I recently bought a 160 gb AppleTV and have been trying to work out how to fit all my movies and tv shows in this limited space.
I know I can stream from my computer (currently a G4 Powerbook in desperate need of an upgrade to a MacBook Pro) to the AppleTV and that this option opens up a lot of doors to increasing storage. I would, however, ideally like to not need to open and power-up my computer just to watch some tv... I've been thinking that I could always build a cheap windows box to act as an iTunes streamer (though I'm not sure yet if I would need a fast processor and lots of ram as well as a fast wifi card but that's for another day).
Right now what I'm wondering is how other AppleTV owners are dealing with their limited storage? Are you hacking the unit in order to add an external USB drive or just streaming from iTunes somewhere on the network? Are there other options I haven't found yet?
Thanks and lets all give the HandBrake team a round of applause for their work on solving the issues for 0.9.2! Can't wait!
Solution ideas for increased AppleTV storage
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GMcDowellJr
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:15 am
Re: Solution ideas for increased AppleTV storage
Well, I only have the 40 gig model so I'm more cramped.
My current setup is AppleTV -> Macbook with iTunes -> BSD Fileserver using Netatalk.
The Movies are mounted on the Macbook, and added to iTunes. Then iTunes allows them to share to AppleTV. My plans for upgrades actually are just to the Macbook. I want to put in a 500 gig SATA drive in that once they are available. My logic is, sure I could buy one of those for the AppleTV and go through all of those hoops to replace its drive and void the warranty in the process, or I can replace the Macbook's drive (which I've already done once to bring me to 160 gig) and then copy everything from the BSD server onto the Macbook's drive. This means only 2 computers have to be on to watch a movie.
I'm trying to get the BSD box out of the mix as its the dual core athlon so I know it is using the most power. Its main purpose is to do the encoding (and I don't see that changing). Once the encoding is done, it would be nice to copy everything to the Macbook and just be done with it.
Presently I'm in a holding pattern for handbrake 0.9.2 with anamorphic, crf, ac3 encodes for the iPod Touch and AppleTV and well, for 500 gig laptop drives to come out
.
In your case, I might suggest an external drive for the powerbook if you're worried about voiding the AppleTV warranty. The most you could push the Atv to right now is 320 gig. Of course I imagine Apple releasing a new Macbook Pro for you with a big drive might work as well.
My current setup is AppleTV -> Macbook with iTunes -> BSD Fileserver using Netatalk.
The Movies are mounted on the Macbook, and added to iTunes. Then iTunes allows them to share to AppleTV. My plans for upgrades actually are just to the Macbook. I want to put in a 500 gig SATA drive in that once they are available. My logic is, sure I could buy one of those for the AppleTV and go through all of those hoops to replace its drive and void the warranty in the process, or I can replace the Macbook's drive (which I've already done once to bring me to 160 gig) and then copy everything from the BSD server onto the Macbook's drive. This means only 2 computers have to be on to watch a movie.
I'm trying to get the BSD box out of the mix as its the dual core athlon so I know it is using the most power. Its main purpose is to do the encoding (and I don't see that changing). Once the encoding is done, it would be nice to copy everything to the Macbook and just be done with it.
Presently I'm in a holding pattern for handbrake 0.9.2 with anamorphic, crf, ac3 encodes for the iPod Touch and AppleTV and well, for 500 gig laptop drives to come out
. In your case, I might suggest an external drive for the powerbook if you're worried about voiding the AppleTV warranty. The most you could push the Atv to right now is 320 gig. Of course I imagine Apple releasing a new Macbook Pro for you with a big drive might work as well
.Re: Solution ideas for increased AppleTV storage
http://www.netgear.com/Products/Storage ... VPlus.aspx
Currently have 1.4TB of available space. A nice little package that I don't mind having on my desk beside my Apple equipment.
Currently have 1.4TB of available space. A nice little package that I don't mind having on my desk beside my Apple equipment.
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MichaelLAX
Re: Solution ideas for increased AppleTV storage
Have you installed nitoTV?GMcDowellJr wrote:I recently bought a 160 gb AppleTV and have been trying to work out how to fit all my movies and tv shows in this limited space.
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GMcDowellJr
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:15 am
Re: Solution ideas for increased AppleTV storage
No... nothing hacked yet.
The stuff I was reading online suggested that some of the hacks needed to be updated for the 2.0 release... that and I have only limited knowledge about hacks and the like. I can usually get them working but I have NO idea what I did, why it worked or what to do if something goes wrong... other than pester people on forums that is!
For now I think I'll try encoding things that will work with the iPod (using 0.9.2 of course for all its goodness) to keep file size down and see what I end up with.
Who knows, maybe Apple will open up Time Capsule to allow it to act as external storage for the AppleTV... nah!
The stuff I was reading online suggested that some of the hacks needed to be updated for the 2.0 release... that and I have only limited knowledge about hacks and the like. I can usually get them working but I have NO idea what I did, why it worked or what to do if something goes wrong... other than pester people on forums that is!
For now I think I'll try encoding things that will work with the iPod (using 0.9.2 of course for all its goodness) to keep file size down and see what I end up with.
Who knows, maybe Apple will open up Time Capsule to allow it to act as external storage for the AppleTV... nah!
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MichaelLAX
Re: Solution ideas for increased AppleTV storage
Good idea! You should pass it along to Apple... There is really no reason that they shouldn't support extra storage...GMcDowellJr wrote:No... nothing hacked yet... Who knows, maybe Apple will open up Time Capsule to allow it to act as external storage for the AppleTV... nah!
I am one of those burned Airport Extreme owners who were talked into buying one in anticipation of Leopard's Time Machine, and then they hosed us when they released the Time Capsule and didn't allow OX X 10.5 to communicate with our Extremes...
Re: Solution ideas for increased AppleTV storage
TC hasn't even shipped yet... so I don't understand all these people crying foul about how Apple "hosed" them, etc.I am one of those burned Airport Extreme owners who were talked into buying one in anticipation of Leopard's Time Machine, and then they hosed us when they released the Time Capsule and didn't allow OX X 10.5 to communicate with our Extremes...
Did it ever occur to some that Apple *might* not be evil? TC isn't exactly rocket science engineering... slap a HD inside an AEBS enclosure and sell it. If Apple really wanted to maximize revenue, they would have released TC with Leopard. My guess is Apple is having firmware problems with the AEBS and we should be seeing new Airport Extreme firmware shortly after TC ships that fixes the backup problems.
Last edited by macmayhem on Wed Feb 20, 2008 5:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Solution ideas for increased AppleTV storage
I 100% agree with this statement. People are always quick to bash Apple.macmayhem wrote:TC hasn't even shipped yet... so I don't understand all these people crying foul about how Apple "hosed" them, etc. Did it ever occur to some people that Apple might not be evil? TC isn't exactly rocket science engineering... slap a HD inside an AEBS enclosure and sell it. If Apple really wanted to maximize revenue, they would have released TC with Leopard. My guess is Apple is having firmware problems with the AEBS and we should be seeing new Airport Extreme firmware shortly after TC ships that fixes the problem.I am one of those burned Airport Extreme owners who were talked into buying one in anticipation of Leopard's Time Machine, and then they hosed us when they released the Time Capsule and didn't allow OX X 10.5 to communicate with our Extremes...
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MichaelLAX
Re: Solution ideas for increased AppleTV storage
macmayhem wrote: TC hasn't even shipped yet... so I don't understand all these people crying foul about how Apple "hosed" them, etc.
Did it ever occur to some that Apple *might* not be evil? TC isn't exactly rocket science engineering... slap a HD inside an AEBS enclosure and sell it. If Apple really wanted to maximize revenue, they would have released TC with Leopard. My guess is Apple is having firmware problems with the AEBS and we should be seeing new Airport Extreme firmware shortly after TC ships that fixes the backup problems.
I am the first person to defend Apple against most every one of their past questionable practices.
That being said, if they are having firmware problems, why not announce it. They made public statements that the AE would support TM.
You noticed they made public statement about Take 2 release date and then announced when they needed additional time, rather than rely on silence.
Re: Solution ideas for increased AppleTV storage
Let me be clear; I wasn't talking to you. I was commenting on a post above mine from macmayhem and expressing my agreement with his opinion. When you think about it, you're talking to me right now in your post... so I'm going to address your latest point.MichaelLAX wrote:macmayhem wrote: TC hasn't even shipped yet... so I don't understand all these people crying foul about how Apple "hosed" them, etc.
Did it ever occur to some that Apple *might* not be evil? TC isn't exactly rocket science engineering... slap a HD inside an AEBS enclosure and sell it. If Apple really wanted to maximize revenue, they would have released TC with Leopard. My guess is Apple is having firmware problems with the AEBS and we should be seeing new Airport Extreme firmware shortly after TC ships that fixes the backup problems.
I am the first person to defend Apple against most every one of their past questionable practices.
That being said, if they are having firmware problems, why not announce it. They made public statements that the AE would support TM.
You noticed they made public statement about Take 2 release date and then announced when they needed additional time, rather than rely on silence.
nightstrm - Let me be clear: I am never talking to you in any of my posts and I would appreciate it if you would never respond to my posts; thank you!
Why is it that Apple has to always announce when its "working on something" or "a patch isn't out when the blogs think it should be" or "OMG the store is down so Apple must be releasing something big and if they don't we're all going to act like 10 year olds"? Why can't they be like every other company and just release things when they are ready? We're not even talking about a new product here, we're talking about a hypothetical patch to add functionality to a device that has been on the market for over a year now.
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MichaelLAX
Re: Solution ideas for increased AppleTV storage
Let me be clear:
When I realized that your post was responding to another's and not mine (after just reading your moronic post to another one of mine here on Tiki), I went back and deleted that reference.
Apparently you have no life and read it as soon as I posted it, BUT did not respond until after I edited it, as there is no reference to any edit time on mine.
You can consider this statement recently removed from the Apple's Time Machine webpage, but I couldn't care less what you think about it:
"Effortless meets wireless.
With a hard disk connected to your AirPort Extreme Base Station, all the Macs in your house can use Time Machine to back up wirelessly. Simply select your AirPort Disk as the backup disk for each computer and the whole family can enjoy the benefits of Time Machine."
When I realized that your post was responding to another's and not mine (after just reading your moronic post to another one of mine here on Tiki), I went back and deleted that reference.
Apparently you have no life and read it as soon as I posted it, BUT did not respond until after I edited it, as there is no reference to any edit time on mine.
You can consider this statement recently removed from the Apple's Time Machine webpage, but I couldn't care less what you think about it:
"Effortless meets wireless.
With a hard disk connected to your AirPort Extreme Base Station, all the Macs in your house can use Time Machine to back up wirelessly. Simply select your AirPort Disk as the backup disk for each computer and the whole family can enjoy the benefits of Time Machine."
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GMcDowellJr
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:15 am
Re: Solution ideas for increased AppleTV storage
it would sort of suck if my innocent [?] post about increasing storage was locked but then things happen
i really do hope that apple updates the AppleTV and/or allows Time Capsule to be used as a an external drive for it someday... from everything I've found that's not going to be part of TC's initial release (someone claiming to be working on TC's development said this pretty clearly on MacRumor.com I think) but, as was said earlier, there's no telling what they'll do in the future or when
i imagine that part of the challenge Apple has with providing external storage or larger drives for the AppleTV might be related to the type of data we want to put on them... questionably legal conversions of copy protected content. i think it's fairly obvious what the MPAA would say to this... and what Apple is likely to push for awhile (renting) in response.
so for now I've got two choices... hack the AppleTV or stream from iTunes on a networked drive... well, I'll figure something out!
i really do hope that apple updates the AppleTV and/or allows Time Capsule to be used as a an external drive for it someday... from everything I've found that's not going to be part of TC's initial release (someone claiming to be working on TC's development said this pretty clearly on MacRumor.com I think) but, as was said earlier, there's no telling what they'll do in the future or when
i imagine that part of the challenge Apple has with providing external storage or larger drives for the AppleTV might be related to the type of data we want to put on them... questionably legal conversions of copy protected content. i think it's fairly obvious what the MPAA would say to this... and what Apple is likely to push for awhile (renting) in response.
so for now I've got two choices... hack the AppleTV or stream from iTunes on a networked drive... well, I'll figure something out!
Re: Solution ideas for increased AppleTV storage
Streaming an iTunes library from a network drive works great for me, you need to keep your iTunes computer on at all times though (not an issue for me, but it is for some). I have yet to run into any problems with this setup yet with a gigabit link between my NAS and iMac, and using 802.11n to stream to the AppleTV.
As for the issue of AEBS and the missing feature, I think they simply removed it because the firmware was not ready and they identified that this was a misleading statement. I have a feeling this feature will be available later this year, but without some sort of iTunes server software, you'll still need to keep a computer on at all times. I have seen no compelling reason to hack an AppleTV, unless you want to complicate a dead easy solution with a cumbersome hack/work around. As for me, I don't want to deal with computer/network issues when I'm at home, so I chose the dead easy solution from Apple.
As for the issue of AEBS and the missing feature, I think they simply removed it because the firmware was not ready and they identified that this was a misleading statement. I have a feeling this feature will be available later this year, but without some sort of iTunes server software, you'll still need to keep a computer on at all times. I have seen no compelling reason to hack an AppleTV, unless you want to complicate a dead easy solution with a cumbersome hack/work around. As for me, I don't want to deal with computer/network issues when I'm at home, so I chose the dead easy solution from Apple.
Re: Solution ideas for increased AppleTV storage
you can actually use Time Machine to backup to an AEBS AirDisk using a defaults write ... command (google it) but I have a feeling Apple has it currently turned off because it's simply not stable/reliable enough to use daily. And to make it work more reliably is going to require new firmware.
Re: Solution ideas for increased AppleTV storage
A nice little package that I don't mind having on my desk beside my Apple equipment.
Re: Solution ideas for increased AppleTV storage
You need to do a search for how to update ATV hard drive. I currently have a 250 gig Western Digital, but I believe 320 gigs are available now. Came out a week after I did my 250