aTVFlash3.3.2 on ATV2.2 observations

Oct 13, 2008
Tried to find any thread on this topic BEFORE upgrading and found none. Made bad assumption that all is rosy and went ahead with the update to 3.3.2 first on a 2.1 AppleTV. Then when the 2.2 update showed up on software updates, I updated to 2.2. That made the ATV go into infinite loop rebooting itself.

Did a factory restore and update to 2.2. Fresh patch to aTVFlash 3.3.2. Installed all the software in DVD>Settings>Install Software. Then FTP (transmit) over the OS X image and restore image and did the smart install. Reboot, then ssh to it and applied the two sudo blah blah blah commands to finish setting up AFP.

Then copied over (using AFP) couchsurfer installer folder and ssh to do the install according to post to enable USB KB and mouse.

All this worked on ATV2.1 with aTVFlash3.2.2 on all 6 of my ATVs. On the first ATV I tried the same thing to with ATV2.2 and aTVFlash 3.3.2, I like to report that:

  1. NTFS finally worked. I tested a USB drive formatted with NTFS with an .avi movie on it and it showed up under DVD>Files. Was not working with ATV2.1 and aTVFlash 3.2.2.

  2. DVD>Files would play movies but very fragile. Trying to stop a movie playing will crash the ATV requiring a reboot.

  3. USB KB and Mouse hack no longer works.

  4. AFP seems to work just fine in both directions. Couldn’t get SMB to work. Got server not found error even though server visible via OS X Finder. Cannot find a way to Edit or Delete an SMB share point in DVD>Network once created.

  5. ATV part (from Apple inc) works fine. DVD (VIDEO_TS) ripped from MacTheRiper on an attached USB drive plays fine. Playing DVD (MPEG2) movies via network is borderline (waiting for gigabit ATV).

Conclusion: If you are happy with 3.2.2 on 2.1ATV, wait to upgrade to ATV2.2 until applecorellc fixes some of these newly introduced bugs. The biggest pain is text entry to ATV. I cannot believe in 2008, we are using a minimalist Apple remote to do text entry. I would not use couchsurfer or anything that requires text entry until I can install something like Logitech diNovo Mini BT KB/mouse.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/keyboards/keyboard/devices/3848&cl=US,EN

I hope others will report their experiences on this forum as well.

Charles

Exclellent + needed writeup.

May I add that MediaCloud is very shaky at this point - I can see and click on a movie title; but then there is an immediate crash back to the silver Apple logo.

May I also add my disappointment with this latest release of ATV Flash. I think the most disappointing this is that no one from ATV Flash informed us of what was included and what was missing, it seems they just left it for everyone to find out themselves.

After discovering that neither ATV files nor Sapphire are included in this release I plugged in my USB drive and for the life of me could not work out how to view the files on the drive. I did the most minimal install as my main use is for a 4TB drive connected to the ATV with all my movies and TV shows which were catalogued nicely using Sapphire, that is now all redundant and a complete waste of time until patch 3.3.5 most probably or later is available and who knows when, as there is no indication as to when these major issues will be fixed.

Come on guys pull your finger out and at least inform people what’s going on instead of leaving us to find out the hard way, thats the least you can do.

My suggestion: include a readme file with each new version update informing everyone what works and included in the patch and what is not, that way at least we have the choice to install the latest patch or wait for a patch which has everything working.

regards

One Frustrated user

I have to add that I AM EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED… ATV 2.2 and ATVFlash 3.3.2 are no good at all.

Before the update all was working well. I saw in the forums to wait as ATV 2.2 was causing problems. Then, great news! (how misleading is this?)

Apple TV 2.2 Update - Released 10/2/08
by aTVFlash on Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:31 pm

UPDATE: aTV Flash version 3.3.2 has been released. This version includes support for the latest 2.2 update released on October 2nd and the additions of XBMC and Boxee packages. Also included are updated versions of nitoTV (0.57) and Couch Surfer (0.4.22). Other minor improvements and bug fixes are also included.


The 2.2 version of Apple TV has been released, and as usual is causing a few conflicts with the aTV Flash package.

The Apple TV 2.2 update changed the way Quicktime playback is handled. Any aTV Flash plugins that utilize Quicktime currently will not work with the 2.2 software.

Furthermore, the ATV Files plugin will cause a continuous reboot.

The workaround for now is to deselect the ATV Files plugin during the flash drive creation.

This will allow the aTV Flash to be installed, and for you to use everything except:

Sapphire
ATV Files
Quicktime playback in nitoTV

We’re working on a fix, and we recommend holding off on updating until the new version is released.
aTV Flash dev team
aTVFlash.com
// aTV Flash version 3.3.2 now available

No, it is crap and does not work, if only I could roll back I would, but you can’t! Even if I do a restore it does not work as it goes directly from 1.0 - 2.2. You can’t choose where to update to . Sure this is an Apple problem, not ATV, but this is not compatible.

My ATV constantly drops off the network now - my network config has not changed. It will disappear from iTunes, then reappear, etc etc etc

Playback is choppy, even when switching to QuickTime in the settings. These all played fine before. It will even switch between 720p and 1080i when it feels like it. Never did this before.

I’m sure 2.2 has a lot to do with the bugs, but why release and update to ATVFlash that does not fully work. I checked the forums, saw 2.2 was problem, I waited, 3.3.2 it was released, I updated, now I’m screwed.

I can’t use it. Can’t roll back, very disappointed.

Please fix this and please tell us the full deal before we update next time :evil:

I know this is not for everyone, but check out the PDF in this thread. It shows you how you can edit your restore partition to inclue 2.1 so when you restore, you get 2.1 and when you install aTV Flash 3.3.1, it can disable auto update. This is not suggested for all, but it can be done.

Awesome - going to try it.

Thanks. - still looking forward to an update…

Cheers

Conclusion: If you are happy with 3.2.2 on 2.1ATV, wait to upgrade to ATV2.2 until applecorellc fixes some of these newly introduced bugs. The biggest pain is text entry to ATV. I cannot believe in 2008, we are using a minimalist Apple remote to do text entry. I would not use couchsurfer or anything that requires text entry until I can install something like Logitech diNovo Mini BT KB/mouse.

This may or may not be relevant to you, but… It has been reported recently that the iPhone/iTouch “Remote” app pops up with a touch keyboard when one appears on the ATV screen.