 'supercharger'. I'm currently considering getting an Apple TV and in my research I came accross aTV Flash, it looks really cool, about £30, will let you play AVI and do loads of other things (such as plug in an external USB drive 🙂

Personally, I'm going to wait until next week when Apple have their conference to see if they announce a new Apple TV or a price reduction.

Cheers

Grace

 

[professorhat]

Have a look here for JD's impressions on aTV software

 

[John Duncan]

My impressions haven't changed much btw. Yes you can get AVI files playing on there but using a different media player, they don't appear in front row. If you're a Unix buff you can get most of these hacks for free as well, rather than paying for ATVFlash.

I'd be inclined to convert AVIs to an iTunes-compatible format, then they become available natively.

 

[Anonymous]

JohnDuncan:If you're a Unix buff you can get most of these hacks for free as well, rather than paying for ATVFlash.

aTV Flash adds options to the existing Apple TV interface, while the free alternatives (at least the last time I checked) replaces the original interface and eliminates the simple, ease of use options. aTV Flash installation takes a couple of minutes, while the alternatives needs ours of tricksing and tweaking.

In short, the free UNIX/OpenSource solutions are for those who like fiddling with computers; the very inexpensive aTV Flash are for those who want things to work out of the box so they can spend their spare time watching films and hearing music...

 

[John Duncan]

Fahnsen:the very inexpensive aTV Flash are for those who want things to work out of the box so they can spend their spare time watching films and hearing music...

Or in the case of some of the claimed functionality, not working out of the box.

 

[Anonymous]

JohnDuncan:Fahnsen:the very inexpensive aTV Flash are for those who want things to work out of the box so they can spend their spare time watching films and hearing music...Or in the case of some of the claimed functionality, not working out of the box.

What is that?

I admit I haven't tried it all so far...

 

[John Duncan]

Couldn't for the life of me get composite out to work (which meant I could never plug it in to my SD telly, except in black and white, or green, or blue...). The "add Mac apps" claim worked with Firefox and...that's it. I struggled badly with connecting to network drives (but that could just be networking for you). Getting a burned DVD onto it was not for the faint-hearted. I never dared try to connect a USB drive to it because you had to make the external drive its "main" storage, and I got the impression it was going to empty it, or the @TV drive, or both.

It just seemed fabulous in theory and less so in practice.

 

[Anonymous]

JohnDuncan:Couldn't for the life of me get composite out to work (which meant I could never plug it in to my SD telly, except in black and white, or green, or blue...).

Well, that's a hardware thing: There's no composite out on the Apple TV....

Some people claim to get colours through the green component outlet (by plugging a DVI-to-HDMI adaptor to the ATV), but that's a magic trick that has nothing to do with aTV Flash.

The "add Mac apps" claim worked with Firefox and...that's it.

Haven't tried to install anything that's not part of the aTV Flash installer. The Apple TV doesn't have processor power to run real apps anyway; nor a keyboard to control them.

I struggled badly with connecting to network drives (but that could just be networking for you).

I use a WD ShareSpace (that holds my iTunes library) connected via a 3Com GigaBit switch to an AirPort Extreme. Works perfectly, whether it's wired or wireless.

Getting a burned DVD onto it was not for the faint-hearted.

Haven't tried that yet. I think you'll have to use FTP to transfer files that's not imported to iTunes.

I never dared try to connect a USB drive to it because you had to make the external drive its "main" storage, and I got the impression it was going to empty it, or the @TV drive, or both.

You can choose which HDD (Apple TV internal or USB) to be the main one (containing the software). I guess choosing the external one might mean it will have to be reformatted. Adding a USB drive for extra storage seems simple enough though.

 

[John Duncan]

Fahnsen:Well, that's a hardware thing: There's no composite out on the Apple TV....

Yes, but ATVFlash claims to allow you to switch composite on through the green component output. Didn't work for me.

 

[Anonymous]

JohnDuncan:Fahnsen:Well, that's a hardware thing: There's no composite out on the Apple TV....Yes, but ATVFlash claims to allow you to switch composite on through the green component output. Didn't work for me.

aTV Flash don't claim this. It's just a tip posted on aTV user forums.