Hello experts,
I have been given an apple TV2 thing for my birthday. It’s very nice and I like the youtube streaming etc.
A couple of questions if I may;
1) It won’t pick up Itunes. Not at all, I’m wondering if it’s firewall voodoo? I have windows defender, NOD32, superantispyware installed. I’ve searched google but haven’t found any helpful info so I was hoping that someone might be able to give me some pointers please? Next step is the painful apple support 😕
2) When I have this sorted, I understand that there’s some really good hack/jailbreaks that I can use. Does anyone have any recommendations which one is easiest to use/has the most functionality?
Help most appreciated.

have you turned on home sharing on both the computer and apple tv.

I just bought one and jailbroke it straight away, it was a bit of a pain in the ass, some trial and error required but its now the most awesome little box ever 🙂

my post on another forum about the issues doing it

1. Download and run Season Pass, this was straight forward, somewhere i read that this automatically installs xbmc but it doesn’t, you also only need the 1st few steps from the links above as you don’t need the tethered boot thing anymore. It took a few attempts to put the device into DFU mode so it could do the jailbreaking bit but this was the easy part.

2. Preparing to install xbmc, the Apple TV does not have to be connected by USB although you would think it does. I spent for ever trying to log into the Apple TV with it connected and no combination of IP address or apple tv name would work. So at this point take it back and plug it into your tv and switch it on and connect it to your network, also go into general settings and find the IP address for your apple tv.

3. Installing xbmc, open terminal (on a mac) and enter the lines of code one at a time, when you are done doing this you should see the XBMC item on the Apple TV menu screen.

4. Set up share folders on any computer on your network, I did two separate folders, one on my computer and one my gf’s which have folders with torrents in. I had trouble seeing them at first but set the sharing to use Windows SMB whatever that is which makes it easier to find.

5. Go to videos in XBMC and add source, select windows SMB as the type then go find your folders.

6. Hit play, its worked on everything I tried, mostly SD AVI’s so need to download some HD stuff to see how it handles that but so far this little box is just full of awesome

in addition to the above now watched some HD stuff with it and it continues to stream flawlessly, very happy with it.

this is the link i followed to do the jailbreaking bit.

http://www.technobolt.com/2011/01/12/guide-jailbreak-apple-tv-2g-ios-4-2-1-using-seasonpass-how-to/

can’t remember where i found the instructions for xbmc but they are out there somewhere.

Thanks rs, I have turned home sharing on. Without the itunes connected I’m hesitant to hack it (can’t wait to do it though).
ATV just keeps telling me to turn home sharing on (IT IS ON!!).

So what benefits do you get from jailbreaking then? is it easy to screw up your atv in the process?

the computer is switched on right?

jailbreaking lets you watch torrents on apple tv, it’ll play pretty much anything you have and can source multiple folders from diff computers, so i can access stuff on mine and my gf’s computer through the tv, very cool!

Without the itunes connected I’m hesitant to hack it (can’t wait to do it though).

on this, when you hack it you restore the apple tv with a hacked version of the software so you have to set everything up again anyway, when you switch it on after jailbreaking you’ll have to enter your router password and apple id info again. The box continues to work as a standard box but there is an extra menu item for xbmc which takes you to a different menu system that lets you play all sorts of stuff.

the computer is switched on right?

LOL. Yes, the PC is switched on. 😀

haha, just checking, latest version of itunes then? can’t think of much else.

Thanks rs. Itunes is current version 🙁
Bit stuck with it now, and if I can;t use itunes then its a bit useless.

Sounds cool but a bit beyond me, i dont even know what torrents are, i best leave well alone 😕

backhander, try here and see if there are any solutions http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1399

Thanks rs, no luck. Apple support is useless for windows, it seems that this may be my first and last foray into the world of apple.

all the more reason to jailbreak it 😉

Windows firewall?

Edit: I got one the other week. Cracking bit of kit. Rented “Red” t’other day in high def. Left it overnight to download before playing, just in case of network bottlenecks.