Apple TV hacked to play XviD format videos
Word has come in that the Apple TV has been cleverly hacked (yes, already) to play XviD format videos, according to users from the Something Awful forums.To achieve this, the hardware hacker dissected the Apple TV, removing the hard drive and then mounting it on a Mac, where the drive pops up as a native HFS volume. (Notably, this proves that the device indeed runs a custom version of Mac OS X.) The user was then able to install Dropbear, an SSH server application, in combination with the video container Perian, and finally, a custom script was written to allow the Apple TV to properly read an XviD format video.
Normally, of course, the device only recognizes MPEG4 and H.264 format videos out of the box. No other formats have been tested as of yet, and this hack unfortunately prevents video synchronization since the it uses reference QuickTime files for the videos to properly play. Perhaps this is just the beginning, though.
[via MacNN]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
artifex said 1:22PM on 3-23-2007
I'll look at that seriously after someone else does it, not on SA :)
Reply
Ben Stafford said 1:22PM on 3-23-2007
So the Apple TV HD was mounted on a Mac and accessed thus confirming a version of OSX. How long before someone tries to boot from it?
Reply
Mat Lu said 2:15PM on 3-23-2007
If this is for real, I suddenly want a Apple TV for the first time! The xvid support was complete a deal breaker for me. This is awesome!
Reply
Aegelward said 2:16PM on 3-23-2007
even if its a bit of an ugly hack, you have to admire the tenacity of hackers. this is something that happened within 24 hours of its launch... just think of the hacks that will come in the next few months ;D
Reply
SpaceFromAce said 3:53PM on 3-23-2007
So it shouldn´t be any problem to add the MPEG-2 Quicktime component...
Reply
nick said 4:07PM on 3-23-2007
Once this becomes official i will order one in a second!
Reply
Brad said 4:34PM on 3-23-2007
Perfect. Like Mat, this was a deal breaker for me as well. Once an easy way of playing Xvid comes I'll have to start saving my money :)
Reply
Kevin S. said 5:59PM on 3-23-2007
good, now it's actually useful.
Reply
Dalton said 6:02PM on 3-23-2007
I, like everyone else, was waiting for this. This item just jumped up my wishlist quite a bit.
Reply
elvisizer said 6:10PM on 3-23-2007
Hrm. HFS volumes can be access by more than just OSX, so i don't see how using that filesystem necessarily means that the appletv is running an OSX variant. I think it probably is running some sort of OSX (or at least darwin), but the mere fact the the HD is formatted for HFS doesn't prove that.
Reply
Nick James said 6:37PM on 3-23-2007
The loss of video sync is not all that big a deal to me, as I had no real interest in this. I just wanted to stream the massive amounts of uh, home video I have on my main PC to the giant TV I have. So I can watch, uh videos of my friends 'n' such. Not Blood Diamond or Children of Men or anything. Nope.
Reply
Dan Woods said 8:27PM on 3-23-2007
Does everyone complaining about lack of XviD support realise that there is a huge variety of software products available for converting XviD AVI to standard compliant MPEG4.
MP4 and MOV files also have the added advantage of Metadata and chapters.
The only reason to keep XviD AVI's around is if you have a Network Media Player that can't play MP4 or MOV or like the nostalgia of Depreciated file formats.
Reply
Matt said 2:15AM on 3-24-2007
Yeah Dan, and do you realize it can take several hours to transcode a SINGLE movie or TV show, and you losing video quality? (And good luck if you are trying to transcode HD content). I love it when people who criticize ideas don't even understand the issue.
Calling XviD a deprecated format is just silly. Pretty much all TV content that is shared online is in XviD and most HD TV content is in x264 (MKV containers).
Reply
FriedCPU said 9:38AM on 3-24-2007
I have to say this is great news, the reason I won't be getting a apple tv is because it can only play certain formats, and from iTunes.
Once there is a way to play xvid, x264 in matroska container etc.. and maybe import it into iTunes without converting it (converting terabytes of stuff is not an option :P) then I will certainly be getting a Apple TV! :D
Reply
Entica said 1:53PM on 3-24-2007
Add me to the list of others who will only buy one once it can play Divx/Xvid (QPEL & GMC included) and x264. I can understand why Apple would not include support for those (although most DVD players do now so I don't think there's legality issues) but I still think it's a big oversight on their part to at least not address the lack of support for those formats.
Are you reading this Apple? You'll get my $ when you actually deliver what consumers really want. Yes I know you make your money from forcing your iTunes content on us but come on, native xvid/divx/etc support will make this uber and everyone will want one.
Reply
Chris said 9:58PM on 3-25-2007
As soon as this is confirmed and we have some reasonable support for divx/xvid I am buying one of these. It's my only hesitation.
Chris
Reply
Jack said 6:37PM on 3-29-2007
Just one question : Nobody here bought an Eyehome from Elgato when it came out ?
Plays just about anything I want...
I just don't understand the commotion.
;-)
Reply