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gibmini
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Joined: 11 Aug 2007
Posts: 156
Location: Gibraltar
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 Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:06 am Post subject: Plugging in a drive to the atv |
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Hi,
I've got a few drives attached to my mini from where I stream movies to my atv. I'm wondering if I can just get a very large drive (2tb), copy all my movies to that, plug it into the atv and then play them from the atv without streaming hassles.
If I can, then how will I be able to manage files on the drive? How will I copy new movies to it? Can I access the files from my mini over my wireless network...in finder perhaps?
Thanks for any advice.
GM
_________________
Loving my mini's, hating what Apple has become.
iPhone 4S
2.3GHz latest gen macbook pro, 2.4GHz latest gen Mini, 1.83GHz Mini, 2.0GHz Macbook
160Gb 1st gen ATV & 2nd gen ATV
1 of every gen of Nano
iPhone 4S
30" apple cinema display |
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ez061111
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Joined: 29 Mar 2009
Posts: 893
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| Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 11:45 am Post subject: |
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Sadly the ATV was specifically designed to not allow you to do anything along those lines. Your "choices" are the blazing speed of wifi or the fast ethernet connection. The ATV was designed to welcome you to the mind control of 1984. Could have been a nice machine if it wasn't purposefully crippled.
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2.0 GHz i7 Mini 8 GB RAM, OWC Merc Extreme SSD & Samsung Spinpoint
2.6 GHz i7 Mini 16 GB RAM, Samsung 830 & Hitachi
15" 2.3 GHz i7 MBP 16 GB RAM, OWC Extreme Pro 6G SSD & WD Black |
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gibmini
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Joined: 11 Aug 2007
Posts: 156
Location: Gibraltar
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| Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 1:50 pm Post subject: |
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Damn, I was hoping someone wouldn't say that, but I absolutely can believe it. My creaking wifi network will have to continue to bear the brunt of these media files.
I have read about people plugging in drives though. Do you think this could have been post-hardware mod or hack?
GM
_________________
Loving my mini's, hating what Apple has become.
iPhone 4S
2.3GHz latest gen macbook pro, 2.4GHz latest gen Mini, 1.83GHz Mini, 2.0GHz Macbook
160Gb 1st gen ATV & 2nd gen ATV
1 of every gen of Nano
iPhone 4S
30" apple cinema display |
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Y-Guy
Senior Member
Joined: 06 Feb 2010
Posts: 453
Location: Tri-Cities, WA
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| Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 1:59 pm Post subject: |
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| I hope that I'm not crossing the line but there is an article on how to hack your ATV posted at appletvhacks.net which might help you. Reading that convinced me to go with a Mac Mini vs. an ATV. [/url] |
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gibmini
Member
Joined: 11 Aug 2007
Posts: 156
Location: Gibraltar
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| Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 3:30 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for that: a hacked atv it must have been. I don't have the courage for that.
Come on Apple, it wouldn't take much to make the atv wonderful! 
GM
_________________
Loving my mini's, hating what Apple has become.
iPhone 4S
2.3GHz latest gen macbook pro, 2.4GHz latest gen Mini, 1.83GHz Mini, 2.0GHz Macbook
160Gb 1st gen ATV & 2nd gen ATV
1 of every gen of Nano
iPhone 4S
30" apple cinema display |
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Stork
New Member
Joined: 18 Oct 2009
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 6:15 pm Post subject: |
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Naw, it's not that hard. I use
http://code.google.com/p/atvusb-creator/
to create a USB "patchstick". I get the ATV OS.dmg file from this link:
http://www.iclarified.com/entry/comments.php?enid=970#commentsanchor
Follow the instructions in the first link, and you should be fine. I can attach a USB external drive to the ATV after using the ATVusb-creater.
Now for the bad news. You have to turn off Apple TV auto update feature. The Apple Updates restore a standard ATV OS condition. So, you have to run the "patchstick" after every update. I may skip 3.0.2 for this reason. However, all it takes is time. I like the "patchstick" enhancements. |
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gibmini
Member
Joined: 11 Aug 2007
Posts: 156
Location: Gibraltar
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| Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 4:56 am Post subject: |
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thanks for that. Sounds interesting. Does the ATV get less reliable or are there any other side effects to using the patchstick (apart from potentially not taking the updates)?
GM
_________________
Loving my mini's, hating what Apple has become.
iPhone 4S
2.3GHz latest gen macbook pro, 2.4GHz latest gen Mini, 1.83GHz Mini, 2.0GHz Macbook
160Gb 1st gen ATV & 2nd gen ATV
1 of every gen of Nano
iPhone 4S
30" apple cinema display |
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Smithcraft
Veteran Member
Joined: 09 Nov 2008
Posts: 3030
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 6:33 am Post subject: |
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There is always http://www.atvflash.com/
SC
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Grumpy old man of computing.
[Desktop] G4 mini - 1.5Ghz 1GB 80GB HDD - Newer miniStack v2 500GB - 10.5.8
[Media System] Intel i5 mini - 2.33Ghz 8GB 500GB HDD - 4 x Hitachi 2TB HDD in a qBOX-SF - 10.7.5 (Thanks Phil!)
Make sure it has pins! |
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marvelaugusts
New Member
Joined: 02 Apr 2010
Posts: 4
Location: uk
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| Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 11:36 pm Post subject: |
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I should have said, I don't want to have to have the computer with attached NAS turned on when I watch Apple TV. I appreciate that for sync to work however both devices will need to be turned on. I think.
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Mac Migs
Member
Joined: 08 Mar 2007
Posts: 130
Location: Bay Area, CA
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| Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 10:22 pm Post subject: Re: Plugging in a drive to the atv |
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| gibmini wrote: | Hi,
I've got a few drives attached to my mini from where I stream movies to my atv. I'm wondering if I can just get a very large drive (2tb), copy all my movies to that, plug it into the atv and then play them from the atv without streaming hassles.
If I can, then how will I be able to manage files on the drive? How will I copy new movies to it? Can I access the files from my mini over my wireless network...in finder perhaps?
Thanks for any advice.
GM |
I actually have an external Hitachi 2TB drive hooked up to my Apple TV, but I did have to mod it. I bought the conversion kit on Ebay. The hard drive in the Apple TV has the old IDE interface. The conversion kit uses an adapter of sort to convert it to eSATA, so your external hard drive enclosure would have to have an eSATA port, which is obviously faster than USB 2.0 or Firewire 800.
I absolutely LOVE my AppleTV now with all the storage space. I've got about 300 720p movies on it now that were converted in Handbrake using the AppleTV setting. The 2TB drive is only about 1/4 full now so I figure I could probably get at least 1000 movies on it, if not more.
I'm not sure if this is allowed but.. here's a link to an auction for the kit that has already ended. It doesn't look like he has any kits available right now but I'm sure you could contact him if you're interested to see when he's going to have more:
Converter for eSATA Apple TV 2 TB External Hard Drive
The kit comes with complete printed instructions and it wasn't that hard at all. If I remember correctly, he also includes a link to video instructions online as well.
By the way... with this setup, you WILL still have to use iTunes to get your movies onto the hard drive. But once they're on there, you're go to go.
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Mac Mini 2.0 Ghz
Mac Pro 2.8 - 8 Core, 16 GB ram, 4 TB Apple RAID, 2 x 23" Apple Cinema Displays
MacBook Pro 13" 2.26 Ghz |
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gibmini
Member
Joined: 11 Aug 2007
Posts: 156
Location: Gibraltar
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| Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:59 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry to have taken so long to post my thanks, but here goes: thanks! I'll definitely have a look at your solution as it seems simple enough even for me!
GM
_________________
Loving my mini's, hating what Apple has become.
iPhone 4S
2.3GHz latest gen macbook pro, 2.4GHz latest gen Mini, 1.83GHz Mini, 2.0GHz Macbook
160Gb 1st gen ATV & 2nd gen ATV
1 of every gen of Nano
iPhone 4S
30" apple cinema display |
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