“After a frenetic few days work, developers Scott Davilla and Stephan Diederich last night posted a full and slick fix to enable easy installation of Boxee on Apple TV models running the recently released 2.3 software, which broke the third-party media centre software,” Jonny Evans reports for Distorted-Loop.
“The team has released an updated patchstick which will easily install boxee/XBMC. Patches released earlier this weekend worked, but offered relatively complex installation, requiring use of Terminal and SSH, now it’s as easy as plug-and-play,” Evans reports.
“Word of the release of the new software quickly got around the Boxee community, at time of writing over 35,000 users of the currently alpha software have downloaded the new version of the USB Creator software, required to install Boxee on the Apple media centre,” Evans reports.
More info and links in the full article here.
These guys are just INCREDIBLE.
Why would Apple not include these features out of the box? Sometimes I just don’t understand that company.
“These guys are just INCREDIBLE.”
Their software ain’t bad, either…..
That means there should be an update to ATV Flash soon.
Unrelated but I just did the 2.3 update and noticed that my Apple TV now shows support for 1080P, did I miss this in a previous update?
Also Apple TV does not show up in in iTunes anymore.
They just accepted me as an Alpha tester… I am very excited!
@Brilliant Sandwich
Just received my email too!!
can’t wait !!
First time i tried to open USB creator it failed with error message. 2ND time, no problem creating patchstick
not sure about 1080P, but my apple tv and infocus projector are set at 1080i, and it looks great
Yes 1080P was in the 2.0 update awhile back. But I think that it is only for the menus as there is no 1080P content
The reason Apple don’t, and maybe cannot add a lot of these features because that might strain relations with several studios and DRM confinements that is forced upon Apple. Also, more features would require Apple to support them, and strain their already hands-full resources. Instead, they concentrated on creating the front, keeping it simple, but not crippling it as strongly as they did with the iPhone.
I always felt, Steve Jobs could hold a card against the studios and music partners that if they didn’t cooperate, Apple will shut them out and go with their own brand of P2P file sharing options with Apple’s unique touch. Or at least provide 3rd parties a platform for it, with a elegant connection to the TV and stereos. I think, Boxee team is exactly that. A beta developers for Apple of sorts, without having the responsibilities. Later, if Boxee experiments succeeds, Apple can simply incorporate them in future gen of ATV, or just acquire the Boxee if they can. Cost would be the same as two years of R&D;, sans the legal and cosumer anxieties of a few years of beta. Bitching customers when things go bag can be a bigger bag of hurt of sorts. MobileMe is still licking its wounds. That brand name, I fear, is tarnished quite a bit and maybe should be replaced. Maybe I’m biased, as I never liked how it rolls of my tongue, MobileMe. Yuck.
slick ? hmm, you create the patchstick, install it. But then, neither Boxee nor XBMC are actually installed, so you run the updaters. Then, Boxee doesnt respond to the Apple remote and XBMC is crippled by the limited remote control options – nowhere near as usable as XBMC on the Xbox or OSX.
Slick, not yet.
In fact, if I were you – Id forget the whole thing – its not ready for primetime. Why ?
If you know your way around ATV patching, terminal etc you are still highly likely to encounter a host of problems. Fancy endless reboots ? blackscreens ? freezing ? If so, try Boxee for ATV.
Personally, despite being experienced in ATV patching (and iPhone etc), I have found both Boxee and XBMC seriously lacking on the AppleTV.
Sure, it beats paying for ATVFlash or Patchstick.ca, but at least those provide support AND WORK !
The Boxee team is not the guys behind these Apple TV hacks, Team XBMC is. Scott Davilla and Stephan Diederich are developers of XBMC, not Boxee, however as Boxee is based on XBMC they too can take advantage of the XBMC team’s progress.