Last week XBMC released the beta 3 of their next major update – XBMC 13.0 Gotham that was released back in March with a support for 3D movies, improved UPnP capabilities, “dramatic” Audio Engine improvements and various visual changes that improve usability and logic (check out the full list of changes). Here is a tutorial on how to install XBMC Gotham (beta 3) on Apple TV 2.

Note: XBMC 13.0 will only works on jailbroken Apple TV 2 (latest jailbreakable Apple TV firmware is 5.3). If you have an Apple TV 1 and want XBMC badly, you can find out how to do it here.

Requirements

• Jailbroken ATV 2 running firmware 5.3 or older
• Mac computer (use Terminal app)  or Windows PC (use PuTTY app)

Step 1: Install the latest stable version of XBMC – XBMC Frodo (12.3). If you already have Frodo installed, go directly to Step 2.

• Launch the “Terminal” or “PuTTY” application.
• Ensure that your computer and your Apple TV are on the same network.
• Connect to your Apple TV via SSH using the following commands.

ssh root@[Your Apple TV’s I.P. Address]

Example: ssh root@192.168.2.18
This can be found under General/Network on your ATV’s main menu

Note: Should you receive an “Authentication Error,” copy and paste the following command into the Terminal window and press Enter, then continue.

rm ~/.ssh/known_hosts

• Agree to any security prompts by typing “yes” (without quotations), then press enter.
• When prompted for a password, type the word “alpine” (without quotations) then press Enter.

• Copy and paste the following commands into your Terminal or PuTTY app, pressing the Enter key after each. It’s important that you wait for each one to finish before moving onto the next. Don’t worry… you will know when each line is finished.

apt-get install wget

wget -O- https://apt.awkwardtv.org/awkwardtv.pub | apt-key add -

echo "deb https://apt.awkwardtv.org/ stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/awkwardtv.list

echo "deb https://mirrors.xbmc.org/apt/atv2 ./" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/xbmc.list

apt-get update

mkdir -p /Applications/AppleTV.app/Appliances

apt-get install org.xbmc.xbmc-atv2

mkdir -p /Applications/XBMC.frappliance

reboot

Step 2: Install XBMC 13.0 Gotham beta 3

• Launch the “Terminal” or “PuTTY” application.
• Connect to your Apple TV via SSH using the following commands.

ssh root@[Your Apple TV’s I.P. Address]

• When prompted for a password, type the word “alpine” (without quotations) then press Enter.
• Copy and paste the following commands:

rm -f *xbmc*.deb

wget https://mirrors.xbmc.org/apt/pre-release/atv2/deb/org.xbmc.xbmc-atv2_13.0-0~b3_iphoneos-arm.deb

dpkg -i *xbmc*.deb

rm *xbmc*.deb

Done! You should now have the beta 3 of XBMC 13.0 Gotham installed on your Apple TV.

To ensure the new build fits your screen:

• Launch XBMC from the main menu on Apple TV
• Enter the “Settings” sub menu under the “SYSTEM” heading.
• Select the “Appearance” tab from the left menu bar.
• Change “Settings level” from Standard (default) to Advanced

• Under the “Skin” menu,you’ll now want to choose “-4%” for the “Zoom” field so that your XBMC configuration will properly fit your television display.

Depending on the television, you might have to play around with this, but it should work flawlessly at the “-4%” setting. Press “MENU” on your remote to return back one level once this is done.

Congratulations! Your Apple TV now has XBMC 13.0 Gotham installed on it, and fitting on your screen.

Now, check out Top 10 best XBMC addons for Apple TV 1 and Apple TV 2

More on XBMC:

• How to change skins in XBMC on Apple TV
• How to clone the XBMC installation
• Use XBMC to extend your Apple TV’s hard drive

.. and more.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post How to install XBMC 13.0 Gotham on Apple TV 2 appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

It’s been a long time since the name XBMC echoed through our corridors. Apple TV 2 owners can start their celebrations as XBMC has released the Beta 1 of their next major update, v. 13.0. After Eden and Frodo, they’ve come up with Gotham as their codename, just to make sure it’ll never get unnoticed by movie fans.

Let’s see what XBMC 13.0 Gotham brings new to the table.

• Support for 3D movies: SBS, TAB, anaglyph and interlaced formats are supported but not 3D BluRays
• Improved UPnP capabilities: you can now send videos from your tablet or phone to your TV similar to AirPlay or Chromcast
• Massive improvements with the Audio Engine: simpler, faster, better quality and lesser breakage
• Better user experience with improved settings : categorisation of settings from beginner to expert, comprehensive descriptions with each setting and a ‘Reset to default’ button, in case you mess things up
• Better subtitle searches
• Better developer tools – means better add-ons in future
• Various visual changes throughout the skin which should improve usability and logic
• Numerous minor features and bug fixes

I have mentioned only the features relevant to Apple TV users here and in brief. You can read the complete changelog for Gotham here.

Note that Gotham is still in beta, which means it is not free from bugs yet and the public release is still some time away.

Soon, we will have a tutorial on how to install XBMC 13.0 Gotham on the Apple TV.

XBMC and Apple TV

For those who’ve no idea what I’m talking about, here is a little light on the context. XBMC is the major reason why most Apple TVs are jailbroken. It is basically an open-source software media player which can be used to browse and play videos, songs or pictures from your hard disk, network server or even the internet. It is available for all linux based devices, iOS, Mac, Android and PC and supports third party add-ons and skins/themes which makes it quite popular among its users.

Due to the strict guidelines laid down by Apple, it cannot be made available to users in the App Store or Apple TV without dropping some core features. Which is why they’re currently only available for jailbroken devices. Read more – What is XBMC? and Why is it not officially available on App Store?

XBMC 12.0 and above works only on jailbroken Apple TV 2 (latest jailbreakable Apple TV firmware is 5.3). If you have an Apple TV 1 and want XBMC badly, you can find out how to do it here.

More on XBMC:

• Top 10 best XBMC addons for Apple TV 1 and Apple TV 2
• How to change skins in XBMC on Apple TV
• Use XBMC to extend your Apple TV’s hard drive
• How to navigate XBMC’s menus options
• How to clone the XBMC installation

.. and more.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post XBMC 13.0 Gotham Beta 1 is out and ready to sneak into your Apple TV appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Back in January XBMC released the long awaited Frodo 12.0 for all of your Apple products. Now you can install XBMC on your iPads, iPhones, iPods, and your, glorious, little Apple TV 2. The installation is almost the exact same as installing previous builds of XBMC with 4 subtle differences. Here we have put together a guide that incorporates these changes. So, sit back, relax and grab a cup of coffee.

Note: XBMC is not yet compatible with the 5.1+ Apple TV software. XBMC Developer Memphiz said on XBMC forum that the team is “trying their best” to make XBMC running on Apple TV 5.2. XBMC now available on iOS 6.1 for Apple TV

Upgrading An Existing Installatin Of XBMC EDEN 11.0

So you may be asking the question, “what do I do if I already have XBMC Eden installed on my Apple TV?” If this is the case, we have a few tips for you specifically. After extensive testing throughout the BETA phase, the team at XBMCHUB.COM has discovered that you will find the best results by simply doing a fresh install of XBMC Frodo. Yes, it is possible to back up your settings and reinstall your preferences but this often leads to many of the same issues.

It is not the happy news you may have wanted, but it ends up that XBMC Frodo plays nicest with your Apple TV when you uninstall XBMC, and all of your presets, from your device. Though I am unsure where the problem is located when upgrading directly… The problem is there all the same.

Installing A Fresh Version Of XBMC FRODO 12.0

Requirements

• Jailbroken ATV2 running firmware 5.0.2 or older
• Mac computer (use Terminal App)  or Windows PC (use PuTTY App)

Step 1: Launch the “Terminal” or “PuTTY” application.

Step 2: Ensure that your computer and your Apple TV are on the same network.

Step 3: Connect to your Apple TV via SSH using the following commands.

• ssh root@[Your Apple TV’s I.P. Address]

Example: ssh root@192.168.2.18
This can be found under General/Network on your ATV’s main menu

Note: Should you receive an “Authentication Error,” copy and paste the following command into the Terminal window and press Enter, then continue.

• rm ~/.ssh/known_hosts

Step 4: Agree to any Security Prompts by typing “yes” (without quotations), then press Enter.

Step 5: When prompted for a Password, type the word “alpine” (without quotations) then press Enter.

Step 6: Copy and Paste the Following Commands into your Terminal App, pressing the Enter key after each. It’s important that you wait for each one to finish before moving onto the next. Don’t worry… you will know when each line is finished.

1)      apt-get install wget
2)      wget -O- https://apt.awkwardtv.org/awkwardtv.pub | apt-key add –
3)      echo “deb https://apt.awkwardtv.org/ stable main” > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/awkwardtv.list
4)      echo “deb https://mirrors.xbmc.org/apt/atv2 ./” > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/xbmc.list
5)      apt-get update
6)      mkdir -p /Applications/AppleTV.app/Appliances
7)      apt-get install org.xbmc.xbmc-atv2
8)      mkdir -p /Applications/XBMC.frappliance
9)      reboot

Step 7: Once the Apple TV menu reloads, Launch XBMC into XBMC Frodo.

Step 8: To ensure the new build fits your screen, let’s enter the “Settings” sub menu under the “SYSTEM” heading.

Step 9: Select the “Appearance” tab from the left menu bar.

Step 10: Under the “Skin” menu, you’ll now want to choose “-4%” for the “Zoom” field so that your XBMC configuration will properly fit your television display. Depending on the television, you might have to play around with this, but it should work flawlessly at the “-4%” setting. Press “MENU” on your Remote Control to return back one level once this is done.

Step 11. Also worth noting: in XBMC 12.0 you will need to set up your sound. For this simply navigate to Settings/System/Audio Output go to the second option from the bottom and sleet the audio option that is right for you. Afterwards, go to the very first option and select between HDMI and Analog. If you are unsure… you are on HDMI.

Congratulations! Your Apple TV now has XBMC Frodo installed on it, and fitting on your screen. Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?

The post How to install XBMC Frodo on your Apple TV 2 appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

• HD audio support, including DTS-MA and Dolby True-HD, via the new XBMC AudioEngine (OSX/iOS not yet available)
• Live TV and PVR support
• h.264 10bit (aka Hi10P) video software decoding for anime
• 64bit support in OSX to match the 64bit support in Linux
• Improved image support, allowing the database to accomodate numerous additional image types and more interesting and complex skins
• Support for the Raspberry PI
• Initial support for the Android platform
• Improved AirPlay support across all platforms, including AirPlay audio in XBMC for Windows to match the other platforms
• Improved controller support in Windows and Linux
• Advanced Filtering in the library
• Video library tags to complement movie sets
• Advanced UPnP sharing
• Default video languages now match the language being used by XBMC
• Translations now powered by Transifex

For you Apple TV fans, one of the biggest adjustments is the extended support for H.D. audio. This latest builds helps enable you to make the most of the audio capabilities that the Apple TV has to offer. Aside from these listed improvements, you will see many changes under the hood. Some of these are great to see, others are a bit frustrating. One of the more exciting features, to me, is the inclusion of something known as skin.widgets. This tool makes skinning a much better experience. If you want to get a real idea of what this means for skins in Frodo, look no further than SiO2 by a developer named fastcolors. This skin is designed with you in mind.

Read also:How to change skins in XBMC on Apple TV

In contrast, one of the frustrating items is the fact that we lose the use of last.FM playback in this latest build. They explained this on their blog, at xbmc.org, as something that was unavoidable do to the changes in the coding, but it is missed none the less. It is also worth noting that there are quite a few add-ons/skins that are not currently supported in Frodo. Usually, this is not a problem as developers can easily make changes to get their add-ons/skins working in the latest XBMC build. Sadly, there are quite a few devs, of some well known add-ons/skins, that are no longer actively keeping their items up to date. This means that we may lose some of our favorite add-ons/skins in the upgrade. Time will tell.

All in all. It is worth the update. As a rule, we should always upgrade as it only improves the overall experience. If an add-on, or skin, is missed enough, someone will get it working again!

The post XBMC Frodo (12.0) is officially released appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

We have had XBMC 11.0 Eden for 8 months now and, if you are anything like me, it is time to begin the process of upgrading our XBMC installations to the new & improved XBMC 12.0 Frodo. The process should be fairly straight forward and essentially identical to the process we used for install the previous version of XBMC. Before we get started let’s clear the air on a few points so that we are all on the same page:

• This is a BETA release and as such may result in some unexpected behaviors.
• This is the 1’st BETA XBMC has released, there will be more to come.
• XBMC Frodo can cause a good time and may be habit forming.
• To install Frodo to Apple TV 1 you will need to:

– Visit OpenElec.tv regarding their 2.0 project
– Visit Stnlabs.comregarding their 2.0 project

How to install XBMC 12.0 Frodo (beta 1) APPLE TV 2 (Running iOS 5+)

Requirements

• Jailbroken ATV2 running iOS 5+
• Mac Computer (use Terminal App)
• Windows PC (use PuTTY App)

Step 1: Launch the “Terminal” or “PuTTY” application.

Step 2: Ensure that your computer and your Apple TV are on the same network.

Step 3: Connect to your Apple TV via SSH using the following commands.

• ssh root@[Your Apple TV’s I.P. Address]

Example: ssh root@192.168.2.18
This can be found under General/Network on your ATV’s main menu

Note: Should you receive an “Authentication Error,” copy and paste the following command into the Terminal window and press Enter, then continue.

• rm ~/.ssh/known_hosts

Step 4: Agree to any Security Prompts by typing “yes” (without quotations), then press Enter.

Step 5: When prompted for a Password, type the word “alpine” (without quotations) then press Enter.

Step 6: Copy and Paste the Following Commands into your Terminal App, pressing the Enter key after each. It’s important that you wait for each one to finish before moving onto the next. Don’t worry… you will know when each line is finished.

1)      apt-get install wget

2)      wget -O- https://apt.awkwardtv.org/awkwardtv.pub | apt-key add –

3)      echo “deb https://apt.awkwardtv.org/ stable main” > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/awkwardtv.list

4)      echo “deb https://mirrors.xbmc.org/apt/atv2 ./” > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/xbmc.list

5)      apt-get update

6)      apt-get install org.xbmc.xbmc-atv2

7)      reboot

Step 7: Once the Apple TV menu reloads, Launch XBMC into XBMC Frodo!

Step 8: To ensure the new build fits your screen, let’s enter the “Settings” sub menu under the “SYSTEM” heading.

Step 9: Select the “Appearance” tab from the left menu bar.

Step 10: Under the “Skin” menu, you’ll now want to choose “-4%” for the “Zoom” field so that your XBMC configuration will properly fit your television display. Depending on the television, you might have to play around with this, but it should work flawlessly at the “-4%” setting. Press “MENU” on your Remote Control to return back one level once this is done.

Congratulations! Your second generation Apple TV running iOS 5+ now has XBMC Frodo installed on it, and fitting on your screen. Now that wasn’t so bad… was it?

• More on FRODO from Apple TV Hacks : XBMC 12.0 Frodo (beta 1) released: One media center to rule them all!
• More on FRODO from XBMC.ORG
• Installation on other platforms.

The post How to install XBMC 12.0 Frodo (beta 1) on Apple TV appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

If a jailbroken Apple TV loaded with XBMC 11.0 “Eden” was not enough for you, we have some great news. XBMC has just released their first public BETA of XBMC 12.0 “Frodo”. The team has been hard at work pushing out one of their fastest, and most feature-rich, upgrades in history. As of the release of Eden, XBMC’s current stable build that is likely installed on all of your Apple TV’s, the team promised the beginning of a new monthly building plan that would hopefully expedite the process of fixing bugs and updated releases. As of this week, it would appear that this plan has, in fact, worked.

For those of you who have been following XBMC you will notice that the naming paradigm has shifted with this release. Up to now, XBMC has named all of their releases according fantastical points on the map, either real or imagined, such as Camelot, Babylon, and Eden. With the release of 12.0, now in the “F” category, the team did something special in naming it FRODO. Where I initially thought the name was chosen to pay homage to one of my favorite literary characters from a ‘certain collection’ of stories, I was surprised to learn that it was actually intended to honor a team member. I will let them explain:

Ten years ago, an individual with the username Frodo joined the Xbox Media Player team, bringing along his open source software project called YAMP. With the addition of Frodo’s project the three founders, Frodo, d7o3g4q, and RUNTiME, released the first non-beta version of the Xbox Media Player – XBMP 2.0 – as open source software. Frodo then spearheaded the move from XBMP to the more feature rich XBMC, including acting as the primary author for the initial UI engine.

XBMC FRODO FEATURES (that ATV owners will enjoy):

• HD audio support, including DTS-MA and Dolby True-HD, via the new XBMC Audio Engine
• Live TV and PVR support [this is awesome news!]
• h.264 10bit (aka Hi10P) video software decoding for anime
• 64bit support in OSX to match the 64bit support in Linux
• Improved image support, allowing the database to accommodate numerous image types
• Improved Airplay support across all platforms
• Advanced Filtering in the library
• Advanced UPnP sharing numerous JSON-RPC updates, including PVR support, optimizations, better conflict handling, and better webserver support by Montellese
• PVR timeshift support (if the backend supports timeshift)
• the CD ripper now works in the background thanks to Spiff
• panoramic photo panning support

PLEASE NOTE

In hopes to give you the best information possible, we felt it would be worth pointing out that, though this is exciting, this is a BETA release! This version has yet to be labeled STABLE for a reason. For many people these builds work out just fine, as XBMC is a fantastic team, but this can vary from machine to machine. So in the heart of full-disclosure, here are a few words of warning from XBMC Developers themselves:

Needless to say, this is beta software. You should absolutely expect problems to occasionally crop up. At present, we are anticipating a number of issues as we switch XBMC over from the Eden addon repository to a new Frodo repository, including partly broken skins and various scripting/scrapers errors. Please bear with us if these problems do crop up. Additionally, PVR users will not be able to switch channels via the channel up/down buttons using their remotes or CEC due to a slight change in the way PVR keymaps are being handled. We are aware of this issue and should have it fixed by Beta2.

For those of you who may be chomping at the bit to get a glimpse of the newest build, in action, on your Apple TV(1 or 2) simply check back with us shortly. We will be posting a complete guide on how to install Frodo on your Apple TV!

More news on FRODO from XBMC.ORG.

The post XBMC 12.0 Frodo (beta 1) released: One media center to rule them all! appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.