Handful of questions

Legacy 2nd gen Apple TV
1

I’m in the process of buying a 2nd gen ATV from a friend, and have a few questions about jailbreaking, ATV Flash, and Airplay

 

  1. The friend I’m buying this from has already jailbroken his ATV2 and it is currently running ATV Flash (though I’m uncertain about the version number of the ATV OS or ATV Flash at the moment).  I’m guessing he may do a factory reset on the ATV before handing it over.  Assuming he does, will it revert to the the ATV OS version that it shipped with, or to the most recently installed version?

1a) If I subsequently re-jailbreak the ATV, is it possible to update to a newer version of the ATV OS without going to the newest?  I’d prefer an untethered jailbreak, if at all possible.  Is there anything I should tell my friend before he resets it that could aid in this?

  1. If my friend gives me the ATV without resetting it, presumably I’d need to purchase ATV Flash myself to continue receiving updates and such.  Is it possible (and if possible, particularly difficult) to change licenses of ATV Flash after installation?

  2. In researching this, I seem to recall seeing something saying that Airplay doesn’t work with ATV Flash (or if so, perhaps not with the most current version).  What is the most recent version of ATV Flash that supports Airplay?  Any sense of whether this support will return to the most current version of ATV Flash anytime soon?

  3. Seas0npass seems to be one of the more commonly recommended jailbreaking tools (and based on the logo, I’m guessing it’s a fireCore product as well).  Do you provide any jailbreaking support (via Seas0npass) to users purchasing ATV Flash?

Thanks!

2

Hi,

  1. If you perform a factory reset the Apple TV will always go to the latest version, which is currently 5.3.

1a. It may be possible to go to a version that is not the latest if you have saved firmware signatures. More details on this here. http://support.firecore.com/entries/359097-Saving-Firmware-Signatures

  1. Yes, you can use the Apple TV on the current version, though you would want to purhcase your own license so you continue to receive software updates. Switching licenses on a currently running Apple TV is not a problem.

  2. AirPlay works normally even with aTV Flash (black) installed, though sending audio from aTV Flash (black) plugins to other Apple TVs is not currently supported.

  3. Yes, we can help with Seas0nPass questions as well.

Hope this helps.

3

Thanks for the help, James.

 

One follow-up question, if you don’t mind.

 

I ran Seas0npass and backed up my iFaith signatures (side question - does this process produce an output file, or are they saved within Seas0npass).  When I right-click on “Create IPSW,” there are several versions of the ATV software listed.  Does this list take into account which versions I have iFaith signatures for?  For example, if 5.2.0 is listed when I do this, can I assume I have the appropriate iFaith signature to install this, or is this list just populated with the list of available ATV versions, regardless of whether or not I have the corresponding iFaith signature?

 

Thanks!

4

There won’t be any kind of output file from saving blobs, so as long as you don’t see an error when saving you can rest assured the blobs are saved safely in the cloud.

The versions listed when right-clicking ‘create ipsw’ will just be all versions, as we’re not yet filtering these based on which blobs you have.

5

Is there a way to tell which blobs I have, then?

6

If you have aTV Flash (black) currently installed, you can view a list of saved blobs on the Apple TV through the Maintenance > Settings > Manage Backups > Backup My Firmware menu.