[mythtv-users] FE/BE on AppleTV

[david.w.smiley at gmail.com]

> Date: Sat, 02 Oct 2010 23:01:22 -0400
> From: Raymond Wagner <raymond at wagnerrp.com>
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] FE/BE on AppleTV
> To: Discussion about MythTV <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
> Message-ID: <4CA7F202.9050502 at wagnerrp.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
>  On 10/2/2010 22:21, david.w.smiley at gmail.com wrote:
>> I bought an AppleTV with the intention of using it for MythTV (and
>> Boxee), though I've been charmed by the native capabilities of the
>> devise, so I'm not loving the idea of replacing it with a linux
>> distro.
>
> The original AppleTV was a 1GHz Pentium M, with XvMC capable nVidia
> graphics, and 256MB of memory.  It really didn't have enough memory to
> run a high resolution frontend, so the UI was slow.  Even with XvMC, it
> was only capable of moderate bitrate MPEG2, so it failed on most HD ATSC
> content.  It made a pretty mediocre frontend.
>
> The current AppleTV is a 1GHz ARM, with PowerVR graphics, and 256MB of
> memory.  Just as before, the CPU is really incapable of handling any HD
> content.  Just as before, there really isn't even enough memory to run a
> frontend, much less a frontend AND backend.  To top it off, it no longer
> has a hard drive, nor does it have any connections you could use to
> attach a hard drive.  You're stuck with network-based storage.  Boxee is
> going to be an equally poor prospect for that device, and if you want an
> example of the kind of performance you could expect, check out VLC for
> the iPad.

Nevertheless, I know in my web searchers I've seen people successfully
doing 720p with a linux based AppleTV, MythTV frontend.
http://code.google.com/p/atv-bootloader/wiki/mythtv   (and there are
other references I've found)

> The ATV has some form of hardware decoder, but it is undocumented, and
> unusable by MythTV or any other third party media player.

I'd guess that a Mac application (like the Mac compiled MythFrontend)
running on the Apple TV could potentially use the Mac's video APIs
(Quicktime) to leverage the hardware decoder indirectly.  This is my
theory that is logical to me but I haven't seen it confirmed or
refuted.

>  Your best bet
> is to use the official software, use it as a UPnP frontend, and have
> some other backend in a closet.

I was doubtful I'd be able to get a BE going on AppleTV but it didn't
hurt to ask.
You say AppleTV's official software can act as a UPnP frontend?  I see
no evidence of this out there... instead I see a reference to how to
add 3rd party software to make it a frontend -- "MediaCloud".  In any
case, I'd really much prefer to use MythTV FE's interface for at least
commerical skip.

>  Even then, the hardware decoder is
> designed for content available through the iTunes media store, and will
> be incapable of handling any of the digital recordings you may make with
> your HDHomeRun.  You will have to transcode that content to a format the
> ATV can handle before being able to play it.

I figured as much; no problem.

~ David