Connecting External Hard Drive & Stream PC to Boxee?

[tjb122982]

Okay guys, I have tried to do this myself and searched for a FAQ a few times without luck. First, how do I connect my external hard drive to Boxee via a 2nd generation 160 gb Apple TV? Second, how do I stream files from my desktop to Boxee on said Apple TV?

[nuggyblake]

Okay guys, I have tried to do this myself and searched for a FAQ a few times without luck. First, how do I connect my external hard drive to Boxee via a 2nd generation 160 gb Apple TV? Second, how do I stream files from my desktop to Boxee on said Apple TV?

1. If you used atvusb-creator (the latest), to hack the atv, you simply, run Smart Installer under NitoTV (install Nito under Software Menu). Once you do this, it installs a recovery dmg (10.4.9) in your ~/Frontrow/Documents/. Hard restart the atv and you can plug-in a flash drive or external to the host usb port on the first gen atv.

2. SMB sharing is built into Boxee. On your mac enable file sharing, click on options, select SMB.

http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=29447

[seand5018]

A couple of minor additions to Nigel.

1. Connect the HD right to the ATV route. ATV is for all intents and purposes a Mac and so it prefers Mac formatted drives i.e. HFS journaled - which always throws PC users for a small loop

2. Use Boxee's SMB to connect to a HD on your local computer - SMB is not the default sharing protocal for Macs and requires one extra click in the file sharing setup dialog (as Nigel noted) - which always throws Mac users for a small loop.

Neither are a big deal but worth noting.

[drgrafix]

A couple of minor additions to Nigel.

1. Connect the HD right to the ATV route. ATV is for all intents and purposes a Mac and so it prefers Mac formatted drives i.e. HFS journaled - which always throws PC users for a small loop

2. Use Boxee's SMB to connect to a HD on your local computer - SMB is not the default sharing protocal for Macs and requires one extra click in the file sharing setup dialog (as Nigel noted) - which always throws Mac users for a small loop.

Neither are a big deal but worth noting.

Sean...

Is there any performance advantage for an ATV streaming movies either directly from its internal drive, an external drive connected to the ATV's USB port, or a ethernet-linked drive that is connected to the computer?

Also... occasionally... and I mean maybe once in a 2 hour movie... I will see a split-second "jitter" and then nothing. Is that a product of a remote USB drive, and would a remote Firewire drive be better for those of us streaming movies?

TJB... FWIW, I formatted my ATV-dedicated media drive HFS Journaled rather than using FAT. Its working like a charm other than that occasional hiccup mentioned above.

Mike

[drgrafix]

A couple of minor additions to Nigel.

1. Connect the HD right to the ATV route. ATV is for all intents and purposes a Mac and so it prefers Mac formatted drives i.e. HFS journaled - which always throws PC users for a small loop

2. Use Boxee's SMB to connect to a HD on your local computer - SMB is not the default sharing protocal for Macs and requires one extra click in the file sharing setup dialog (as Nigel noted) - which always throws Mac users for a small loop.

Neither are a big deal but worth noting.

Sean...

Is there any performance advantage for an ATV streaming movies either directly from its internal drive, an external drive connected to the ATV's USB port, or a ethernet-linked drive that is connected to the computer?

Also... occasionally... and I mean maybe once in a 2 hour movie... I will see a split-second "jitter" and then nothing. Is that a product of a remote USB drive, and would a remote Firewire drive be better for those of us streaming movies?

TJB... FWIW, I formatted my ATV-dedicated media drive HFS Journaled rather than using FAT. Its working like a charm other than that occasional hiccup mentioned above.

Mike

[seand5018]

Sean...

Is there any performance advantage for an ATV streaming movies either directly from its internal drive, an external drive connected to the ATV's USB port, or a ethernet-linked drive that is connected to the computer?

Of course there is. The question is whether the difference is relevent. Directly connected is going to be much, much faster but in terms of the real world the apple tv's biggest issue in terms of performance is its processor. Intuitively it make sense to only have the thing you are watching turned on when you are watching TV. I used to use a little WD passort as my ATV's extra HD.

Advantages- my Mac Book did not have to be on or in the building and my kid could still access kids shows off the local drive. Also I hacked the ATV to run Transmission on the ATV itself, so the ATV was downloading files via bit torrent constantly (again whether my Mac was on or even in the building).
I also installed SMB on the one ATV so it could serve files (all off the cheapie $75 WD Passport) to another ATV running Boxee downstairs - even while playing different files on Boxee on the ATV upstairs. Pretty slick for 3 little boxes I all purchased for $75 or less a piece. And when I wanted to dump a lot of content into the Passport I just shut down the ATV and picked up the HD which is 3"x3.5"x 1" thick and runs on passive USB power (no powersource), connected to the computer and dumped the files in. Cheap, very portable media server.

The main advantage of having your media connected to your ATV is your computer does not have be on. The main disadvantage is that transfering movie files over the network is relatively slow. A small portable drive you can walk back and forth and connect to your computer when dumping in a lot of movies is sort of the best of both worlds.

Now I have a NAS (that itself does the downloading via optware running on it without my computer being on) and so I'm using the Passport less.

Also... occasionally... and I mean maybe once in a 2 hour movie... I will see a split-second "jitter" and then nothing. Is that a product of a remote USB drive, and would a remote Firewire drive be better for those of us streaming movies?

TJB... FWIW, I formatted my ATV-dedicated media drive HFS Journaled rather than using FAT. Its working like a charm other than that occasional hiccup mentioned above.

Mike

Yes it is likely a network issue but not a usb one. Firewire is faster but the slow part is still the network between your computer and your ATV. But as you say over the network its "fast enough" for Boxee 99% of the time so its more personal preference. Again the less my "real" computer does boring things, like act as a dumb SMB server or to be a dumb bit torrent downloader, the freeer it is to travel with me and do more exciting things out in the real world. Let the ATV which is always on do the low-processor power boring stuff.

[seand5018]

Sean...

Is there any performance advantage for an ATV streaming movies either directly from its internal drive, an external drive connected to the ATV's USB port, or a ethernet-linked drive that is connected to the computer?

Of course there is. The question is whether the difference is relevent. Directly connected is going to be much, much faster but in terms of the real world the apple tv's biggest issue in terms of performance is its processor. Intuitively it make sense to only have the thing you are watching turned on when you are watching TV. I used to use a little WD passort as my ATV's extra HD.

Advantages- my Mac Book did not have to be on or in the building and my kid could still access kids shows off the local drive. Also I hacked the ATV to run Transmission on the ATV itself, so the ATV was downloading files via bit torrent constantly (again whether my Mac was on or even in the building).
I also installed SMB on the one ATV so it could serve files (all off the cheapie $75 WD Passport) to another ATV running Boxee downstairs - even while playing different files on Boxee on the ATV upstairs. Pretty slick for 3 little boxes I all purchased for $75 or less a piece. And when I wanted to dump a lot of content into the Passport I just shut down the ATV and picked up the HD which is 3"x3.5"x 1" thick and runs on passive USB power (no powersource), connected to the computer and dumped the files in. Cheap, very portable media server.

The main advantage of having your media connected to your ATV is your computer does not have be on. The main disadvantage is that transfering movie files over the network is relatively slow. A small portable drive you can walk back and forth and connect to your computer when dumping in a lot of movies is sort of the best of both worlds.

Now I have a NAS (that itself does the downloading via optware running on it without my computer being on) and so I'm using the Passport less.

Also... occasionally... and I mean maybe once in a 2 hour movie... I will see a split-second "jitter" and then nothing. Is that a product of a remote USB drive, and would a remote Firewire drive be better for those of us streaming movies?

TJB... FWIW, I formatted my ATV-dedicated media drive HFS Journaled rather than using FAT. Its working like a charm other than that occasional hiccup mentioned above.

Mike

Yes it is likely a network issue but not a usb one. Firewire is faster but the slow part is still the network between your computer and your ATV.

[drgrafix]

WOW! Thats a lot of great info. Got me thinking... RS is dumping iOmega 500 GB Prestige USB drives for $49 right now ($50 off list) so I was thinking of picking one up. I don't want to hijack this thread so I'll ask questions in another.

[seand5018]

If you ideas in the end involve turning your ATV into an SMB host for another one or running Transmission on an ATV check it out this web page.
http://mrcolinsappletvguide.tumblr.com/

FWIW he also does SABNZBD right on the ATV and that didn't work for me but installing SMB on the ATV and Transmission instructions rock solid.