Today I hacked my 1st Gen APPLE TV. And I got it all working perfectly on my HD TV. Thanks for all the guide below. Just some detail here during the set up of this perfect project.
Using the USB to hack the APPLE TV was an easy job without any problem. Just plug it in and it will hack the ATV automatically. All my MAC devices able to read ATV in the network. May be it was because I am using APPLE airport Extreme router.
Problem facing when I tried to play HD video on it and the format was not supported by ATV. So I went to the menu to install some 3rd party software. I have forgotten the steps that I took. But somehow I ruin it, the menu of the ATV was missing after I installed the "ATVfiles" program. The ATV restarted with the opening video and blank menu. So I took the step below "which located far below this post" to resolve it.
Glad that I managed to get it work once again. And I saved US$99 for 2nd gen ATV whereby my 1st Gen work similar to it with a harddisk inside to keep movies.
The uber USB flash drive creator for the AppleTV. Creates USB flash drive based installers that include patchstick, factory restore and various LInux distributions.
Brought to you by the creators of atv-bootloader and many others.
The Intel/PPC OSX version of atvusb-creator.
The Windows XP/Vista interim solution atv-win
Note that the current version is atvusb-creator-1.0.b13 and atv-win-3.0.zip
This version is comes with ssh, bin tools, and two plugins (XBMC/Boxee Installer/Launcher and SoftwareMenu). That's right, two full blown OSX applications with their own AppleTV plugin to launch AND get updates. And not only that but previous problems with launching an application into the front under all display resolutions has been resolved.
Remember that some USB flash drives just will not format correctly and if you have problems try another brand. Minimum flash size is 512MB. Follow the GUI and select "ATV Patchstick", make sure to select the correct disk and hit the circling arrows to the left of the drive menu if you insert the USB flash drive after launching atvusb-creator.
The contents of the patchstick will look like the following, if yours does not look similar or is empty, then the creation failed and you need to create again either by pre-formating two hfsplus partitions using disk utility or trying a different brand flash drive. All USB flash drive are different, some work, some do not work.
Standard patchstick rules: create the patchstick on your OSX box, power-down the AppleTV, insert the flash drive, power-up the AppleTV, wait for boot/patching, power-down again, remove flash drive and power up and enjoy XBMC for Mac (http://xbmc.org) or Boxee for Mac.(http://www.boxee.tv) Remember that Boxee requires an account so if you don't have one, head on over to http://www.boxee.tv/atvusb and register for an account.
One final note (sure, sure), Both XBMC and Boxee are net installed from XBMC/Boxee launcher so remember to first select "Update" and install the individual applications.
Oh yes, atvusb-creator can be found in the downloads section so have at it and enjoy XBMC and Boxee native on the AppleTV OS.
The other two platform (Linux and Windows) will be released later.
XBMC Launcher-0.8 has been released. Check the Update menu in either XBMC or Boxee Launchers. Not only can the Launcher update the Application but it can also update itself. Next for this version is the XBMC and Boxee Launchers have been combined into one. the launcher update will remove both of the older launchers and remove them with the new one. XBMC/Boxee Launcher issues should be goto http://code.google.com/p/atv-xbmc-launcher/issues/list
With your ATV unlocked and connected to your local network via either Wi-Fi or Ethernet, you’ll now use the Terminal software supplied with Mac OS X to connect to the box and install Remote HD. Head to your Applications folder, then open Utilities and double-click Terminal to run the app. After a moment, copy and paste the following command into Terminal:
ssh frontrow@appletv.local
Now you’ll be asked for your password, which is simply “frontrow” (no quotation marks). You’ll be connected to your white ATV and can now issue three separate commands into Terminal which will download, uncompress and finally install the Remote HD plug-in. Be sure to hit the Return key after each one!
scp ssh.remotehd.com:RemoteHelper.tar RemoteHelper.tar
tar xvf RemoteHelper.tar
./install-RemoteHelper
If you happen to get a password request, just type in “frontrow” once more, again without the quotation marks.
After the Remote HD plug-in installs, your Apple TV will restart and you’re ready to go. Open the Remote HD app on your iOS device and after a moment you should see your ATV box appear under the first section, “Computers around you.” Tap on the “AppleTV” selection and the app will connect to the box and you’ll be able to navigate your ATV remotely from the app. Note that the default password is empty, but you can always select one of your own for extra security.
Last but not least, you can open an AirPlay-compatible app, start playing a video and then tap the AirPlay button -- you should now see “AppleTV” as one of your video streaming options. Select it, and in a moment your video will be magically thrown directly to your orphaned white Apple TV box, all without wires.
SOLVING blank screen problem...
You were right, my problem was due to ATVFiles. Things working perfectly after installing ATVFiles-1.3.0b1. You can either ssh ATVFiles-1.3.0b1 to Atv or run the following command from terminal Type: wget http://ericiii.net/sa/appletv/ATVFiles-1.3.0b1.run Once the .run file is on atv you can install from terminal Type: chmod +x ATVFiles-1.3.0b1.run Type: ./ATVFiles-1.3.0b1.run
