How does it work?
Really Frequently
Asked Questions and Answers
- Question: What happens to original Apple TV
software after the XBMC installation?
- Answer: XBMC is installed onto the Apple
TV built-in harddrive but you will still be able you use your
Apple TV software as normal, XBMC will only be an extra option
that you can launch from the Apple TV's original menu when you
want to utilize the extra features and functions that are
available in XBMC compared to the original Apple TV software. So
XBMC will not replace the original Apple TV software, it instead
works as complement the existing Apple TV software.
- Question: Is XBMC running natively on the
Apple TV or under an Linux environment?
- Answer: This installs
XBMC for Mac which is a native
Mac OS X application, (Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger to be precise), this
does not run under a Linux environment.
- Question: Will the Apple TV playback 1080p
videos encoded with the H.264 codec ?
- Answer: No, the Apple TV hardware is only
powerful enough to decode 720p videos encoded with the H.264
codec.
- Question: Does XBMC on the Apple TV upscale
standard-definition and 720p videos to 1080p output?
- Answer: Yes, XBMC on the Apple TV will
upscale all videos to 1080p is that is your output resolution.
- Question: How do I get XBMC to show full
screen rather than in windowed mode?
- Answer: Settings -> Appearance -> Screen
-> Resolution -> Full Screen
Minimum
requirements
HOW-TO install XBMC
on your Apple TV
ATV USB Creator is currently
available for Mac OS X (Windows and Linux
ATV USB Creator is coming soon).
NOTE: Just to be safe, unplug any other
Mac formatted USB drives just in case, (as you do not want to risk
the chance the patchstick utility to overwrite the data on any other
USB drive you might have connected).
- Download the
ATV USB Creator from
http://code.google.com/p/atvusb-creator/
- Insert a 'bootable' USB flash memory drive
into your Mac.
- Run the
ATV USB Creator.
- Follow the GUI to select "ATV Patchstick""
and which plugins you would like to install.
- 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.
- Remove the USB flash memory drive and plug
it into your Apple TV.
- Power on your Apple TV and the USB flash
memory drive (now also called "patchstick") will automatically
boot and run
ATV bootloader.
- After the ATV bootloader finishes, remove
it and restart your Apple TV.
- You Apple TV GUI will now have an option
for XBMC on the main menu.
- Click on XBMC, then select "Update", (this
will download and install XBMC from the Internet)
- Once XBMC is done installing, restart your
Apple TV (again).
- Click "XBMC", then select "XBMC" in the
sub-menu to start XBMC.
- Later if you wish to update XBMC select
"Update" under the XBMC menu on your Apple TV.
WARNING: DO NOT RUN THE USB PATCHSTICK
TWICE, there is an error that will require a Apple TV Factory
Restore to fix if you run the PATCHSTICK twice. Much apologies if
this has happened and a new version is on its way up. Once again, DO
NOT RUN a patchstick made from atvusb-creator-1.0.0.b1.tar.gz TWICE.
Known Issues
- The default Apple TV screen saver may cause
XBMC to not respond when it kick in , (more accurately it causes
XBMC to loose control of the Apple Remote)
- Due to the way that Apple TV handles its
'wakeup' from its screensaver mode different from an infrared
remote event from the Mac OS X computer platform, we will need
to make a source code change to the XBMC software change, but
until then you can use this workaround to disable the screen
saver on your Apple TV, (not from within XBMC, but in the Apple
TV's own screensaver).
