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Hardware Hacking Apple Build

Apple TV Already Being Hacked 260

Posted by kdawson from the let-me-at-it dept.
TunesBoy writes "Only a couple of days after being shipped, the Apple TV is already being modified in a variety of ways. A thread at Something Awful discusses installing VLC, and a dedicated site, AppleTVHacks.net, has appeared and is cataloging hacks including a hard-drive upgrade tutorial. Did Apple intend for the Apple TV to be so easy to upgrade and hack?"
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Apple TV Already Being Hacked More

Apple TV Already Being Hacked

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  • Probably on purpose (Score:5, Funny)

    by LegionX ( 691099 ) * on Saturday March 24, 2007 @02:48PM (#18472279) Homepage
    That way they'll save a lot on support (you hacked it, then we don't support you). And later it'll be a lot easier to "open it up" to comply with EU ruling ;)

    • USB2 tv tuner / DVR please! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by green pizza ( 159161 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @03:44PM (#18472727) Homepage
      I want to see somebody make a USB2 TV tuner dongle for the Apple TV, or, failing that, an entire mini-DVR that provides its video to the Apple TV over a USB2 mass storage interface.

      Apple TV is neat and all, but I still want to record most of my shows myself.

      To illustrate my point: when the studios started selling TV series episodes on DVD, I didn't throw out my VCR and Tivo! I do continue to buy new movies and TV series on DVD, but I also still do a lot of recording of my own. One of my TVs has a built-in VCR that still gets a lot of use, as does my Tivo, especially for timeshifting 1 - 48 hours until I have time to watch my favorite shows... many of which I enjoy, but wouldn't want to buy on a commerical full season DVD.

      Does that make any sense? Or am I the only one who still records?

      • It makes perfect sense. I have one of these [amazon.com] DVD recorders, and I use it to do essentially the same thing. One DVD-RAM holds up to 8 hours of TV, so it works great for catching up on TV that runs late at night or when I'm too busy to watch it. Of course, I'd prefer a MythTV box with a nice big RAID array, but this was a lot cheaper. (It even came with a DVD-RAM disc!) It basically works like a "poor man's TiVo" when you use a DVD-RAM disc--you can watch a show off the disc while recording another (although seeking doesn't work as smoothly when it's doing two things at once), and you can start recording at any time and just press "Play" to jump back to where you started recording. (You can also tune the TV to another channel, like you can with a VCR.) It can schedule recordings, and is very diligent about cueing up the recording one minute before it starts, to make sure it's ready to record. The UI can be a bit sluggish, and it crashes extremely occasionally (about once a month, if even -- usually when it's juggling seven tasks at once), but it's a great deal, and much cheaper than a TiVo.

      • Re:USB2 tv tuner / DVR please! (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Ilgaz ( 86384 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @04:31PM (#18473115) Homepage
        Buy Mac Mini, enjoy a real computer which connects to your HDTV. I would also recommend El Gato USB stuff coming with EyeTV. I plan to get a firewire blu-ray player for it when Lacie like companies figure there are people who needs "player", not "recorder".

        Apple TV or Apple is not to blame, they are not selling a computer or suggest it is a computer, it is a high tech "deck" which happens to run OS X inside to do its job.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by shmlco ( 594907 )
          1) My Comcast box already has a DVR. Do I need another?

          2) One could buy a mini, for about $400-500 more. If all one really wants is a "Front Row" to their tunes and shows, might a mini be a little overkill?

          3) A mini counts as one of your allotted five systems. An ATV doesn't.

          4) Now, IF one didn't have a DVR, then you might consider a mini plus a EyeTV dongle (another $150). But what about the rest of the house? Seems like $300 a pop per "station" is a lot more reasonable than $700-900 each.

          I think too many
          • It would make more sense to me for the ATV to support standard def output (S-Video) as my HDTV already has a nice Myth box. Now I want to share my Myth content on other TV's in the house. At least one company [svideo.com] also thinks it's a good idea.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Yvan256 ( 722131 )

        Apple TV is neat and all, but I still want to record most of my shows myself.

        I think you're missing the point. What Apple are trying to do is to switch you from your current content provider to the iTunes Store.

        The Apple TV may not look too interesting in the USA with the many content providers and TIVOs and all, but here in Canada, it will be a very interesting choice. Here's why.

        Just as a lot of people stopped buying CDs and now buy single tracks from the iTunes Store, some people will drop their cable/sa

    • I see that like the ipod they also have implemented a "roadblock" style DRM rather than a lock-down style when it comes to sharring content with the computer your buddy brings over. That is, you and move content between computers if yo know how, one a t a time but not wholesale. Good for them. Fair use and all that.

      The other interesting thing on the site was that despite statements to the contrary it works with ordinary non_HD TVs, so long as they have component video inputs.

      The other thing I learned was

      • Choppy iTunes Video (Score:2, Informative)

        by wperry1 ( 982543 )
        I had the same problem with Video on iTunes. After a little searching about I found someone that recommended playing them in QuickTime. It was a hundred times better. The same video on the same system played flawlessly. You might give it a shot.

        Will

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Tragek ( 772040 )
          Yeah, I don't know what's different about the iTunes video core, or why they're not using straight quicktime, but the itunes HUD sucks, and playback seems to take twice the CPU of either NicePlayer (Which I highly recommend) or straight QuickTime. It's odd.
      • Ask and ye shall receive [wikipedia.org].

        Lemme get this straight.

        They can create a $299 box with TV-out that has a discrete graphics controller built in, but they can't put one into one SINGLE model of Mac Mini? Wow.

        This is both sixteen kinds of lame and sixteen kinds of awesome.

        Lame because it shows Apple's massive, needless markup.

        Awesome because, hey - $299 Mac with TV-out AND discrete graphics!

        Of course, there is the teensy matter of the 256MB of non-upgradeable RAM, but what do you expect for $299? :) How much does
        • How much does everybody wanna bet that Apple scraped and scraped away at OS X to make sure it could run in as little RAM as possible?

          I'm absolutely sure they did. They would have been stupid not to.

          Why? Because they wanted to make sure that if anyone found a way to run "real" OS X on it, it would be close to useless because of the small amount of RAM. Sigh.

          An interesting conspiracy theory, but here's one that's slightly easier to believe: they minimized the amount of RAM ... because RAM costs money. Given

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by default luser ( 529332 )
          They can create a $299 box with TV-out that has a discrete graphics controller built in, but they can't put one into one SINGLE model of Mac Mini? Wow.

          Not so hard to believe.

          The Dothan ULV is a chip Intel sells solely for "embedded" applications these days (similar in performance and power enveloper to AMD's Geode NX). Core Duo processors in the Mac Mini cost quite a bit more.

          The Apple TV also includes a 40GB 2.5" 4200 RPM hard drive, which costs a lot less than the baseline Mini's 60GB 5400 RPM drive. Pa

  • Awesome! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DurendalMac ( 736637 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @02:48PM (#18472281)
    When I saw the AppleTV announced, my reaction was lukewarm, mostly due to limited format support. Apple can get away with it on iPods, because you don't generally put every piece of video you have on your iPod. Conversion isn't as much of a hassle as a result. With the AppleTV, you might as well stream every piece of video to your TV, and format support kills that. I'd rather get Core Duo Mac Mini that has more available options (like 1080p playback), add some adapters, and hook that up instead. Now that the AppleTV can support more formats, I must admit that it's looking like a more attractive option, although I'd still probably cough up the extra for a Mini.

    • Re:Awesome! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by CastrTroy ( 595695 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @03:00PM (#18472381)
      I was very disappointed also. I thought it would be something more TV oriented rather than just something you could watch ITMS videos on. I think that apple could make a much better set-top box, with TV Tuner, big hard drive (at least 300 GB) and a remote, and an application like MythTV or SageTV. Really I don't see much of a use for the Apple TV. If they made it a more generic media centre box, they could probably kill off the windows media center market before it even gets noticed by most people.

      • Re:Awesome! (Score:4, Funny)

        by ScrewMaster ( 602015 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @03:09PM (#18472469)
        If they made it a more generic media centre box, they could probably kill off the windows media center market before it even gets noticed by most people.

        I have the feeling that Apple (probably correctly) figures that Microsoft will do that all by itself without Apple having to lift a finger.
        • I love laughing at people who use Media PCs in Australia.

          There is no program guide data available for them which renders it mostly useless.
          MythTV naturally gets EPG data easily for Australia.

          • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

            by name*censored* ( 884880 )
            *I* laugh at people who use MythTV in Australia, since there is absolutely nothing on TV that is worth watching - there is next to no good local content, and anything from overseas is shown up to 18 months late, so you can download it or buy the DVDs before it even airs here. Spending time and money setting up a box that is basically only good for viewing aired (not prerecorded) content only makes sense if there's something aired that's worth viewing.
            PS. By "Media PC", I assumed you meant a PC with lots
            • So why would you limit your myth box to only dealing with "aired" content? They are also great for storing your entire DVD collection, music, photos, and of course, DOWNLOADED CONTENT.
      • When I first heard about the iTv I thought it was going to be a killer dvr that would be a real contender to Tivo and remove the need for programs like MythTV. That's not what it is at all and I'm left wondering what the hell the point of this thing really is. How many people want to be locked into buying videos from Apple? I want access to the video collection I already have. I want to be able to rip my dvd collection to divx and then have access to those files via a nice clean interface. I want a really g

        • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

          by Kristoph ( 242780 )
          How many people want to be locked into buying videos from Apple?

          Totally! I mean, does anyone seriously think any intelligent person would buy media from a company that only played on that companies device?!? I think Apple tried that with that iPod thing and look how that turned out ;-)

          ]{

          • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

            by Anonymous Coward
            iTMS (iTunes Music Store) wasn't created until the iPod was already popular. Of the 4,000 songs currently on my iPod, around 10 were bought at iTMS (the rest were ripped from CD). Rippings DVDs is not as easy or popular as ripping CDs, which means downloading from iTMS becomes much more important to the Apple TV's success.
            • ATV was created to take advantage of the pre-existing iTMS sales, and expand it. It's meant to complement the video ipod. In fact, it IS a video ipod that you don't have to dock, and a little more.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by rm69990 ( 885744 )
          Why not just rip your DVD's to an AppleTV compatible format instead of DivX. AppleTV is not just limited to iTMS purchases. Any store that wants to sell their media in a compatible format will work just fine.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by dr.badass ( 25287 )
        I think that apple could make a much better set-top box, with TV Tuner, big hard drive (at least 300 GB) and a remote, and an application like MythTV or SageTV.

        In other words: by making it entirely different. This is the same argument that comes up every time Apple releases anything. Why a TV tuner? If I'm downloading content, I don't need one. If I'm not, why do I need a device to help me play downloaded content? Why not just get a TiVo?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by nathanh ( 1214 )

        I think that apple could make a much better set-top box, with TV Tuner, big hard drive (at least 300 GB) and a remote, and an application like MythTV or SageTV.

        If they released all that in the first version, then who would buy the second version?

        Apple always releases a crippled version first. After all the early adopters have bought one, Apple releases a slightly enhanced version. This nets the customers who were hanging out for those extra features. And most of the early adopters buy the enhanced

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by jonwil ( 467024 )
      I suspect the limited format support has to do with:
      1.not wanting to pay royalties for formats and codecs they don't need
      2.not wanting to take up space on the unit for formats and codecs they don't need
      and 3.possibly not wanting to support certain formats seen more on pirated or illegally copied content than on legitimate content.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • yes offcourse they did intent that (Score:5, Interesting)

    by nietsch ( 112711 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @02:52PM (#18472313) Homepage Journal
    It's not very hard to forsee hacking of a small silent computer in a settopbox housing. There are countless sites that try to DIY such a thing. Now what happens if a popular brand introduces such a thing at an affordable price?
    They will not sell that much more hardware directly, but the PR image they create with it is worth a lot, and all they had to do is produce something decent.
    Linksys is a very good past example of this: their wrtg routers were nice to modify and already ran linux. I bought one for myself to play with and later advised my brother to get that brand. Marketing is easy if your customers start doing the selling themselves.

  • Intentionally, or just not-unintentionaly? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by White Shade ( 57215 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @02:55PM (#18472337)
    I don't think it really matters whether apple "intended" it to be easy to hack, I think it's more of the fact that every single piece of "cool" hardware with the potential for added functionality has been hacked or broken within an extremely short amount of time. Maybe rather than intending it to be easy to hack, Apple instead decided to not spend as much money on implementing all kinds of crazy protection schemes, thus allowing a higher profit margin. Which, in my mind, makes a hell of a lot of sense! :

    It does seem like the norm these days is for companies to build equipment with huge amounts of power, but then they lock it down in an effort to.. protect. .. something... PSP for example; I don't know exactly what the point of locking it down was, but obviously it didn't help much. Kinda like anti-features, or un-products; you have all this potential and you lock it down. Lucky for us, apple isn't quite so far up their own butts as Sony and whatnot are, so we have a sweet new product that we can do sweet stuff on without having to go through hoops to crack it! :)

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by blakmac ( 987934 )
      Given the origins of Apple, I'd hardly think they would be completely *against* hacking anything...
    • Apple definitely did not do anything to keep anyone from changing anything about the AppleTV. I'm not even entirely positive I would call that hacking - they added some components to the version of OS X running on the AppleTV. This is nothing at all like the PSP.

  • Go with the flow (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Joebert ( 946227 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @02:55PM (#18472339) Homepage

    Did Apple intend for the Apple TV to be so easy to upgrade and hack?

    I don't think it was intent to "be easy to upgrade & hack" as it was realizing how much time & resources get wasted by other companies trying to achieve somthing that's not possible.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Choosing 'username:frontrow, password:frontrow' for the device shows they sure didn't intent to make it very hard.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Joebert ( 946227 )

        Choosing 'username:frontrow, password:frontrow' for the device shows they sure didn't intent to make it very hard.

        It's harder than "username:admin, password:admin".
        • Not really, not when the passwd file has 'frontrow' as a user... First thing to do is try the same password as the username...

          Simon

  • Why not ? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Space cowboy ( 13680 ) * on Saturday March 24, 2007 @02:55PM (#18472341) Journal
    MS had to be careful with their XBox, because they were adopting the Sony approach: sell the hardware at a loss, and make money on the software (games) afterwards.

    Historically, Apple don't sell at a loss. I'm pretty sure that (even at the low price of $300 for a 1GHz/256/40G PC in that form factor) Apple will be making money off this - they don't care if you hack it.

    In fact, the more hackable it is, the better - jo(e) public buys it so (s)he can watch their iTMS movies on the big screen, the geeks buy it to hack it. Box numbers go up either way, which helps Apple PR, and helps them persuade people they have *the* viable platform for the home.

    I wonder how long it'll be before the USB-2 port is made available (it is running OSX, after all), at which point you get an external 1T drive on it as well, in one of the mac-mini style enclosures...

    Simon.

  • Will it stay open? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by solevita ( 967690 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @03:01PM (#18472397)
    I think that's the important question. If all rev2 models will only run Apple signed binaries, then we'll know Apple's intentions.

    It's tempting to buy one now in case they decide to toughen it all up in the future. And that's my tip for any device you may want to hack sometime in the future.

    • Re:Will it stay open? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ScrewMaster ( 602015 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @03:18PM (#18472533)
      Kinda like Linksys did with their WRT54-series WAPs. Fortunately, they had to good sense to realize they were costing themselves money, and put out a hacker-friendly version. I understand that the PSP/X-Box business model of selling the hardware at a loss with the intent to recoup losses in software sales really motivates manufacturers to keep their products from being purchased for other purposes. I mean, if you buy an X-Box and put Linux on it and never buy a game, you just got yourself a cheap computer at Microsoft's expense (not that I have any particular problem with that ... it's your property, and they chose to sell it to you at a loss.) But there's no real reason for a vendor whose profit comes from hardware sales to attempt to predetermine what software runs on that hardware. Well, not in the $50 consumer-grade market anyway.

      Unless, of course, you're an Apple Computer with the obvious intent of becoming the 21st century king of content distribution. You probably wouldn't want people hacking into your real-time swarming video distribution system getting movies and TV shows for free. This apparent friendliness to the hacker underground may just be a ploy to get as many of the things out there as possible, by eliminating complaints that were common to late-generation Tivos and Dish Network products. They can always lock it up later.

      Time will tell.
      • You probably wouldn't want people hacking into your real-time swarming video distribution system getting movies and TV shows for free.

        If they were going to do that, wouldn't it be easier to do that with the computer that's actually running the software (iTunes) that's doing the distribution? AppleTV isn't even potentially part of any "real-time swarming video distribution system".
    • If all rev2 models will only run Apple signed binaries, then we'll know Apple's intentions.

      What's in it for them? They're not selling games that they get a kickback from, they're not selling it under cost and making it up on content, or on services... the AppleTV hardware isn't worth $300 by any stretch of the imagination. There's no loss to them if you buy it and "hack" it.

      Not that I'd classify installing a binary on a hard drive a "hack".

  • Double whammy in Apple's favor (Score:5, Insightful)

    by localroger ( 258128 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @03:07PM (#18472449) Homepage
    One thing people might be missing is that one of the reasons the Apple TV is so cheap is that they aren't paying any of the licensing fees that manufacturers have to in order to support other formats. Much of the cost of your DVD player, for example, goes not into the hardware but to the folks who license the formats it supports -- JPG, MP3, CD audio, and of course DVD (and some of those license also include stupid requirements like Macrovision on the output, which is ANOTHER license).

    Here, Apple is only supporting formats THEY own, so they can spend the money on the hardware. Hacking it only drives up their market share, and to the complaint that people are watching all these unlicensed formats on it Apple can say "Hey, we didn't do it." But you still bought a box from them.

    • Probably just semantics, but Apple does not "own" the the majority of the specs you may be thinking of. http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html [apple.com]

      AAC is Dolby

      MP3 is Fraunhofer (arguable debate ongoing at the moment)

      H.264 and MPEG are standards formed by multiple companies

      More relevant point is I'm sure Apple has licenses for all of the above for decoding purposes, and incurs no additional cost above what they already incur for such devices like the iPod.

    • Huh?? Apple doesn't own those formats! (Score:5, Informative)

      by green pizza ( 159161 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @03:39PM (#18472685) Homepage
      Here, Apple is only supporting formats THEY own, so they can spend the money on the hardware. Hacking it only drives up their market share, and to the complaint that people are watching all these unlicensed formats on it Apple can say "Hey, we didn't do it." But you still bought a box from them.

      According to the specs [apple.com], the Apple TV supports AAC, MP3, AIFF, Apple Lossless, WAV, MPEG-4, H.264, JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG.

      The only format Apple owns is Apple Lossless audio. The others are industry standards. AAC, Advanced Audio Coding, is part of the MPEG-4 specfication although I belive it doesn't need to be licensed (unlike MP3 which requires a per-machine license). MPEG-4 (aka MPEG-4 part 2) and H.264 (aka AVC: Advanced Video Coding aka MPEG-4 part 10) also require licenses [wikipedia.org].

      I'm not sure if JPEG requires a license, probably depends on the lawsuit of the day.
  • I'm not an idiot, Apple.

    For a meager $399, I could get an Xbox360 with all these features AND dvd playback. It even does Hi-def downloads, Live Arcade games, and awesome AAA titles (GTA IV, Devil May Cry 4, (possibly) MGS and FF). That's got a remote, Windows Media connectivity, etc- and is expandable to play HD-DVD, potentially Blu-Ray in the future if it "wins".

    It'll even play music off your iPod. Unless you buy ALL your tv off of iTunes, why would you get this? I'd just get a 360 for this money. Both are
    • Clearly, either of these devices can be modded- but I'm talking from a consumer standpoint.

      Then again the general consumer standpoint is to buy what ever offers the features they want in an easy to use package. While the 360 is probably a good option, people don't perceive its primary task as being a media platform, and this is what makes the difference.

      BTW I am adverse to WMV. MP4 is my preferred format since it has easily accessible specification documents.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by nuzak ( 959558 )
      I'm not an idiot, Apple.

      You're not in AppleTV's target demographic then.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by limecat4eva ( 1055464 )
      And for all those bulletpoint features, the one thing still desperately lacking is the one Apple has down pat: Good taste.

    • Re:Why don't I just buy a 360? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by -noefordeg- ( 697342 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @03:53PM (#18472793)
      360 is UGLY!
      It makes more noise than a medium sized air craft at take off. -Seriously!

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by tuxedokamen ( 464248 )
      Because the 360 is a great gaming machine that happens to play multimedia, and some people simply have no need of that. I personally don't (cannot, for epilepsy reasons) play games, nor does anyone else in my house, so buying a device with a primary functionality I'd never use would not make sense. I've gotta think the no-gaming-multimedia-streaming demographic is pretty big. Also, people who already own a game console they're very happy with but that doesn't do multimedia streaming stuff should just be

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shmlco ( 594907 )
      I already have a very nice upconverting DVD player with HDMI and digital-optical 7.1 audio out. Why do I need another one? (And a relatively crappy one at that.)
    • Some things to consider: Wireless network adapter for the 360 is an additional $100. Xbox hard drive only has 20GB. Xbox HD movie downloads are rental only. The rental expires 24 hours after you start watching them, like Amazon Unbox.

      You can get the Xbox to connect to iTunes, but as far as I know it requires manually editing some XML.

      The Xbox 360 is very noisy, so it can be distracting, especially while watching TV.

      The Apple TV is far from perfect, but the Xbox isn't so great either. I'm saying this as a 36

    • Smaller, quieter. outputs, more dedicated to use (Score:5, Insightful)

      by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @05:35PM (#18473515)
      So for only $100 more than the Apple TV, you get a device that is:

      1) Much larger
      2) Much noisier
      3) Lacks HDMI output
      4) has media support as an addition, not as the primary foucs of the device.

      The two are almost totally seperate devices. I'll grant that if you are getting a 360 already then you have many features which are duplicated by the Apple TV. But the AppleTV is aiming at a much broader market than a game console (and this includes the PS3) can really reach I think.

      Furthermore by focus, I really mean focus - as in the AppleTV is dedicated to ease in delivering internet video to your TV. Not even just any video like DVD or newer HD disc formats, but just IP video. That kind of focus usually results in a simpler system that is more appealing to people in that is does what it is meant to do very well.
      • Now imagine apple porting itunes using XNA to the xbox 360.

        Very possible, easily done.

        MS would cry foul, but if that fails, apple could just make an xbox 360 game (cheap basic one, any crap) and include
        itunes360 on the disc for free.

        As a 3rd party developer they could do this, im not sure what MS can do, or if EU can tell MS, to allow it or die.

        Failing that, port itunes/appletv app to Ps3 linux, theres your free appletv box.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Lars T. ( 470328 )
      You forgot to mention that the Xbox also has a fan that's making a lot of noise - and I'm not talking about you.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ksheff ( 2406 )
      How do you copy videos to the 360's hard drive?

  • second project (Score:3, Informative)

    by macTijn ( 717215 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @03:22PM (#18472561)
    over at awkwardtv.org [awkwardtv.org] we're basically doing the same thing. wiki at http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/ [awkwardtv.org]

  • Obligatory linux comment (Score:3, Insightful)

    by confused one ( 671304 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @05:15PM (#18473391)
    But does it run Linux!?

    Ok, more to the point: I look at this and see more than a DVR. I see a $299 (very) small form factor computer with a Pentium M (per Anandtech), 100base-T ethernet and wi-fi. $299 is dirt cheap and there's a lot you can do with a lowly Pentium M... It doesn't have to run Linux as long as it's installed OS can be modified.

    • Re:Obligatory linux comment (Score:4, Insightful)

      by snuf23 ( 182335 ) on Saturday March 24, 2007 @06:52PM (#18474075)
      "I look at this and see more than a DVR."

      I look at it and see no tuner or program guide or recording capability. I'm not sure how that equals more than a DVR. It's not even comparable to a DVR.
      • And, you're right. It's not a DVR... It's a HD video ipod / remote interface to your entertainment center. There's really not much there that I couldn't do with my desktop, provided I upgraded the video card AND put it in the same room as my TV. However, I won't be too surprised if someone, fairly soon, figures out how to interface one of the usb interfaced tv tuners or video input devices to it. Something like the Hauppauge HVR-950. Then, it can become a full DVR.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jbr439 ( 214107 )
        So what you see is a MythTV front-end.

  • Galaxy IPTV (Score:2, Informative)

    by aktiveradio ( 851043 )
    I don't get why anyone is buy these things the Galaxy IPTV looks about the same, is the same size, but has support for XVID and DIVX. They cost about half as much as the AppleTV does on ebay.
  • or are people just taking it at face value? Gizmodo has already speculated that the changes of it being real are pretty slim. surely there is someone on Slashdot with an Apple TV box willing to try it out and report?
  • Go and do yourself a favour and buy a Squeeze Box.

    Its Wifi, DivX, mp3, ogg support and all the goodies you need, with a remote - it totally rocks.

    http://www.slimdevices.com/ [slimdevices.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by nighty5 ( 615965 )
      Sorry gang i just realised it doesn't play video's, my bad.

      Still an awesome music player.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Unless cracking the box open requires some particular cleverness.

    Installing a program on a hard drive on a computer that's got absolutely no protections against installing programs on it hardly qualifies as a "hack".

    Looking at the forums pointed to from this story, it's amazing how naive a lot of these wannabe "hackers" are. You've got folks asking, apparently seriously, whether you can run Power PC binaries on the AppleTV. I mean, really...

    There are MUCH more interesting tricks the AppleTV and its baby copy of OS X might make possible.

  • Graphics/Displays:
     
    GeForce Go 7300:
     
    Chipset Model: GeForce Go 7300
    Type: Display
    Bus: PCIe
    VRAM (Total): 64 MB
    SO WHY DON'T THEY HAVE ONE OF THOSE PUPPIES IN THE MAC MINI?

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