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[edit] Welcome to the AwkwardTV Wiki

As you probably know, Apple TV is a set-top box manufactured by Apple. Out of the box, it is enabled to stream digital content from any computer running iTunes. As there is little information provided about what is going on "under the hood" of the Apple TV, this is a place to collect and share information.

This website is dedicated to finding additional uses for the Apple TV by (legitimately) enabling its Potential Capabilities, and is a place for the community to share ideas, discoveries and solutions. As such, when you add any comments or questions (not contributions to an informational page) please sign it using the signature button, , or four tildes (~~~~). It is for informational purposes only. AwkwardTV is not responsible if you void your warranty or damage your device.

[edit] Beginners Guides

If you're just getting started and trying to learn how to hack your Apple TV, then checking out the Beginners Guides section is probably the best place to start. This will help the novice get started with hacking the Apple TV, explaining steps in detail. Now in three flavours, we have:

• A Guide for 3.x. This is for those who want to run the "new" menu system that Apple released in October 2009.

• A Guide for 2.x aka Take 2. This is for those who want to run the menu system that Apple released in February 2008.

• A Guide for 1.x. This is for those who want to run the "old" menu system prior to Take 2 which was released February 2008.

• HackMeNot or The Alternative To Hacking. Tried hacking and messed it up? Just can't get stuff to work? Or think that it's just too complicated. You can get more from your Apple TV than you think with a few free apps and the correct settings in iTunes.

[edit] How To's

• How To Section covering Hard Drive Preparation and General Software Modifications.
• Take 2 Full Update - Walkthrough on getting your new AppleTV Take 2 modified with SSH, new codecs, USB support and more

[edit] Plugins

• How to automatically/manually install plugins
• AppleTV Take 2 Plugin Compatibility List
• AppleTV Take 3 Plugin Compatibility List

[edit] Development

• Plugin Tutorials For Developers
• FRAppliance 101 - Tutorial for creating new PlugIns
• FRScreenSaver 101 - Tutorial for creating screen savers. Please read FRAppliance_101 first.
• BackRow_2.3 - Instructions for linking against BackRow 2.3 headers in your PlugIn project.
• BackRow_2.3_SDK - almost ready to deploy SDK for developing 2.3/2.4 compatible frappliances with XCode 3.1+ on 10.5 Leopard
• BackRow_3.0_SDK - an update for ATV 3.0 with a template for XCode 3.x

[edit] Advanced BackRow Coding - An Ongoing Series

1. Introduction To Custom Controls
2. A Custom Layer Controller
   • Extra Credit 1: Animations
3. A Downloader Controller

• BackRow Developers' Kit - A Mac OS X application and utilities to aid in creating and debugging new plugins.
• Create Environment for stock ATV 1.1 Development with Leopard Setting up the development environment in Leopard
• Plug-in Developers Note Pad - Snippits of information that may help others.
• Alan Quatermain Video Tutorials
• Alan Quatermain's Site - for more info and tutorials.
• Recursive Menu Controller & Icons on Menus - A post by Alan Quatermain in the forum
• Leopard Plug-In Method - Under Construction?

[edit] Resources

IRC: You can find us on IRC: #awkwardtv on irc.moofspeak.net. Register your Nick Please feel free to contribute! We are all learners at this stage ;-)

Forum: AwkwardTV project forums

[edit] Prerequisites

• Hardware Modification Prerequisites

[edit] Latest News

• atvDrive 1.1 released wiki added later (still). major partition map bug fixed
• atvDrive 1.0 released wiki added later.
• forum.tomcool.org until the forum.awkwardtv.org is back up questions can be asked there (since it appears to be dead for good).
• CMP_Framework Added a page for the Common Media Player framework
• Couch Surfer 2.2 now available for AppleTV 3.0 - 3.0.2
• NitoTV Take 2 0.8.7 quick bugfix follow up release. Bundled with latest Common Media Player, fixed the CMP installer and fixed gestures in 3.0.1.
• NitoTV Take 2 0.8.6 release supporting the Common Media Player framework, now with 5.1 AC3 passthrough support (in MPlayer too)
• Sapphire b7.8.1 released supporting the Common Media Player framework which support DVD Playback on the AppleTV (including 5.1 AC3 passthrough support).
• SoftwareMenu1.0b2.1 released. 1.0b1 has a bad update algorithm. select SoftwareMenu_Update1 (from third party menu), install it and even though it will say not installed, restart finder and it should be installed
• Overflow beta 4 has been released. couple of bugs and memory leaks fixed. Now also available from SoftwareMenu. Sorry for beta 3 users. was a huge bug stopping it from working
• ATVUSB-Creator Has been released. Updates include OpenSSH, Launcher and SoftwareMenu. This release is compatible with 2.x and 3.x AppleTVs.
• Overflow beta 2 has been released. Overflow is a plugin that itself loads plugins while hiding them from the Finder.
• PatchStickBuilder 3.0 Added Support for 3.0.2
• AtvPwn 2.4 3.0.2 Support
• AppleTV OS 3.0.2 has been RELEASED.
• NitoTV Take 2 0.8.5 RSS / sapphire conflict fixed, new MPlayer build, new MPlayer args for hi profile h.264, major bugfixes, quicktime playback improved in 3.x + more
• Broadcom_HD_Decoder - Apple TV 1080p support (XBMC only)
• DVDpedia FrontRow and AppleTV plug-in 2.0.6 released with AppleTV 3.0.1 support.
• NitoTV Take 2 0.8.4 MPlayer exit crash bug fixed (hopefully), memory leak cleanups, major maintenance release, read wiki for extra info.
• NitoTV Take 2 0.8.3 DVD Importing/Autoimport fixed, Fixed some screen release and compatibility issues with pre 3.x versions.Added support in 3.x for the extra play/pause button on the new Apple remotes. Various bug fixes
• aTVitter 1.1: The first Twitter client on the AppleTV platform now supports firmware 3.0.1
• Sapphire b7.7 released
• SoftwareMenu 1.0b1 3.0.1 Support, major code rewrites added an autoinstaller .run file
• AtvPwn 2.3 3.0.1 Support
• NitoTV Take 2 0.8.2: 3.0.1 Support, fixed version check bug that was misreporting anything under or over 3.0 leading to various bugs in all versions. Various smart installer bug fixes.
• AppleTV OS 3.0.1 has been RELEASED.
• Sapphire b7.6 added support for AppleTV 3.0
• BackRow_3.0_SDK - almost ready to deploy SDK for developing 3.0 compatible frappliances with XCode 3.x on Snow Leopard (template included)
• AtvPwn 2.2 3.0 Support
• NitoTV Take 2 0.8.1: 3.0 Support, bug fixes, QuickTime improvement (only in OSes < 3.0)
• LaunchMore 0.4 Added support for firmware 3.0
• AppleTV OS 3.0 New AppleTV OS release 3.0
• Impending Apple TV 3.0 Software Update
• AtvPwn 2.1 Bug fixes, error dialog for missing os links online. Crash report finder added to help menu
• DVDpedia FrontRow and AppleTV plug-in 2.0.5 released with AppleTV 2.4 support.
• NitoTV Take 2 0.8.0: Improved weather section, important bug fixes, gesture improvements, audio/subtitle default preferences added, and more.
• Sapphire b7 "CoreData Preview" now available for testing Download Here
• aTVitter 1.0: The first Twitter client on the AppleTV platform.
• EmulatorsPlugIn 2.1: AppleTV 2.4 and SDL-MAME support
• NitoTV Take 2 0.7.9: Improved Gesture Support in MPlayer and DVDPlayback, various bug fixes, sub-font size selection, more
• NitoTV Take 2 0.7.8: Improved preview generation, updated localization file, fixed gesture bugs and network crash.
• NitoTV Take 2 0.7.7 AppleTV OS 2.4 gesture support, improved blacklist, various bug fixes.
• Jaman updated with AppleTV OS 2.4 support.
• ATVFiles 1.2.1 released with AppleTV OS 2.4 support.
• AtvPwn 2.0 AppleTV OS 2.4 Support.
• NitoTV Take 2 0.7.6: AppleTV OS 2.4 Support.
• AppleTV OS 2.4 New AppleTV OS release 2.4

Archived News