Boxee is updated for Apple TV 2.3

We've covered boxee, a fantastic media center application that can run on your Mac or Apple TV. With its attractive interface and support for Hulu, boxee is what convinced my boyfriend and me to order an Apple TV. Predictably, the day our second Apple TV arrived from Apple (the first unit broke after watching just one movie), the 2.3 software update was released, nullifying our boxee goodness.

Fortunately, the boxee team has updated boxee to support 2.3. Even better, the geniuses behind USB Creator -- a tool that makes installing boxee and the XBMC on an Apple TV a snap -- have updated their awesome software to make the whole process seamless.

If you want to install boxee and XMBC on your Apple TV, this is what you want to do. You will need a USB flash drive (minimum of 512 MB, though 1 GB or higher is recommended):

If you haven't updated your Apple TV to 2.3, go ahead and download and install the update via the General, "Software Update" menu.
Download the latest version of USB Creator (available for Intel and PPC Macs and there is now an interrum solution available for XP and Vista users).
Insert a USB flash drive into your Mac (to be safe, disconnect any other external drives before running creating the patchstick -- the drive is formatted first and if the wrong disk is selected, you could wipe important data).
Run atv-usbcreator.app (as of this writing, the current version is 1.0b10) and leaving all the preset options in place, click "Create Using." Wait for the program to do its magic.
If you've never created a USB patchstick before, unplug the USB drive and plug it back in, and check to make sure the files copied over correctly.
Unplug your Apple TV and insert your newly created USB patchstick into the USB port. Plug the Apple TV back in.
Wait for the tools to install (the screen will tell you when the process is over).
Unplug the Apple TV again and remove the USB flash drive.
Plug back in the Apple TV and wait for it to boot up. You should now have a new Boxee/XBMC menu. You can update boxee and XMBC as well as the ATV-Launcher program from that menu.
Start boxee and enter in your user credentials.
Enjoy the ability to watch Hulu and buy content from the iTunes Store!

If you are upgrading an existing boxee installation (say you were running boxee on firmware 2.2), you might run into the same problem I experienced: the Apple remote won't work with boxee.

To solve this problem, you need to SSH into your Apple TV. To do this, open terminal and type:

ssh frontrow@appletv.local

Enter the password frontrow.

Enter the following:

rm -rf /Users/frontrow/Library/Application\ Support/BOXEE/UserData

Restart your Apple TV (unplug an re-plug it). I also had to re-run the patchstick, but then everything worked beautifully.

Boxee is free but is currently invite only. You can sign-up for an invite at boxee.tv or ask a friend with an account to send you an invite.

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Source: http://blog.boxee.tv/2008/11/23/boxee-on-apple-tv-23/

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We've covered boxee, a fantastic media center application that can run on your Mac or Apple TV. With its attractive interface and support...

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chris

Did all that. Great. However. Sdly, Boxee streams only in the US. How can I get around that (Europe)?

January 31 2009 at 10:01 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Enyko

Just want to add from my previous post that I also noticed in the Software tab that it continuously tells me that there is an update for XBMC, Boxee and Launcher. I update it over and over again but keeps saying there is an update. Can that be part of the problem (described above)? That both Boxee and XBMC crash/hang everytime I open it?

Thanks

January 24 2009 at 4:19 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Enyko

Set everything up today and Boxee was working but I realized I had no shared folders on my desktop to search. Then I went ahead and shared my media folder. Now Boxee & MXMC crash everytime I open the app. Please help.

January 24 2009 at 3:21 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Hamid Eskandari

Hi

I restore the Apple TV to factory status,
instal the 2.3
instal XBMC/Boxee from atvusb-creator-1.0.b10
XBMC/Boxxe menu come in ATV menu
After i try to update the XBMC/Boxee, receive message: "Updat URLs not found or corrupt" !!??
My connection is ok, Trailers & Top Movies is working fine.

Any body see this problem ?
PLZ Help me.

January 04 2009 at 3:43 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Hamid Eskandari's comment

Applebox

I've just set up my ATV with boxee, only thing I need now is a invitation.
Can someone please help me?

applebox@pixeltin.de

Thanks a lot!

January 05 2009 at 3:02 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

garoda

Does anyone know of a solution to VPN the ATV for viewing hulu etc. outside the US? I've been looking around and can't find an simple solution.

December 28 2008 at 12:23 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ruben

Just installed boxee & xbmc everything worked perfect. But am stuck waiting on an invite, if anyone could shot me one that would be great.

rbnarcos@yahoo.com

December 15 2008 at 1:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

brad

http://blog.boxee.tv/2008/11/23/boxee-on-apple-tv-23/

The comments and link to the boxee forum on this page pretty much address the freezing/black screen issues.

December 12 2008 at 6:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

sroemmele

I got my ATV last weekend, installed Boxee a couple of days ago. No problems installing at all. Just need a login, I'm not sure I can wait the 3 weeks. Can I get a login? sroemmele on twitter.

December 11 2008 at 7:03 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Tod

Tariq, I am also on the years-long waiting list from the Boxee folks. I can't figure out how to message you but if you still have invites and could email me, I'd appreciate it.

November 30 2008 at 11:36 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Tod's comment

Christina Warren

Check out our most recent boxee post for a link to get an invite within 24-hours. It was posted on 11/27

November 30 2008 at 11:46 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jerry

Tariq-I saw you can send Invites to Boxee! I would love to get this, but am also on the long backlog list.

Anyone else use the patchstick on ATV after 2.3, and ATV say application cant run?

November 30 2008 at 10:59 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply