# Anyone have aTV Flash on their Apple TV?



## screature (May 14, 2007)

aTV Flash looks like a really cool product to extend the usability and versatility of the Apple TV with out any physical hacks.

Just curious if anyone here is using it and what are people's impressions.


----------



## i-rui (Sep 13, 2006)

isn't aTV Flash just a collection of different Apple TV hacks in ONE patch file?

Couldn't someone do exactly what it does by manually installing the different hacks?


----------



## screature (May 14, 2007)

Yes and no. There is some other third party software in there but they put it all together in one easy to use interface. You really should watch the ScreenCastsOnline demo at their site, it's pretty long but it really shows you exactly what you can do with it and how they make easy for you. 

I don't know why anyone would want to go to all the trouble to try and cobble together all the functionality of what they offer with different separate interfaces and installations etc.

Anyway anyone using it...?


----------



## nice&easy mac&cheesey (Apr 10, 2008)

*ATV Flash*

screature,

I don't know much about it. I used another service some time ago (Patchstick... see my previous post : http://www.ehmac.ca/ipod-itunes-iphone-apple-tv/68109-apple-tv-patchstick.html). Sorry that the post did not get updated sufficiently. I had written a long update and then it got deleted when I hit "submit". I didn't have the energy to get back to it. Long story short, the product was good, not great. It took me some time to get it installed (which was a cool learning experience... I had never SSH'ed before) and it worked as expected. The not-so-great part, as I remember it now (over a year later) was that there was an Apple TV update shortly after I got the Patchstick installed and it killed my hack. Also, I was looking for a little assistance with some of the add-ons and, as I recall, Patchstick charged for access to the wiki at the time. That, I felt, was a total burn. I have no idea if they still do. And to be honest, I'd be hesitant to do repeat business with them. I'm not trying to disparage Patchstick at all. I'm simply stating that my experience with them started off great and deteriorated somewhat. The service pre-purchase was great; really great. The product was good. The immediate update by Apple was not their fault and was unfortunate. The post-purchase service was a bit lacking (to be fair, I probably could have pursued them a little more diligently). Paid only access to the wiki for customers who have already purchased a product was off-side I thought.

If I was to go the hack route again I'd try ATV Flash. On another forum on which I am a member (Mac Rumors: Apple Mac Rumors and News You Care About) ATV Flash seems to be pretty popular and well reported on. If you haven't checked over there it would be worth your while I think.

Any questions, feel free to PM me or post here.

Regards,
n&e, m&c


----------



## darkscot (Nov 13, 2003)

thanks for the update  Myself I'm only looking to attach an HD to the aTV. I'm hoping Apple will allow this themselves. ANy reason to think why they wouldn't?


----------



## screature (May 14, 2007)

nice&easy said:


> screature,
> 
> I don't know much about it. I used another service some time ago...
> 
> ...


n&e, m&c thanks for the feedback. 

I don't have an ATV now because by itself it doesn't have the functionality I am looking for, but after viewing the demo on aTV Flash it would get me closer to what I want. Buttttt.... the ATV network connection is still only fast ethernet, and I need gigabit ethernet so until that happens I will be sticking with my Mini setup. 

Seems to me the ATV is in some serious need of upgrading.


----------



## i-rui (Sep 13, 2006)

gigabit ethernet won't be of much use until they also upgrade the processing power to decode 1080p content.

i watched the atv flash video...it's interesting, but i'm almost sure everything could be manually installed....but i agree the atv flash installation process seems like a breeze.

still, IMO $50USD for an installer program seems a bit high (especially when it's not officially sanctioned by apple). I'd hate to see the jailbreak guys pulling the same stunt.


----------



## screature (May 14, 2007)

i-rui said:


> gigabit ethernet won't be of much use until they also upgrade the processing power to decode 1080p content.


With aTV Flash you can stream VideoTS files from your server (which is why I have a an Intel Mac Mini with gigabit ethernet right now.  and play them from your ATV *if* the ATV had gigabit Ethernet to handle the bandwith. 1080p content even boggs down a Mini... talking 720p here.


----------



## screature (May 14, 2007)

i-rui said:


> gigabit ethernet won't be of much use until they also upgrade the processing power to decode 1080p content.
> 
> i watched the atv flash video...it's interesting, but i'm almost sure everything could be manually installed....but i agree the atv flash installation process seems like a breeze.
> 
> still, IMO $50USD for an installer program seems a bit high (especially when it's not officially sanctioned by apple). I'd hate to see the jailbreak guys pulling the same stunt.


It isn't just an installer it is also an all in one interface, a true program. Hey I like things being easy and straight forward. I am willing to spend $50 bucks to accomplish that.


----------



## i-rui (Sep 13, 2006)

are you sure you need gigabit to play video ts files?

searching on the net this guy claims it works fine on his apple tv:

Mac home media server and AppleTV - AVForums.com


----------



## screature (May 14, 2007)

Well his experience is interesting because I couldn't stream Video TS on my old G4 Mac Mini with only fast ethernet. They would studder, stop and go all pixelated. I would have to transfer them over to the Mini in their entirety and play them locally in order for them to play seamlessly.

When I bought the MacIntel Mini with gigabit ethernet, problem solved. So I can't speak to other people's experience but yes for me to be able to stream Video TS files gigabit ethernet was necessary.

Also just because he is playing Video TS files doesn't mean they aren't compressed, it depends on how he ripped them so they may not be full resolution, he may think he has it set to rip at full resolution, but then again he may be in error.

I'm not too willing to lay down a few hundred dollars as an experiment either.


----------



## i-rui (Sep 13, 2006)

He claims they aren't compressed (in his post)

I obviously can't speak about his experience directly, but when i was setting up my PS3 as a media client i noticed that it could handle video ts being wirelessly streamed (a few dropped frames here and there, but decent job) but it needed a wired connection to handle 1080p.

mind you that is with the PS3 media server which transcodes some content....so it's not exactly a direct comparison...

I recently (re) bought an apple tv for my basement. I've been meaning to hack it and play around with it. Maybe i'll figure out exactly what it can do.


----------



## hayesk (Mar 5, 2000)

i-rui said:


> are you sure you need gigabit to play video ts files?


No, you don't. Even 10Mbps is fine. My DVD player has a display where it shows the bit rate - I don't think I've ever seen it go above 7Mbps.


----------



## screature (May 14, 2007)

^^^ All I can say is I couldn't stream video ts files to my G4 Mac Mini with fast ethernet without it stuttering pixelatting and freezing with a MacIntel Mini with gigabit ethernet problem solved. 

Like I said for whatever reason, it may work for others, but it certainly didn't for me with my hardware setup. I think I will stick with what *I know* works.


----------



## screature (May 14, 2007)

i-rui said:


> He claims they aren't compressed (in his post)
> 
> I obviously can't speak about his experience directly, but when i was setting up my PS3 as a media client i noticed that it could handle video ts being wirelessly streamed (a few dropped frames here and there, but decent job) but it needed a wired connection to handle 1080p.
> 
> ...


If you do i-rui and you can get it to stream video ts files flawlessly let me know and may be I will consider giving the ATV a whirl and move the Mac Mini out of the stereo cabinet and use it some where else.


----------



## cameraguy23 (Dec 3, 2009)

I love my apple tv, but cmon apple put osx on the thing.


----------



## i-rui (Sep 13, 2006)

^^ it actually DOES run a variant of OS X (tiger)

It's just that it uses a pentium m processor 9with 256mb ram), so you can't expect too much. It'd be great if apple upped the specs on this 3 year old device.

@ screature - if i get it streaming video ts i'll report back here.


----------



## i-rui (Sep 13, 2006)

So just a brief update for screature (and anyone else interested).

I did try hacking it for free, but getting network streaming to work turned out to be a pain.

Ended up getting ATV Flash. My overall impression is it's pretty good, but overpriced. It works, and installs fairly easily, but it does make the Apple TV lag when using the remote. Setting up a network share was a bit more of a hassle than they make out (any post 2007 apple TV has to use a mount point... not exactly hard to get working, but i found i had to restart my apple tv sometimes for it to reconnect after a day or so).

Video TS streaming worked fine. I couldn't tell the difference between the stream and a real dvd. So if that's what you plan on using it for it may be money well spent.

I tried to stream some mkv 720p content ... and it was a no go. I'll have to look further into it getting that to work properly.

I haven't really gone through everything and played around enough to make a definitive decision, but I may end up deciding to do what I did for my living room tv in the past.... sell the apple TV and buy a PS3. If you don't do itunes rentals IMO it's a better solution for streaming content. (although there was a couple of files the ATV could do that the PS3 media server couldn't)


----------



## screature (May 14, 2007)

i-rui said:


> So just a brief update for screature (and anyone else interested).
> 
> I did try hacking it for free, but getting network streaming to work turned out to be a pain.
> 
> ...


Hey i-rui thanks so much for remembering and providing the feedback... this is the kind of stuff that makes ehMac worth suffering through the political stuff. 

Really; greatly appreciated.  :clap:


----------



## Sugith (Jan 6, 2010)

*ATV Flash not quite ready for prime time*

Just bought ATV Flash and it installs well but trying to get it to see network drives has been a nightmare so far.

Still unsuccessful.

Scouring their website reveals numerous posts from users who have had trouble, so despite their claim that ATV Flash requires no technical expertise to use, I would beg to differ. 

If I ever get it working, the expansion to Apple TV's core functions are welcome, but I don't think the casual user of an Apple TV would have fun trying to get it to work.


----------



## i-rui (Sep 13, 2006)

No problem screature... happy to share my experience!



Sugith said:


> Just bought ATV Flash and it installs well but trying to get it to see network drives has been a nightmare so far.
> 
> Still unsuccessful.
> 
> ...



have you seen this link :

Network Streaming - aTV Flash Wiki Knowledge Base

scroll down to : Setup Step 2: Create Share Point

that's how i got mine working (but it's still a bit buggy)


----------



## Sugith (Jan 6, 2010)

Thanks for the link.

I have seen it, in fact, I think I've memorized their wiki. But it kind of proves my point that getting ATV Flash to work does require some technical expertise.

And so far, despite following instructions from the wiki, I still haven't been successful. Will keep trying to translate the wiki's cryptic and geekish instructions into things to try!


----------



## i-rui (Sep 13, 2006)

I agree that their sales pitch is off.

you do need some technical know how to get some of the ATV flash options working (and even then they're a bit buggy). It still is MUCH easier than the DIY hacks, but at the price they're charging you'd hope everything would be accessible to everyone. IMO the price point should be $20.


----------



## Vespasian (Sep 21, 2002)

*ATV Flash*

I used it for a while, but I found it to be terribly buggy. Particularly, leading to freezes followed by system restores, which means setting up again and having to transfer files. The only really useful; thing it does is to allow an external HDD. I found that using the internet browser kind of redundant, although it functions well.

I use the Apple TV unpatched now and, have to say, just love it.


----------



## Abby (Aug 19, 2010)

hmm, I don't have it, but now I sould like to try it.
eher, now the news read that Apple’s iTV remote will be out later or sooner. To me, what I'd like to see is a new Apple TV that's more like the Airport Express. Just a little module that plugs into the wall. Throw in a video processor chip and a bit of Flash memory and make it cheap enough I can connect one to every TV in the house. Then everything streams wirelessly from my Mac with a nice interface, remote controlled by the iPhone/iPod/iPad. That's all I want. 
Though enjoy videos or movies on iPhone or iPad(some times need iFunia video converter for lack of flash support), yet very cool, handy and free on the go, but image that remote with iPhone/iPod/iPad, enjoy the stream TV on MAC with a nice interface really a match made in heaven!


----------



## Peter.Gogolak (Feb 20, 2010)

Why buy it when you can get one for free.

atvusb-creator - Project Hosting on Google Code


----------

