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Comment by yardie | Hacker News Reader

Apple TV is designed around playing content downloaded from iTMS. Google TV....they'll figure out something eventually. Neither one is really made for live TV.

* I've settled on the AppleTV because it's $99, so not much of a loss if it doesn't work out.

* Most of my videos are already in an MP4 compatible format already DVD->Handbrake->Apple Universal preset.

* It's dead quiet, no moving parts, no fans, and 6W of power.

My problem with the HTPC is it was a full Windows stack so it included all the headaches of antivirus, updates, configuration, and UAC prompts required a keyboard be nearby.

I can certainly see why some people have the inclination to go with a HTPC but I don't have the time nor the space to keep PC in the living room. And now, XBMC has been ported to the AppleTV so you get most of the functionality of the Windows application on an inexpensive device.

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My problem with the HTPC is it was a full Windows stack so it included all the headaches of antivirus, updates, configuration, and UAC prompts required a keyboard be nearby.

This was my main problem with an all-in-one HTPC. It was amazing when it worked, but my housemates didn't appreciate it for the 1% of the time when they couldn't watch TV because of a crash, or Windows Update.

Found this demo video of XBMC On Apple TV: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/20/xbmc-comes-to-the-new-app...

Apple TV with XBMC for $99 is damn difficult to beat. I might need to visit the Apple Store soon.

The reason the original post gave for getting rid of his old machine was that it couldn't handle 1080p content. The AppleTV can't do more than 720p (with XBMC it can decode at least some 1080p, but downscales it to 720p for output to your TV).

I'm less concerned about the resolution where absolute bandwidth is your limiting factor. ATV has an absolute bandwidth of 6MBps. OTA has an absolute bandwidth of 18MBps in the US. Even if it could use 1080p, outside of still images, its going to look like crap during complex scenes. Its the balance between bandwidth and quality. If I want high-quality (like Avatar or any Pixar movie) I'll get it on bluray, for everything else ATV DVD-quality is fine.

But as I said before, some people will have the need for a HTPC. I have a moderately small apartment and don't watch that much TV. I realized, a while ago, that keeping a dedicated PC, recording shows I'll probably never watch, running 24 hours a day was futile. If there is something interesting I can watch it live, download it through iTunes, or pull the occasional torrent.

I jailbroke my 2nd Gen AppleTV and can confirm XBMC works nicely - and you can add different apps to it too. I did the new untethered jailbreak using Seas0nPass, it wasn't to difficult (~30 minutes).

Edit: Oh, and XBMC just gets added as another menu item, so you can still use the regular AppleTV ui too.

Can you set it up to automatically start with XBMC? How hard/easy is it to upgrade XBMC as new versions come out? Does the AppleTV support a keyboard or some other device (iPhone?) to control ATV?

1. Not that I know of, but it's just two clicks to the right on the home screen - I usually just leave it running all the time, so it isn't much of a problem.

2. No idea. If I had to guess it wouldn't be harder than the original jailbreak, and potentially much easier.

3. You can use your iPhone/iPod touch's Remote app to control the ATV (the remote it comes with is a pain for text input) [No jailbreak required]

Thanks!

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