CUSTOM INSTALLATION

Hi - I am a new AppleTV owner and understand most of how it works. I would however like to extend the feature set and so bought aTVflash. I installed the entire package successfully and quickly realized that I really do not need all the features and did notice a bit of a response slow down. I would like to install only the extras that would give me what I want and wanted to ask the forum for advice.

I want to be able to use iTunes as normal but also be able to play all of my ripped DVDs without needing to convert them for iTunes. Also, I want to be able to store all of the content on an external USB drive (possibly making the external the primary storage) - and be able to get the files to it.

I do not think I need any of the other features but, to be honest, I don’t quite understand all of them and could not find an easy guide here explaining each installation option. I know there is much info out there and just trying to understand it all was getting frustrating. I would like to get going with using the Apple TV and would like to start simple with my initial config and then possible expand as I understand more about the other features.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

I got my Apple TV about a month ago and installed ATVFlash not quite three weeks ago. At first I felt as you do: “What do I need all this stuff for?” But after playing with it all for a couple of weeks I’m slowly discovering how “Way Cool” it all is.

Give it a chance. It’s all there anyway, you might as well experiment with it. You can always delete stuff later. The videos and the forum are quite helpful for what I must admit is a pretty steep learning curve.

As for the ripped DVDs. You might want to rethink that unless you absolutely have to have those menus, commentaries and bonus features. I’ve found that using Handbrake with the built in Apple TV setting gives me a file that is comparable in quality to a DVD (on an HD set), preserves the 5.1 sound and is a small fraction of the originals size.

Thanks Longkeg. I am glad to see that I am not the only one feeling a bit lost with this great technology.

Good advice and I may just follow it but one question - how easy is it to make changes later such as removing or adding features. I didn’t see a guide on doing that.

I’m just guessing but I think it’s all handled in the Maintenance menu. That is where plugins seem to get enabled or disabled. As for apps like Firefox or Flash… well, I think they’re downloaded from the web and installed only if you choose to install them from within ATVFlash. If they got installed by accident then just don’t open them and they won’t be using any system resources.

At any rate just wait until the next AppleTV update, like ATV 3.0.2 we had last week. As you may have already found out there are times when you will need to do a complete reinstall of ATVFlash. You may remember when you were setting up that USB flash drive there were check boxes for optional installations… Just don’t check them next time.

Any items installed by aTV Flash can be added or removed through the Maintenance menu.

Install, Update and Remove
To Install/Update an Item: Highlight the item to be installed, and press the play/pause button. You will be prompted to restart the AppleTV when complete.

To Remove an Item: Highlight the item to be installed, and press the right arrow (>>) button. You will be prompted to confirm the removal and restart the AppleTV when complete.