3 ms·

>trying to track down the best HW/SW/price combination for a simple dumb XBMC-upnp frontend. What's wrong with the Apple TV 2 with XBMC? Does it really need to

by 18pfsmt 14y ago

>trying to track down the best HW/SW/price combination for a simple dumb XBMC-upnp frontend. What's wrong with the Apple TV 2 with XBMC? Does it really need to be cheaper than $100 which includes power supply, and a decent enclosure? I've considered this a solved problem for a while.

thedrbrian 14y ago
>What's wrong with the Apple TV 2 with XBMC? Does it really need to be cheaper than $100 which includes power supply, and a decent enclosure? I've considered this a solved problem for a while. Apple. Some people have an irrational hatred of apple products plus they like having something they hacked together which doesn't work quite as well as a boxed product while also costing a little bit more.
- drivebyacct2 14y ago
  What a uselessly insulting reply. >Some people have an irrational hatred of apple products James Bond is playing on my third Macbook in 3 years, I'm typing on an Apple keyboard and helping my brother shop for an iPad mini. >they like having something they hacked together You got me. >doesn't work quite as well as a boxed product FUD. Keep telling yourself that while I have access to every Android app, plus everything afforded to me in Linux. At worst, you have to know which one to shop for that has decent support. It is annoying but it doesn't diminish the value of XBMC once it is up and running. >while also costing a little bit more FUD. What else can I say, that's just a lie. There are literally dozens of boxes with better specs for much less than the Apple TV.
andrewcooke 14y ago
i don't know anything about apple devices, but my impression was that they assumed you had everything else apple. if i have music on a samba network mount from a linux server, will apple tv play it, for example? also is it upnp - can i push music to it from windows and linux devices? airplay is something else, isn't it? maybe this apple tv thing is what i have been looking for. but i'm having trouble answering the above from their site.
- jemeshsu 14y ago
  18pfsmt is talking about hacked AppleTV with XMBC installed, which will break the Apple wall garden and allows all the non-Apple media playing such as upnp, flac, mkv etc.
  - solnyshok 14y ago
    does it have enough oomph to play 10 GB mkv?
    - petemc_ 14y ago
      Yes. I can stream large (up to 20gig) x264 mkv files from a machine running ubuntu/samba. It doesn't play HD xvid files though.
drivebyacct2 14y ago
Because I can equip my entire house with them for less than it costs to get one or two Apple TVs? Also, honestly, looking through the Wiki, it looks like way more work than it is to `dd` to an SD card, put it in one of these HDMI sticks and plug it into a TV... Plus, I actually use the Netflix and Pandora apps on my $75 (that was 6 months ago, it's cheaper/faster now) little Android box that I use for XBMC currently. My point is simple, if the SOC and OEMs would get their act together, we could have a set of distributions and a CI system that could churn out system images for these devices. These cheap Android/Linux combos with Rockchip/AMLogic/etc, can be bought for as low as $30 when buying in bulk (where bulk is as low as 30 pcs). A $30 1.7Ghz dual core computer that can be plugged into any monitor and used immediately? And dual booted between the latest version of Android and Linux? Yes, I'll take that over Apple TV. :)
- 18pfsmt 14y ago
  >I love the Exynos and would very happily spend another $100 in an attempt to find the right thing. >A $30 1.7Ghz dual core computer that can be plugged into any monitor These two statements seem to contradict each other, and the $30 price tag excludes the enclosure and power supply, which add up to another $30. It seems you are comparing the Apple TV to some product that you wish existed, but doesn't. I would certainly buy one if you can link to a comparable complete package for $100 or less because the Apple TV 3 still isn't jailbroken, and I have some friends I'd like to set up.
  - drivebyacct2 14y ago
    >I would certainly buy one if you can link to a comparable complete package for $100 or less because the Apple TV 3 still isn't jailbroken Sorry, you're right. Again, lots of stuff in my head that is based on watching this space. This stuff is a bit of a grab-bag right now. The biggest thing is, there are just so. damn. many. of them. And they're all different enough to make porting a headache. And they're often dumped by their OEM with buggy firmware and a lack of source code to go with it. So, what I meant was, I'm willing to spend $100 today on something that is well supported by and will support the Linux/Android community for development. I very honestly think that whoever does that first (Pengpod maybe?) will do very well at it. The MK802 III looks promising, already a Linux port is progress by someone who has the chops. I have the AMLogic box from OvalElephant and it works decently enough. Honestly, the Raspberry Pi is the best bang for your buck currently. You don't get 1080p but the hardware acceleration support is decent. (Also, the AMLogic M3 that is EVERYWHERE (seriously, you can get it for $30-$50 places if you look) and is likely to benefit from the Pivos software in the future). I think it's still a few months away from "complete package" in the sense that people think "complete package" with the Apple TV. That having been said, I'm still waiting for someone to do it 100% right.

by 18pfsmt 14y ago

thedrbrian 14y ago

>What's wrong with the Apple TV 2 with XBMC? Does it really need to be cheaper than $100 which includes power supply, and a decent enclosure? I've considered this a solved problem for a while. Apple. Some people have an irrational hatred of apple products plus they like having something they hacked together which doesn't work quite as well as a boxed product while also costing a little bit more.

drivebyacct2 14y ago
What a uselessly insulting reply. >Some people have an irrational hatred of apple products James Bond is playing on my third Macbook in 3 years, I'm typing on an Apple keyboard and helping my brother shop for an iPad mini. >they like having something they hacked together You got me. >doesn't work quite as well as a boxed product FUD. Keep telling yourself that while I have access to every Android app, plus everything afforded to me in Linux. At worst, you have to know which one to shop for that has decent support. It is annoying but it doesn't diminish the value of XBMC once it is up and running. >while also costing a little bit more FUD. What else can I say, that's just a lie. There are literally dozens of boxes with better specs for much less than the Apple TV.

andrewcooke 14y ago

i don't know anything about apple devices, but my impression was that they assumed you had everything else apple. if i have music on a samba network mount from a linux server, will apple tv play it, for example? also is it upnp - can i push music to it from windows and linux devices? airplay is something else, isn't it? maybe this apple tv thing is what i have been looking for. but i'm having trouble answering the above from their site.

jemeshsu 14y ago
18pfsmt is talking about hacked AppleTV with XMBC installed, which will break the Apple wall garden and allows all the non-Apple media playing such as upnp, flac, mkv etc.
- solnyshok 14y ago
  does it have enough oomph to play 10 GB mkv?
  - petemc_ 14y ago
    Yes. I can stream large (up to 20gig) x264 mkv files from a machine running ubuntu/samba. It doesn't play HD xvid files though.

drivebyacct2 14y ago

Because I can equip my entire house with them for less than it costs to get one or two Apple TVs? Also, honestly, looking through the Wiki, it looks like way more work than it is to `dd` to an SD card, put it in one of these HDMI sticks and plug it into a TV... Plus, I actually use the Netflix and Pandora apps on my $75 (that was 6 months ago, it's cheaper/faster now) little Android box that I use for XBMC currently. My point is simple, if the SOC and OEMs would get their act together, we could have a set of distributions and a CI system that could churn out system images for these devices. These cheap Android/Linux combos with Rockchip/AMLogic/etc, can be bought for as low as $30 when buying in bulk (where bulk is as low as 30 pcs). A $30 1.7Ghz dual core computer that can be plugged into any monitor and used immediately? And dual booted between the latest version of Android and Linux? Yes, I'll take that over Apple TV. :)

18pfsmt 14y ago
>I love the Exynos and would very happily spend another $100 in an attempt to find the right thing. >A $30 1.7Ghz dual core computer that can be plugged into any monitor These two statements seem to contradict each other, and the $30 price tag excludes the enclosure and power supply, which add up to another $30. It seems you are comparing the Apple TV to some product that you wish existed, but doesn't. I would certainly buy one if you can link to a comparable complete package for $100 or less because the Apple TV 3 still isn't jailbroken, and I have some friends I'd like to set up.
- drivebyacct2 14y ago
  >I would certainly buy one if you can link to a comparable complete package for $100 or less because the Apple TV 3 still isn't jailbroken Sorry, you're right. Again, lots of stuff in my head that is based on watching this space. This stuff is a bit of a grab-bag right now. The biggest thing is, there are just so. damn. many. of them. And they're all different enough to make porting a headache. And they're often dumped by their OEM with buggy firmware and a lack of source code to go with it. So, what I meant was, I'm willing to spend $100 today on something that is well supported by and will support the Linux/Android community for development. I very honestly think that whoever does that first (Pengpod maybe?) will do very well at it. The MK802 III looks promising, already a Linux port is progress by someone who has the chops. I have the AMLogic box from OvalElephant and it works decently enough. Honestly, the Raspberry Pi is the best bang for your buck currently. You don't get 1080p but the hardware acceleration support is decent. (Also, the AMLogic M3 that is EVERYWHERE (seriously, you can get it for $30-$50 places if you look) and is likely to benefit from the Pivos software in the future). I think it's still a few months away from "complete package" in the sense that people think "complete package" with the Apple TV. That having been said, I'm still waiting for someone to do it 100% right.