Oct 17th, 2007
AppleTV Hacks
I bought an AppleTV around September 2007 with the intention to hack it to play various file formats and do various things. I would have never bought one otherwise! Out of the box, the product does not really appeal to me.
At the moment, my ATV will play nearly any media file. avi, mov, DivX, Xvid, mpg, wmv, mkv, etc. It’s noted that 720p MKV will not play smoothly, I’ve not tested it, my TV doesn’t even do 720p at this stage!
About the only thing I am syncing out of iTunes to my ATV is my music librarly, which is about 20gig and fits easily on the 40gig ATV hard disk. I didn’t buy the 160gig ATV as I knew I’d never want the internal storage anyway. Who needs it with all these great hacks available!? Apart from my music, I’m not doing anything else that the ATV was designed for “out of the box”. Everything else is hacked. (oh wait, I do use watch youTube vids occasionally, which comes standard on ATV now)
It’s been a great experience, and great fun to hack. I have been through a lot of mucking around to get stuff working, but as plugin’s and hacks improve, these steps are made simple for everyone.
Here is a list of hacks or add-on’s I’ve done on my V1.1 AppleTV. Note that I have NOT opened my AppleTV to carry out these hacks. All are possible initially via a USB thumbdrive update.
The Patchstick does a few things. It enables SSH which gives you remote access to the ATV. It also installs Perian components (lets you play divX files, etc) and it installs the ATVLoader (awkwardTV menu) . This is the first step and the most important. Without this, you won’t be hacking anything without OPENING your ATV. We don’t want that now do we? You will need an Intel Mac to create this patchstick. If you don’t have an Intel-Mac running Tiger, you can possibly download a pre-build patchstick image file (torrent) and dump the image to a USB stick. Unfortunately I can no longer help people create patchsticks since upgrading from Tiger to Leopard. (Tiger makes patchstick creation easy) I recommend searching for a pre-built patchstick torrent.
After the Patchstick has been applied, a new menu appears in your ATV main menu “AwkwardTV”. This menu lets you do various things like start and stop ssh/afp, and install additional plugins directly from the GUI on your ATV. You don’t need to be a tech nerd to do this stuff. The first plugin I installed was “nitoTV”
3. NitoTV
The mother of plugins (imo). NitoTV installs mplayer, which lets you play various file formats. A new “nitoTV” menu item will appear in the root menu system of your ATV GUI. Also within NitoTV you can mount network fileshares. (shares on other machines in your network) So you can playback media from other hosts on your network. Very cool.
Note that Before being able to mount network shares I had to spend a great deal of time installing other hacks and copying various files to the ATV to get things to work for me. This has all since been made simple with the latest version of NitoTV which has a system updated and kext loader built in! No longer do you have to SSH in and hack your 1.1 ATV to get afp and other things working! amazing.
There is no reason to ‘not’ upgrade or purchase a version 1.1 ATV. With the latest and greatest hacks, updating your ATV to do what you desire is just so simple with NitoTV’s latest efforts!
4. ATVFiles
ATVFiles is a filesystem browser for the local (/Users/frontrow/Movies) folder, and for network mounts (which are also mounted to this same folder). It’s simple, and uses the built in quicktime player to playback your media. I must say I primarily use ATVFiles to play back my media as I get the best screen resolutions. I will use NitoTV (mplayer) if I come across some media that refuses to play in ATVFiles. ATVFiles also has support for movie caps (screen shots) and xml data. It also now displays file sizes.
5. turbo’s kext loader (USB enable)
You will want to fiddle with all of turbo’s hacks if you want to do stuff like load kernel extensions (for network mounting, usb, keyboard/mouse, etc). It can be rather tedious, with a lot of fiddling around. HOWEVER. All of this is now taken care of, easy and simple, with the latest NitoTV. (system update and turbo kext loader built in) Definitely install NitoTV FIRST after the patchstick mod!
Once loaded up, you should be able to plug in an external hard disk drive, which will mount to /Volumes/yourdiskdrive. I had to create a symbolic link in /Users/frontrow/movies to point to the mounted volume so I could browse the files in ATVfiles/nito.
whilst in the /Users/frontrow/Movies folder I typed “ln -s /Volumes/LASER/movies .” (where LASER is the name of my ext hard disk that mounted under /Volumes). I’m not sure if this linking is still required or not.
This hack adds a new menu to your ATV main GUI. called “applications”. in here you will see the default “about, Close GUI, Reboot ATV”. Perhaps not useful initially, but certainly useful for when you decide you want to start getting some OS X apps running on your ATV!
For example I have Firefox and Skype available in my Applications menu which when pressed will launch! more on this later.
The menu items are configurable within the /Users/frontrow/Documents/Applist.plist file. More information is available at the awkwardtv wiki.
7. Sapphire
I don’t really use Sapphire much, it’s more suited to those who collect and watch TV episodes, or mini-series, etc. It cleverly organises your shows into sub-sections for easy browsing. it will also allow you to playback your media as mounted in /Users/frontrow/Movies. Much like the other playback plugins.
I love this hack. It took some work to get running, you need to be patient, and have some confidence working with SSH/UNIX command line. You don’t need to be a UNIX nerd, if you can follow instructions carefully you will be fine.
You must have the turbo USB kext mods done. Do this through the latest nitoTV plugin (above). You also need to install Mouselocator, and the cursor png file to ’show’ the mouse cursor within the ATV’s finder. You’ll need to download the latest Firefox and copy the Firefox.app to /Users/frontrow/Applications on your ATV. You’ll need to update your /Users/frontrow/Documents/Applist.plist file so Firefox appears in your “applications menu”. There’s a lot of messing around and “fun with the mouse” when doing this hack, but it’s worth it. Having a hack not work straight away is half the fun… keep at it!
Follow the steps carefully at the awkwardtv wiki
9. Skype on AppleTV
I followed the above Firefox install instructions but basically did it with Skype.app instead of Firefox.app. It works great. However I haven’t yet tested voice calling. I need a USB hub so I can plug more devices into my ATV! More soon.
Hello
Nice to see you’re enjoying your ATV as much as I am. Once ‘enabled.’, it really is a cracking piece of kit which costs zilch.
I’ve a question for you:
I’m buying another (new) one, which will inevitably have 1.1 firmware.
You said you ‘enabled’ this too with patchstick but had to do some fiddling?
What was that ‘fiddling’?
Cheers!
Hey mate, well there’s probably not much fiddling left to do now that nitoTV includes some really great hacks for you.
If you have an Intel Mac on your network, activating some features available in nitoTV will do all the hard work for you. You can now enable a lot of features right in nitoTV. things like USB support (for hard disk’s, etc) among other things.
Get onto the latest nitoTV plugin after using that patchstick!
Hi James,
Bought a 1.1 unit recently, having a few teething problems getting it ‘opened’ so that I can use it away from iTunes.
I’m reading the wiki/taking to the awkwardTV folk over IRC without much joy, wondering if you could tell me what you managed with your 1.1 unit? did you manage to get afp enabled with nitotv?
did I buy a dud?
Cheers,
Steve
Steve, what kind of problems are you having? I don’t have AFP enabled, it’s not possible that I’m aware to do this on a 1.1 machine. (enable AFP so your other mac’s can drop files to it via the network).
You can get AFP mounting working on it though, which lets you mount a remote AFP share from the ATV using nitoTV.
I’ve now got my 1.1 box doing absolutely everything a 1.0 box can do (with the exception of AFP daemon)… pretty happy with it!
I’m trying to add appleshare to do exactly that in fact, I’ve got turbos from NitoTV and have gotten two two files across from the combo update / 10.4 install dvd, hitting a dead end as to how I mount, where I mount it, what needs to be done at my mac to present something to mount to, and how to automate that after a reboot…
also interested in how i can disable updates to make sure another update doesn’t kill this off if/as/when I get it going
I should add, that as NitoTV installed turbos, I don’t know where to find it on the drive, I’m not particularly familiar with mounting drives in the unix sense either, some guidance would be v. much appreciated
S
Hello,
I just purchased a Appletv, software version 1.1 out of the box. Is it possible to hack this version?
Steve, everything is available in the awkwardtv wiki, specifically in your scenario, here:
http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/Mount_a_Remote_Drive_via_AFP_under_1.1
If you have Leopard on your mac you can add shares in the sys prefs under “sharing”. If you are using Tiger, only the public drop box is sharable unless you download and install “sharepoints” and configure as required.
Gospeed: it is absolutely possible, mine infact is a v1.1 ATV, it can do everything a 1.0 can do, with exception of running an AFP daemon to drag/drop files to it from a mac. (you can still copy files to and from the ATV using an SSH file transfer app like Fugu). I strongly suggest you read the awkwardtv.org wiki
cheers
James
That’s the page I’ve been following, but for example what should I specify as:
/path/to/your/share - what’s valid? what isn’t? what will NitoTV be able to see? can you give an example?
Also, for the rc.local, I need to add this at the head:
#!/bin/sh
/your/path/to/turbo_kext_enabler.bin
but I don’t know where the kext enabler was installed, NitoTV installed it, I can execute it over ssh but I’ve no idea where it is to enable on each successive reboot…
Hi, I just purchased a Appletv, software version 1.1 out of the box. Is it possible to hack this version using a PC windows? All the information tell me to buy a Mac to do it…
Tks a lot
Ivan, you can do it without a mac, you’ll need to find a torrent of the patchstick image and “image it” onto a USB stick, do a search for some info! Cheers
I have the torrent patchstick.img, but whenever I “dd” it to my 1gb usb memory stick (windows xp) nothing is on the drive.
I put it into the ATV anyway, rebooted, but nothing happens. Still the same. I restored my ATV to factory (1.0) before this all started.
Any ideas?
michael, why did you downgrade to 1.0? 1.1 is fine. Im wondering if the patchstick you have is for 1.1, not 1.0? I believe there are two versions? i could be wrong… I’ll check that out.
I’m stuck with my XP box, and my new Macbook Pro under Leopard, and cannot create a valid Patchstick. Anyone can help ? aTV is 1.1
Hi Everyone, I just got the apple TV for xmas and I don’t have an intel based mac…you said to send a message if this was an issue and maybe you could help so I was wondering if there was anyway I can do this stuff without an intel mac. Thanks, David
Guys, trying to create patchsticks. You can obtain a patchstick image if you look hard enough (torrents?), and write the image file to a USB stick which should then work on your ATV. Good luck!
FWIW, I had the Leopard problem but installed 10.4.x to a separate partition and made the patchstick there.
I’m working the 720p issue currently and will report back.
Chris, nice one. Also, the 720p issue… what is the issue? Curious!
Cheers
Thanks James…I’ll try to get the image now and see if I can’t do it that way
Hi James, I just purchased an ATV (version 1.1). How can I Hack this version using PC windows? I did not find a patchstick image on torrent as you suggested previously however iI find intel mac version. I do not have a mac. I appreciate your help.
Thanks
James,
I have recently bought an ATV and a have it linked to an eMac PowerPC. I’d like to get the the ATV doing some of the groovy things that involve getting it hacked. Any suggestions (or help) on how I can get a patchstick to do this, as I’d prefer not to pull both machines apart, or fiddle with files too much.
Thanks
James,
Given my lack of understanding for video formats etc, in your second paragraph above where you state what your ATV is currently capable of, does this include the format for dvds that I have bought from JB HiFI etc ?
Thanks
ilook: you’ll be chasing an ISO, or other kind of image (not a .dmg mac file) I wish I could help more with this!
Dean: same as ilook… unfortunately I can only suggest searching the net for the required image file to “image” the patchstick to a USB stick. Try asking at the awkwardtv forums perhaps!
Stephen, welcome to the site, another Aussie?
The DVD’s you buy from JB need to be “ripped and encoded” into a format playable by the AppleTV. This is possible out of the box without hacking the AppleTV. (through iTunes, etc)
However, with a hacked ATV, you can actually put your DVD in a computer on your network, and the AppleTV (using nitoTV plugin) can play the DVD over the network from that DVD drive in that computer. I’ve done this, however it’s not that reliable. I’d recommend ripping the DVD to disk first.
James,
Most definitley an Aussie…but living in the UK!! By the way, I like the kitchen mac..need to warm up the missus to this idea..you must have money to burn considering the aussie prices for that machine. Hat off to you man !
Following on from your wise words…’I’d recommend ripping the DVD to disk first’…..
do you mean copying the dvd to my iMac and then exporting/ftp it over the the ATV? I don’t particularly want to encode it to ATV format which I believe takes a lifetime per disk
Cheers
Hi James,
try to get Firefox running on my ATV this week-end but got a problem:
I can not find /Users/frontrow/Documents/Applist.plist file, i don´t know why and it drives me a bit nuts.
I can see the application menu with 3options, about, close and reboot, so this file should exist !!
But i do not know where i can find it, i also tried to create one following tha awkward wiki guide but no extra applications appear on the menu.
Any idea ???
Thanks
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Hi James
The wiki article on activating afp on 1.1 machines now states that the combo update doesn’t work as Apple have removed the afp_mount file. Any chance you could send me the missing files so I could get this going?
Thanks
i removed my 40 gig hd, but i restored it 5 min later without touching it. Now i have a black screen and my status light is blinking amber/white.
Remote control does not respond. Does ATV have a secret protection or something? what can i do now?
@Stephen: Yes, unless your ATV is hacked, you need to rip your DVD’s using something like Handbrake, to MP4 format, so you can import to iTunes then sync to your ATV. Time consuming!
@JM: I’ve given up, I use ‘couchsurfer’ now, it’s awesome, try it.
@greg: that sucks badly. Perhaps you could email me so we could discuss this more (if it’s still an issue for you)
@RickBr: There shouldn’t be any ’secret protection’. Could you elaborate on why you removed the drive, how you restored it, etc. double check the connections?
Hi James,
I have recently hacked my Apple TV, but the one thing I wanted to do with it I am so far unable to configure. I have about a 1TB of media on my desktop PowerMac (in a drive called “Entertainment”), and I want the ATV to “see” that drive and map to it and allow me to play the stuff that I have in there. Can you give me some clues as to how I should get this going?
I have tried several things to get it up and running, but so far to no avail.
Any help would be appreciated….
Hey Garry, what OS version is your hacked ATV?
You’ll need the afp mount kext’s installed to be able to mount network drives. I use NITO to do the mount. There is also some information on auto-mounting on boot up..
let me know some specifics, feel free to email me.. james@ this domain… cheers