Archive:HOW-TO:Install XBMC on Apple TV 1
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- See also, Apple TV 1 FAQ
Thanks to lots of hard work by Team-XBMC's very own Scott Davilla and Stephan Diederich it is now possible to install and run XBMC Media Center on Apple TV (generation one). Apple TV gen 1 is no longer available from Apple and can only be purchased from alternative sources (eBay, kijiji, craigslist, etc.). If you are looking to purchase an Apple TV gen 1 consider adding a CrystalHD card to enable a playback of 1080p HD movies.
In short it is XBMC for Mac on Apple TV (1st generation) 1 made easy for everyone to enjoy!
Note: As of January 20th, 2011, XBMC is now available for the Apple TV 2!!! Brief installation instructions are here and there is an FAQ available also.
Minimum requirements
- Apple TV generation 1 (with 'Take 2' version of the 'Apple TV OS', meaning version 2.x of Apple TV software) or
- Apple computer with Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or 10.4 (Tiger) or Windows computer with a USB port and ATV USB Creator installed.
- 512MB (or larger) USB flash memory drive.
How to install XBMC on your Apple TV
ATV USB Creator is currently available for Mac OS X and Windows ATV USB Creator and supports the latest AppleTV OS 3.0.2 even though it does not show it. Installation instructions for related devices also exist: Apple TV 2 or iPhone/iPad.
NOTE: Just to be safe, unplug any other USB drives just in case (as you do not want to risk the chance the patchstick utility to overwrite the data on any other USB drive you might have connected).
- Download the ATV USB Creator from http://code.google.com/p/atvusb-creator/
- Insert a USB flash memory drive into your Mac or Windows machine. Make sure the flash drive is formatted for FAT32 and remember that all the data on it will be erased so do the backup first.
- Run the ATV USB Creator.
- Follow the "ATV USB Creator" instruction to prepare a "patchstick".
- It is recommended to update Apple TV to the latest software version which is 3.0.2 at this point before "patching" the Apple TV.
- Remember to build a "patch stick" image exactly with the same Apple TV software version that is installed on your Apple TV.
- Even though it does not say it ATV USB Creator does support the latest Apple TV OS 3.0.2
- Remove the USB flash memory drive and plug it into your Apple TV.
- Power on your Apple TV and the USB flash memory drive (now also called "patchstick") will automatically boot and run ATV boot loader.
- After the ATV boot loader finishes, remove it and restart your Apple TV.
- You Apple TV GUI will now have a new "Launcher" menu option on the main menu.
- First update Launcher to the newest version from the "Launcher/Downloads" menu.
- Now install XBMC by selecting "Launcher/Downloads" and clicking on XBMC. This will download and install the latest official stable XBMC from the Internet.
- If you want to install the latest version from SVN follow this guide.
- Once XBMC is done installing, restart your Apple TV (this is not necessary but will make you feel better as in "task complete").
- If you installed the CrystalHD card you now need to install a driver for it. Follow this guide and restart Apple TV after finishing installing CrystalHD driver.
- Select "Launcher" then select "XBMC" in the sub-menu to start XBMC.
- Check "Launcher/Downloads" periodically and whenever a new version of XBMC is available you can update it as described above.
Known Issues
- The default Apple TV screen saver may cause XBMC to not respond when it kicks in , (more accurately it can cause XBMC to lose control of the Apple Remote)
- Due to the way that the Apple TV handles its 'wakeup' from its screen saver mode different from an infrared remote event from the Mac OS X computer platform, we will eventually need to make a source code change to the XBMC software to sort this out, but until then you can workaround this by disabling the screen saver on your Apple TV, (that is, not from within XBMC, but in the Apple TV's own screen saver).
Development for XBMC on Apple TV
To help out with the development of XBMC for Mac (which runs on Apple TV) see here. To help out with the development of ATV USB Creator or ATV bootloader see their respective project sites on Google Code: