@Tyler Knew and Turk! Wendell Ate Won Too: It just adds functionality - all the default ATV functionality is retained.

purduepete

One thing I'm not clear on: does this just add additional options to the existing AppleTV menu, or does it replace the existing functionality as well?

(Apologies if this is 100% obvious to everyone else, I just couldn't find much in the two links)

Tyler Knew and Turk! Wendell Ate Won Too

I can't speak for Boxee or XBMC, but this is the first implementation of the ATV loader that has worked for me flawlessly, on the first try.

After getting ssh to work, I installed Couch Surfer, which allows me to watch video on Hulu (after hacking the correct Flash plug-in). While the video is choppy, the concept is awesome!

purduepete

What no Plex love?

PHermas

Pretty sure you just go to www.boxee.tv/atvusb to sign up yourself.

strang

This looks too good to sit on the sidelines for!

Anyone have an invite they'd like to share???! Much appreciated:

Gmail username is "gmugrad"

mw2006

@Tyler Knew and Turk! Wendell Ate Won Too: It adds the media center options to your AppleTV menu, and lets you continue using FrontRow as well.

Kevin Purdy

With all the XBMC spin-offs in the last year (Plex, Atlantis, Boxee...), has anyone compiled a list or comparison of the current options? Are these spin-off projects still updating from the same source, or are they beginning to splinter?

I love XBMC, but I am almost willing to move my Xbox out of the living room if a capable replacement comes along. I like the Apple TV's form factor, but I would be losing my main DVD player (which is OK, since I've ripped most of my 200+ DVD collection to a home server). Also, once I settle on a replacement, I'd like to be able to use it on all my devices (including Windows, Ubuntu Linux, OSX, and possibly the Apple TV). Too bad there isn't a version for a modded Wii. That would truly be my best option.

salviati

@Kevin Purdy: @purduepete: Gorgeous. Thanks to you both.

Tyler Knew and Turk! Wendell Ate Won Too

I'll grovel for an invite as well. My handle is ubiquitous: somecallmechief.

somecallmechief

If anyone has an invite I would appreciate it:

scottauth [@] gmail

I was planning on getting an AppleTV for my mom soon, but this pretty much seals the deal.

kirbypuckett

@kirbypuckett: @somecallmechief: @mw2006:
They seem pretty friendly toward lifehackers: [lifehacker.com]
You might try sending him an email, and maybe he would oblige? Or perhaps Kevin et al could look into getting some more invites for their readers?

matchsmalone

So how well does this actually work? I thought I read on the XBMC forums not too long ago that they didn't have the H.264 decoding figured out.

2-7offsuit

@salviati: Atlantis is not a spin-off of xbmc. It *is* xbmc. Atlantis is the codename for the next *stable* release (I think it'll be v1.21 or something like that) of XBMC, due later this month! (can't wait)

Sion28

I had to try two USB keys before it worked. So far I'm a little underwhelmed though: the samba support is awesome, but you can't shut it off from the remote (AppleTV shuts off, XBMC stays on the screen), I can't figure out how to exit programs and it refused to snap to the resolution I set it to. Anyone smarter than me know how to solve any of that? I've been digging around the XBMC forums, but haven't found the magic thread yet.

Tyler Knew and Turk! Wendell Ate Won Too

I'm about to give it a shot. Currently I'm using my Xbox 360 to stream from my iMac (via Conntect360) but the 360 is a loud beast, and only supports Microsoft's list of formats. I've come close to buying the aTV Flash suite, but I'm a cheapskate, so I hope this does the trick. I'll report back when/if I get it working. By the way, those of you looking for an invite, just go to boxee.tv and register as an alpha tester. They send out "invites" every Monday. Only took them a couple of weeks to get me mine.

mthrnite

Just loaded on to my AppleTV.
I am having trouble getting xbmc and boxee to restart after they go to screensaver.
XBMC does not see my iTunes share on my iMac or my Time Capsule which is holding the lion's share of my content.
I haven't had a chance to tinker with Boxee.
XBMC did not "auto" guess my resolution and had to be fine tuned.

DeadPenguin

Does it let you delete a video file after watching it? Sigh... not a single media center app seems to be able to do this.

scarabic

Well, after a little adventure making the patchstick (removing the space in the atvusb folder name did the trick) I got Boxee up and running on my ATV. I'm now having a hell of a time figuring out how to get it to find any folders (specifically my Movies folder) on my locally networked iMac. I'm no network genius, so it's probably something to do with SMB or whatnot. I'm currently scouring the Boxee forums, but it's getting late, and I'm sure I'll have more luck in the morning when I'm good'n coffee'd-up. Listening to LastFM on it now though, so I'll call it a limited success and hit the sack.

mthrnite

Anyone know if this handles x264 hd video well? I'd be willing to swap out my old xbox for this since it gets brought to its knees with that content.

wileyqed

Ok, it was indeed just a matter of setting up SMB from the Sharing preferences on the iMac. Pull up the Sharing control panel and hit the options button. Adding sources from the Boxee screen on the ATV was cake from there. Currently watching my old MST3Ks (Divx/Xvid format) and generally testing the system out. There's still some shuddering with some formats, notably stuff in my iMovie folder, not sure if that's an ATV issue or a slow network issue. All in all, not too shabby for alpha software! My AppleTV is now beefier.

mthrnite