Cinema Mac

mpeg2 to mp4 with MPEG Streamclip

James — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 03:07:42 +0000

I recently bought a Sony PlayTV. It’s a device that plugs in to your Playstation 3 and allows you to record television to your PS3. You can then export the clips to the cross media bar, and transfer them to your computer. The files are mpeg2 (m2ts) and play fine on the PS3, but what about the AppleTV? Or importing them to iTunes? Enter MPEG Streamclip.

MPEG Streamclip is a free app that converts several types of video files into different formats.

I wanted to be able to play my files on both the PS3 and the AppleTV, so I created a preset that looks something like this (exporting to MPEG4)

My file is roughly half the size of the original source, looks good, and plays on multiple platforms. win!

AppleTV 2.4

James — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:20:32 +0000

So AppleTV 2.4 is out and ready to rock. Control your ATV with your iPhone or iPod Touch using the Remote 1.3 app. This thing is cool, finger gestures and all! I’ll have more information up soon. Need to update my ATV first!

Rip your DVD’s for AppleTV & PS3

James — Thu, 21 May 2009 06:50:52 +0000

I’ve got an Apple TV, and a couple of PS3’s which I stream content to. I’d like to rip some of my DVD’s so I don’t have to get them out of storage to play them. Thing is, I want to rip them for ATV and PS3 playback… handbrake is the answer, however there is no preset for this.

Check out this guide for an easy fix using handbrake!!

Apple release 2.3.1 update for AppleTV

James — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:46:32 +0000

Apple have released 2.3.1 for the AppleTV, no news yet on what it actually does, we’ll find out soon! I’m really far behind on my updates, just don’t want to touch my hacked ATV!

AppleTV 2.1

James — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 03:30:59 +0000

So 2.1 came out not long ago, infact not long after iPhone 3G, the app store, and the brilliant “remote” app for iPhone and iPod Touch.

“remote” lets you control your iTunes or ATV remotely, very cool. While I haven’t yet upgraded my ATV to 2.1, I’m looking forward to it! Makes you wonder what other cool tricks are planned for ATV and iPhone/iPod Touch!

Apple TV update direct download links

James — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:57:05 +0000

Here are link’s to the Apple TV’s update images. These can help with hacking your Apple TV, or if you just want to keep them safe somewhere:

1.1.0 – 2Z694-5248-45.dmg
2.0.0 – 2Z694-5274-109.dmg
2.0.1 – 2Z694-5387-25.dmg
2.0.2 – 2Z694-5428-3.dmg

The combo updated which contains files that assist with Apple TV hacking. Note: I believe Apple have removed some files from this update that makes hacking the Apple TV a little harder, to be confirmed.
MacOS X 10.4.9 Combo Updater

Online shop sells Apple TV hack tool

James — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:38:27 +0000

It looks like Apple Core, LLC are selling a pre-built patch stick on their online store to allow you to hack your Apple TV. link: http://www.applecorellc.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=27

One has to question the legality of this? I mean, in order to hack your Apple TV, certain OS X system files are required to “enable” the device. I’m talking, files that are available from the Tiger operating system. I’m talking property of Apple Inc.

Now I COULD be wrong here. I mean, most of these files are easily downloadable from Apple’s own servers, by anyone from the public. The downloads are OS X and Apple TV updates which contain files that help hack an Apple TV. So is selling this software illegal? You be the judge.

Just hacked Apple TV 2.02

James — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:31:17 +0000

I hacked a friends Apple TV not long ago, a version 1.1 It was going great for a while until it was accidentally updated by the wifey… damn.

So I spent half of Saturday hacking their v2.02 unit. it’s getting a little more complex as Apple works to prevent people from hacking them. I applied much the same technique as I did for my v2 ATV however a little more tweaking was required to get USB working correctly. (Mainly getting the right kernel and patching it with the right patches)

In the end after applying my own knowledge to the hack. I ended up using a neat little util that someone has put together to make it just really easy to enable USB.. check it out here

In my opinion, enabling the USB is the most important part of the hack. It means you can hook up a hell of a lot of hard disk to the Apple TV and not even worry about the internal drive. I like it! I have 1 Terabyte hooked up to my Apple TV, it’s just great.

Apple TV 2.02 update available

James — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:22:28 +0000

It looks like another Apple TV update was made available today. There has been no reports of any noticeable changes with the exception of possibly faster menu/GUI and better YouTube viewing.

I hope to have more information on this soon..

Couch Surfer 0.3 released

James — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:58:05 +0000

Brandon Holland has just released Couch Surfer 0.3.

Here are some new features:

accelerated scrolling holds up and down
improved Bookmark support, now with support for adding current page
history support
back menu
USB keyboard support for text entry dialogs.

The best part is that once Couch Surfer 0.3 is installed, USB keyboard feature is available to all other plug-in’s.

You can get the new software update from Brian’s software page here.