What's the appeal of XBMC on AppleTV2?

[ponyo]

No crashes here. Make sure you have Apple updates disabled.

 

[Aikouka]

No crashes here. Make sure you have Apple updates disabled.

I do have it disabled. I got tired of the AppleTV asking me to update to 4.3.1 .

 

[Ka0t1x]

Also make sure sleep is turned off, I had that issue.

 

[Aikouka]

Also make sure sleep is turned off, I had that issue.

I've been leaving sleep on the entire time and it's worked until now. Albeit, I don't think I ever tried to watch an entire video on it, but I do recall watching one for around 15 minutes or more without a problem.

 

[ponyo]

I've discovered the marvel of XBMC plugins. Wish I found them earlier. Navi-X and Icefilms. With your local media and these two plugins, you really could cancel cable or satellite TV.

 

[zylander]

Well Ive had my jailbroken Apple TV2 for a couple of weeks now and I find myself using my W7 HTPC more than the ATV2. I like the form factor of the ATV and the power consumption and I like the XBMC interface. What I dont like however is the lag, its not terrible but it is noticeable and pretty irritating. I also havent been able to get XBMC to gather metadata for all my tv shows. But, my biggest complaint is the ATV2 remote, scrolling through 400 movies really sucks using left and right arrows. At least on my HTPC remote (dinovo mini) there are page up/down buttons to scroll through a long list faster.

I do like XBMC on the ATV2 and I love the form factor and look of the ATV2 but between the lag and the crappy ATV2 remote I dont think it can replace my HTPC.

 

[Aikouka]

For faster scrolling, press right to go from the list of stuff to the scroll bar and then use up or down to go a page at a time. If you hold up or down, it also goes faster, but using the scroll bar is definitely the fastest way (or just typing the letter).

 

[zylander]

For faster scrolling, press right to go from the list of stuff to the scroll bar and then use up or down to go a page at a time. If you hold up or down, it also goes faster, but using the scroll bar is definitely the fastest way (or just typing the letter).

That scrolling option is only available when you have library mode turned off.

 

[lokiju]

I had read a rumor that the next version will have the same CPU as the iPad 2 and output at 1080. If that becomes true and is still at $100 I'll be getting one to take over as my main streaming solution.

Right now I'm using my PS3 and ps3 media server, which honestly works great.

But with the new Cinavia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinavia DRM issues on the PS3, it might be getting closer to looking at alternatives. Plus I want a solution that's cheap like this for my bed room and guest rooms.

I might just go ahead and get a current gen now even just for the ability to send content to it from my iPad 2.

 

[Lotheron]

Has anyone else had any problems with XBMC crashing on the ATV2? I tried a couple 720p h264 videos and it crashed anywhere between 30 seconds to a few minutes in. I've heard that XBMC can crash from running out of memory (ATV2 only has.. 256mb I believe) and some apps (like VNC) can really hurt its available memory.

Anyone else with Exposed installed have any problems or could my ATV2 just need a "hard reset" to clear up any possible memory leakage?

If you're still having this issue, make sure you have the newest nightly build.

I just bought two ATV2s and have them setup in the bedrooms. Both are 32inch 720p TVs so the resolution is fine. My dad's watching MLB.TV and we're watching HD downloads. I'm not sure about the earlier comment about slow interface, I think it's quite fast.

For those of you complaining about fanart and posters, you can preset these up and xbmc will use those instead of scraping its own. To do this, I highly recommend Ember Media Manager

 

[TheStu]

I had read a rumor that the next version will have the same CPU as the iPad 2 and output at 1080. If that becomes true and is still at $100 I'll be getting one to take over as my main streaming solution.

Right now I'm using my PS3 and ps3 media server, which honestly works great.

But with the new Cinavia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinavia DRM issues on the PS3, it might be getting closer to looking at alternatives. Plus I want a solution that's cheap like this for my bed room and guest rooms.

I might just go ahead and get a current gen now even just for the ability to send content to it from my iPad 2.

The other nice thing is that it is completely silent, and uses almost no power compared to the PS3. So if you already have a 2 box solution (streaming to the PS3), then aside from 1080p, there is little reason to not get the aTV.

 

[Ns1]

If you're still having this issue, make sure you have the newest nightly build.

I just bought two ATV2s and have them setup in the bedrooms. Both are 32inch 720p TVs so the resolution is fine. My dad's watching MLB.TV and we're watching HD downloads. I'm not sure about the earlier comment about slow interface, I think it's quite fast.

For those of you complaining about fanart and posters, you can preset these up and xbmc will use those instead of scraping its own. To do this, I highly recommend Ember Media Manager

EMM is having some problems getting my movies right.

 

[ponyo]

I had read a rumor that the next version will have the same CPU as the iPad 2 and output at 1080. If that becomes true and is still at $100 I'll be getting one to take over as my main streaming solution.

Right now I'm using my PS3 and ps3 media server, which honestly works great.

But with the new Cinavia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinavia DRM issues on the PS3, it might be getting closer to looking at alternatives. Plus I want a solution that's cheap like this for my bed room and guest rooms.

I might just go ahead and get a current gen now even just for the ability to send content to it from my iPad 2.

I also have jailbroken PS3 with Showtime Home Theater app next to my jailbroken Apple TV2 with XBMC (Navi-X and IceFilms plugins) and Plex Media. Honestly, I rarely turn on my PS3. It's loud and hot. PS3 media server and Showtime Home Theater is pretty decent but it can't compare to XBMC features and functionality. I use WiFi and my PS3 has extremely slow wireless speed. 720p stuff pretty much buffers every couple of seconds on the PS3. I know if you use hardwire Ethernet, that problem disappears. Most of my videos are in 720p or lower format so ATV2 works great for me with zero buffering over WiFi. I've second ATV2 in my bedroom. It's small, silent, and doesn't draw any attention.

Navi-X and IceFilms on XBMC pretty much gives you unlimited online streaming media content. Between my local media content and other users content accessed from Navi-X and IceFilms, my media streaming options are virtually unlimited. Add in Netflix and I really don't need anything else. PS3 has Netflix and Hulu Plus and that's it. Add in the ability to AirPlay media from your iPad to your TV and it's really the ultimate little streaming device for $99.