I have an apple TV myself. I know that this is the prior generation but for those who like to store the movies or pictures onto the hard drive, this works for you. Otherwise, you depend on an active and working network (for the new streaming apple TV).
Of note:xbmc.org said: Question: Will the Apple TV playback 1080p videos encoded with the H.264 codec (like Blu-ray rips)? Answer: No, the Apple TV hardware is only powerful enough to decode 720p videos encoded with the H.264 codec. However, with the Broadcom Crystal HD card and the latest unstable release of XBMC, 1080P support is possible.
I haven't looked into the major difference of the old and new but I can tell you from what I've evaluated briefly: (new one) smaller form factor and different color, less energy use, no physical hard drive, streaming from your itunes computer, new remote, to TV- only HDMI out.
The old one needs to be filled with movies, pictures, etc from your itunes computer (or purchase directly from itunes store) but can function as a standalone "player" if there is no internet connection.
Both can browse yourtube and the old one should be able to be updated with any new software that the new one has (but I haven't checked yet).
Yoyojade
Senior Member
posted: Sep. 3, 2010 @ 2:40p
no remote will make it useless
Yoyojade
Senior Member
posted: Sep. 3, 2010 @ 2:43p
you can install XBMC/Boxee on it, and you can also install Broadcom Crystal-HD on old Apple TV, with it you can play 1080P.
In my opinion, for feature wise Old Apple TV is better than new Apple TV for the time being.
New Apple TV is energy efficient and with Netflix. And if someday Apple will open apps for it, it would have better future.
I think overall the old Apple TV has more possibilities, especially with the well-established hacking processes out there.
That said, one big improvement in the new one is the heat generation (or lack of.) Without a harddrive, there less heat and no fan. The old Apple Tv would burn through your media cabinet.
Yoyojade said: no remote will make it useless uh, what do you mean? it includes a remote. you can also use your iphone or ipod touch as a remote as well.
I bought an AppleTV last year for Boxee, et.al. and it's mostly been a disappointment. XBMC/Boxee are slow on Apple TV and IMO the streaming video quality is unwatchable. The hard drive is not user-upgradable. Plus you have to deal with Apple pushing software updates that obliterate your hacks. There will be better solutions for Boxee in the next 6 months.
Buy a Roku box instead. I've had one since 2008 and just bought a second this week.
Early impressions of Google TV. Able to stream Amazon VoD, Netflix, Hulu and Youtube with automatic fullscreen and seamless navigation Watch it on video Google TV
Yoyojade said: you can install XBMC/Boxee on it, and you can also install Broadcom Crystal-HD on old Apple TV, with it you can play 1080P.
In my opinion, for feature wise Old Apple TV is better than new Apple TV for the time being.
New Apple TV is energy efficient and with Netflix. And if someday Apple will open apps for it, it would have better future.I've been running 2 hacked ATVs with XBMC for a couple of years now and I'm fairly satisfied. I've pretty much got my money's worth out of them. But if you're in the market right now, by the time you pay another $50+ for that Broadcom card (and possibly the cost of a wifi bridge if you don't have a wired network) you're getting close to the price range of an ION-based nettop which will actually do Flash, Skype, expand beyond 256MB of RAM, support SATA drives, and other cool things. Still, it's a shame those Broadcoms are so expensive because at a $20 price point I'd love to try one out.
For the chap who complained a few posts above this, yes you CAN change out the hard drive in an ATV. The bigger problem is finding a large, cheap ATA laptop drive because they're becoming scarce. And if you've hacked it properly then it's a no-brainer to block Apple's updates. It's 1 of the 2 radio buttons under Launcher settings--pretty simple.
DerProfi said: Yoyojade said: you can install XBMC/Boxee on it, and you can also install Broadcom Crystal-HD on old Apple TV, with it you can play 1080P.
In my opinion, for feature wise Old Apple TV is better than new Apple TV for the time being.
New Apple TV is energy efficient and with Netflix. And if someday Apple will open apps for it, it would have better future.I've been running 2 hacked ATVs with XBMC for a couple of years now and I'm fairly satisfied. I've pretty much got my money's worth out of them. But if you're in the market right now, by the time you pay another $50+ for that Broadcom card (and possibly the cost of a wifi bridge if you don't have a wired network) you're getting close to the price range of an ION-based nettop which will actually do Flash, Skype, expand beyond 256MB of RAM, support SATA drives, and other cool things. Still, it's a shame those Broadcoms are so expensive because at a $20 price point I'd love to try one out.
For the chap who complained a few posts above this, yes you CAN change out the hard drive in an ATV. The bigger problem is finding a large, cheap ATA laptop drive because they're becoming scarce. And if you've hacked it properly then it's a no-brainer to block Apple's updates. It's 1 of the 2 radio buttons under Launcher settings--pretty simple.
I am also leaning towards an ION based nettop. I would rather pay a little extra for flexibility. I have seen them as low as $200 but hope that continues to drop.
69ragtop said: I am also leaning towards an ION based nettop. I would rather pay a little extra for flexibility. I have seen them as low as $200 but hope that continues to drop. My Foxconn nT330i would be ideal as an HTPC if they made 2 changes: - figure out a way to eliminate or significantly quiet the fan (I run an SSD and the noisy fan still kicks in regularly) - add a built-in IR receiver so I could just use my Harmony instead of needing to buy a Windows Media Center remote
CowBoom sells dual core asus essentio (win7ultimate thanks to slic 2.1) for $200 to quad core 8gb units for $360 + tax. fit them into a nice small antec microfusion - run anything/any os you want for the next 5 years.
apple tv = pentium M 1ghz, 256gb ram,160gb drive. I think you can do better if you scrounge parts or deals.
the $699 macbook air rev.b (ddr3) was hot deal. they had mac pro's for $500 last night too.
rigor said: CowBoom sells dual core asus essentio (win7ultimate thanks to slic 2.1) for $200 to quad core 8gb units for $360 + tax. fit them into a nice small antec microfusion - run anything/any os you want for the next 5 years.
apple tv = pentium M 1ghz, 256gb ram,160gb drive. I think you can do better if you scrounge parts or deals.
the $699 macbook air rev.b (ddr3) was hot deal. they had mac pro's for $500 last night too. That absolutely gets you a more powerful system that will probably serve you longer, but the misnamed Antec "micro"fusion is 15.1"W x 16.1"D x 4.5"H or 1094 cubic inches which is a pretty big honking box. The old AppleTV is 7" x 7" x 1" or 49 cubic inches and the Foxconn nt330i is even smaller at 7.48" x 5.31" x 0.98", 39 cubic inches. My goal is to streamline my living room, not to stack up a rig bigger than the average Set Top Box.
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