YouTube live on AppleTV - how to set it up

YouTube goes live on AppleTV - How To

YouTube is now live and rolling on AppleTV, here's how to get it.

-Fire up your AppleTV. It is on a network that is internet connected, right?

-go to Settings

-go to Update Software

-it'll check for update, and if you're successfully connecting to the internet, it will say:

"Apple TV Update

An update is available for your Apple TV. Do you want to download it now?

A message will appear when the update is ready for installation."

There are then choices for Download Now or Udpate Later.

Select Download Now, it takes you back to the Settings screen and where it said "Update Software" before it now says "Downloading update..." with a little twirly thing to let you know it is working on it.

The download took about 4 minutes for me at 3PM CST, probably servers are busy today.

You CAN navigate away and do other things while it is downloading.

Once it is done downloading, it takes you back to a screen that says:
"Apple TV Update

The Apple TV update has finished downloading. Do you want to install it now?

Your Apple TV will restart and begin installing the update. Do not unplug your Apple TV while it is updating.

Clicked Update Now at 3:06:00, it took 3 1/2 minutes to be back up and running normally.

The Apple logo appeared and dissapeared 4 times, the fifth time the logo had a progress bar underneath.

Progress bar goes away, logo again, black screen, logo again, blink, logo again, blink, logo again, logo fades out, logo back, black screen, then the intro animation. So up and rolling at 3:09:30 roughly.

Then there's a new item after Movies and TV Shows - YouTube.

Select that, and you get Featured, Most Viewed, Most Recent, Top Rated, History, Search, Log In.

Selecting Featured, you can then see a scrolling list on the right with sample frame and descriptions on the left.

Videos start playing after a few seconds.

16:9 videos do play full screen appropriately, but of course the compression artifacts are pretty atrocious.

Even videos that are several minutes long start playing within seconds.

Search is there, but you have to navigate the alphabet with the 4 direction remote - a pain.

OK, gotsta get back to work, more some other time.

But as expected - it is YouTube quality - heavily compressed, and only as good as the source material, which is often OF questionable quality.

I also noted huge variances in audio levels, but again that is a source content issue, not an Apple or YouTube issue.

-mike

Apple TV benchmarked, not a supercomputer in disguise - Engadget

Apple TV benchmarked, not a supercomputer in disguise - Engadget - X-Bench 55.75, not bad, but certainly no screamer. My first gen MacBook, for comparison, scores about 125.

Includes links on how to install OS X on your AppleTV.

Xbench: Comparison

A Mac Mini (Intel) got 110 for comparison as well.

Apple TV running full version of OS X - Engadget

Apple TV running full version of OS X - Engadget

Damn! Only took 8 days. Follow the link for how to, and a video showing it.

Why $300 more for a Mini not an AppleTV could be worth it

NextLust

This guy does a DIY home theater setup with more features & options than AppleTV. He then goes on to spend more money on more hardware and software to do extra stuff. Not as plug'n play simple as AppleTV, but if you're reading this, that probably isn't a problem.

This has a nice outline of additional hardware and software needed to get all this working.

-mike

Yes, you CAN modify AppleTV's menus

AwkwardTV � Blog Archive � AppleTV plugin that plays movies

Video demonstration of proof of hack.

More info on the hack in this thread:

We just got xvid working on the Apple TV - The Something Awful Forums

Thanks to Rusty Moyher for sending this one in.

-mike

Joost successfully run on Apple TV : JoostTeam.com

Joost successfully run on Apple TV : JoostTeam.com

tutorialninjas.net has reported success in running Joost on the Apple TV.� There are currently some problems with fonts but I am sure this will be fixed in a near future%u2026 right? What does this mean?� Once Joost goes live you will get free, unlimited TV experience in your living room for less than $300 plus what Apple TV currently offers you


What Is Joost?

Macworld: First Look: Hacking Apple TV

Macworld: First Look: Hacking Apple TV

Good overview of the available hacks & mods. New stuff:

Interesting discoveries
Like the iPod, the Apple TV%u2014specifically, its included Apple Remote%u2014has special button combinations for accessing various %u201Chidden%u201D features. For example, pressing Menu and Up ( ) simultaneously, for approximately six seconds, will cycle through possible display resolutions. Even more interesting, pressing Menu and Down (-) will bring up the Apple TV Recovery screen, which gives you options to Restart, Run Diagnostics, or perform a Factory Restore. (The latter tells me that one of the Apple TV%u2019s hard drive partitions%u2014the drive has several%u2014contains a copy of OS X and the Apple TV software; restoring the unit restores the Apple TV, from this partition, to an out-of-the-box configuration.)

It also turns out that, Apple%u2019s statement notwithstanding, connecting a keyboard to the Apple TV%u2019s USB port does do something. Specifically, you can boot the Apple TV into single-user mode by holding down Command S at startup%u2014you can%u2019t do much from there, but it%u2019s still interesting%u2014and you can enable Verbose startup mode by holding down Command V at startup."


Also includes list and links of the known hacks and summaries of progress on some of the forums like AwkwardTV and Something Awful (and how did the SA guys become the Go To place for this topic? Not their usual genre it would seem!).

-mike

AppleTV OS booting on a PC

YouTube - AppleTV OS on a PC 2

Video showing what looks like AppleTV OS booting on a PC. All I have to go on is the video, have no confirmation as yet.

Thanks to Greg Boston for sending this tip in!

If you see I haven't posted something good, feel free to email me with tips etc. at the address at the top of the screen (in the site description).

So I'm still waiting to see full OS X running on an AppleTV with mouse/keyboard. Then Linux of course.

What options HAVEN'T been done yet?

:D

Nurding out is fun.

-mike

Displaying presentations via Apple TV

Macworld: Mac 911: Displaying presentations via Apple TV

this is the kind of hacking I'm interested in doing with AppleTV - repurposing for other useful things. A $300 HD presentation machine is nice to have, and between Keynote, iMovie, iPhoto, QT Pro, and other simple/easy to use tools, you can do a lot.

Devil's advocate - for $375, you can get a Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player that plays back MUCH MUCH MUCH better looking footage - but you need DVD Studio Pro to author for it. And while it isn't as interactive as AppleTV for this purpose, you can make it plug-n-turn-on simple for deployment - not the case with AppleTV (until somebody hacks it to auto-play something).

Depends on whether you need to do a retail installation for presentations or an in-the-meeting-room type of presentation.

-mike

Macworld: News: ViddyUp video conversion software supports Apple TV

Macworld: News: ViddyUp video conversion software supports Apple TV: "ViddyUp, the video conversion software from Splasm Software originally created to enable users to quickly and easily convert video to the iPod, now supports Apple TV. The 1.8 update is free for registered users; ViddyUp costs $9.95."

Read on for further details.

Apple TV OS as a downloadable disc image!

I haven't tried it yet, but it is claimed it'll install and boot on any Mac - Intel based I'd presume.

Here's the link.

Makes sense - it IS just a stripped down OS X after all. Too bad it won't run on PPC hardware - I'd love to convert an old G4 and stick it in a closet....nah - AppleTV easier/better solution....

-mike

PS - thanks to Dave Gutt, Tom Parish, and the Lemmkes for sending this one in! Dave was first....

PPS - ....and it is gone - Apple legal probably swooped in pretty quick on that one - it was bootlegging the OS. But it is out on the torrent sites as all software does...

-mike