Which unlocked apple tv is best?

Apple TV 2 (the just discontinued one) can be jailbroken if it is running 4.4 (I think thats it) or lower.

If it has been upgraded to the new iOS 5 released last week then that can't be jailbroken yet.

Jailbreaking the Apple TV is a bit complex - more difficult than jailbreaking an iPhone. Plus the 3rd party Apps are cumbersome, not user friendly.

Why do you want to jailbreak an Apple TV?
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Main reasons are:
1) Play back internet downloaded (ahem) content directly on the Apple TV from a local network drive or Mac.
2) Play back Hulu and several other obscure "channels"

I've jailbroken mine and we use it to play back Hulu (free) on occasion. The Hulu UI is tedious and my wife can't navigate it.

For #1 above, I think it's much simpler to convert media to .mp4 and add it to iTunes & playback normally provided you have an always on desktop mac to host this iTunes content.

I use a $10 Mac App store app iVi Pro. It will convert most HD MKV's quickly without transcoding (using Pass-through of H.264).

Oh, and I forgot to mention, it is probably worth spending $30 on Firecore which mostly automates the AppleTV Jailbreak and it loads XBMC and some other software including a rudimentary web browser.

I didn't go that route and wish I had.

You don't need to jailbreak to stream content locally. Just use iTunes.

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bhaveshp
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For #1 above, I think it's much simpler to convert media to .mp4 and add it to iTunes & playback normally provided you have an always on desktop mac to host this iTunes content.

I use a $10 Mac App store app iVi Pro. It will convert most HD MKV's quickly without transcoding (using Pass-through of H.264).

I can't seem to find a program called iVi Pro for $10 in the App Store. I do find a program called iVI that is $3.99. Is this the same program?

Yes sorry iVI pro is not in the app store, it is on the developers website. It is the same program except the pro version will rip and tag DVDs. The $4 app store version does mkv to mp4 pass-through conversions and tagging just fine.I got the app store version first then bought the pro later.

OK, thanks!

Ok, so jailbraking the AppleTV would mean I could play video using VLC instead of iTunes?

One problem I have is that I pay for access to a lot of motor sports from around the world that I can download 24 hrs after the event. A lot of these videos don't play in iTunes, but VLC does play them. It would be nice to watch some of the races on the big TV instead of my computer.

Also, my main computer, a PowerMac G5 dual 2.5 has trouble with 1080p content, it can only play about 12-15 fps. I do remember in my old office I was able to play 1080p files stored on a 466 G4 server over the network to something like an iMac C2D with no problems.

Would the Apple TV be able to play 1080P content streaming from my PowerMac?

......now can someone explaining popping and LOCKing [step-by-step]....??

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2012 09:13AM by NewtonMP2100.