Realtime transcode to AppleTV

[dawks]

Been looking for a program that can transcode video x.264 mkv in real time to the Apple TV (more interested since the 3rd gen Apple TV does 1080p now). Is there such a beast?
I've used TVersity to transcode to the Xbox 360 and WDTV Live (although the WDTV can play mkv's natively so I dont transcode now..).

More than likely, I'd prefer to do the transcoding on a Win7 machine.

Thanks.

 

[TheStu]

Once the aTV is jailbroken, XBMC should be able to handle it.

 

[lokiju]

Once the aTV is jailbroken, XBMC should be able to handle it.

I was really hoping they'd open up DLNA with this new one but oh well, have to count on hacking to get all the options supported.

 

[dclive]

I was really hoping they'd open up DLNA with this new one but oh well, have to count on hacking to get all the options supported.

"Hacking" takes about 5 minutes (don't "update" to V5 firmware of AppleTV!) and gives you XBMC, the best of the best as far as media centers / players is concerned (focusing on local on-your-network content). The AppleTV2 + XBMC is the best media viewer I've yet used by a wide margin, better than the Boxee Box v1.5 too. I love it.

 

[Wonderful Pork]

"Hacking" takes about 5 minutes (don't "update" to V5 firmware of AppleTV!) and gives you XBMC, the best of the best as far as media centers / players is concerned (focusing on local on-your-network content). The AppleTV2 + XBMC is the best media viewer I've yet used by a wide margin, better than the Boxee Box v1.5 too. I love it.

I have the original Apple TV (with harddrive) and am considering upgrading to the new 1080p version.

Can I just hang a external HDD off the USB port if its jailbroken? Or, is it possible for me to have only my video library on an external disk tied to Airport Extreme (knowing stock aTV can only play iTunes compatible stuff)? I don't really want to have my computer up and running all the time if I'm going to watch a video.

 

[dclive]

I have the original Apple TV (with harddrive) and am considering upgrading to the new 1080p version.

Can I just hang a external HDD off the USB port if its jailbroken? Or, is it possible for me to have only my video library on an external disk tied to Airport Extreme (knowing stock aTV can only play iTunes compatible stuff)? I don't really want to have my computer up and running all the time if I'm going to watch a video.

Again, you currently can't JB an AppleTV3 (yet; that will likely change in a few weeks or months). So let's talk about a JB ATV2:

1. AppleTV2 +XBMC works off of SMB. There is a micro-USB cable on it, but I have never tried converter cable + HDD there; I do everything over the network via an SMB share on a 'server' sitting in my closet. http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=XBMC_for_iOS_specific_FAQ seems to suggest the HDD attached via USB won't work; SMB share is a much simpler method.
2. AppleTV2 + XBMC can map drives shared out via SMB/AFP/NFS and others. If you have it on the network, shared out from a Windows or Mac box, you're fine. And if it's MKV, FLV, AVI, WMV, MP4, MPG, and a host of other formats, it will play just fine.
3. Sorry about your up and running problems.... I keep an old Celeron single-core-CPU box with 9 HDDs on all the time in a closet with all my media.

 

[Wonderful Pork]

Again, you currently can't JB an AppleTV3 (yet; that will likely change in a few weeks or months). So let's talk about a JB ATV2:

1. AppleTV2 +XBMC works off of SMB. There is a micro-USB cable on it, but I have never tried converter cable + HDD there; I do everything over the network via an SMB share on a 'server' sitting in my closet. http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=XBMC_for_iOS_specific_FAQ seems to suggest the HDD attached via USB won't work; SMB share is a much simpler method.
2. AppleTV2 + XBMC can map drives shared out via SMB/AFP/NFS and others. If you have it on the network, shared out from a Windows or Mac box, you're fine. And if it's MKV, FLV, AVI, WMV, MP4, MPG, and a host of other formats, it will play just fine.
3. Sorry about your up and running problems.... I keep an old Celeron single-core-CPU box with 9 HDDs on all the time in a closet with all my media.

Since my aTV has a 160GB HDD in it, it can run autonomously, which is really nice. Currently I have it running XBMC, though I'm reasonably sure its not the latest and greatest version since the processor is starting to hit its upper limit.

I don't have _that_ much media, maybe 15GB of music and 30GB of video, so perhaps a 1-2TB drive hooked to my airport extreme will do the trick. I would love to keep my current aTV forever but its showing signs of slowing down so I know that the end is near (but it's been a great 3 years). I even considered putting a mac mini in its place, but $600+ seems kind of overkill, especially if it wont just autoboot into Plex or whatever.

I figure that if I can move just the video portion of my iTunes library to an external drive (is that even possible?) then I can keep the music local and share the videos over the network. It would be super awesome if iPhone/iPad could also see remote videos and stream them like the Apple TV.

 

[dclive]

Since my aTV has a 160GB HDD in it, it can run autonomously, which is really nice. Currently I have it running XBMC, though I'm reasonably sure its not the latest and greatest version since the processor is starting to hit its upper limit.

I don't have _that_ much media, maybe 15GB of music and 30GB of video, so perhaps a 1-2TB drive hooked to my airport extreme will do the trick. I would love to keep my current aTV forever but its showing signs of slowing down so I know that the end is near (but it's been a great 3 years). I even considered putting a mac mini in its place, but $600+ seems kind of overkill, especially if it wont just autoboot into Plex or whatever.

I figure that if I can move just the video portion of my iTunes library to an external drive (is that even possible?) then I can keep the music local and share the videos over the network. It would be super awesome if iPhone/iPad could also see remote videos and stream them like the Apple TV.

For your use case it seems like a drive attached to the router that's shared out so the AppleTV2 + XBMC could see it would be ideal.

You can move any files anywhere you want; your "iTunes Library" is just a bunch of mp3/mp4 files; put them anywhere you want.

iPhone/iPad certainly can with VLC or a host of other video-sharing applications.

I agree with your comments on buying a Mac Mini - silly when AppleTV2 is $99 and does much of what it sounds like you need. Act now if you want the AppleTV2, or take a risk that AppleTV3 might not be JB'd as fast as everyone hopes.

 

[ponyo]

I read the other day Apple already stopped signing the older 4.4.1 or whatever firmware for ATV2. So if your ATV2 isn't already jailbroken, it may be too late.