![]() A big aTV Flash 4.0 advantage here is full support forĪpple’s Remote iPhone app ( ), including the text entry and Sites loaded quickly and accurately, and you can adjust the text size to suite your needs. The Web browser, which Fire Core calls Couch Surfer Pro, basically just exposes Apple TV’s built-in-but-hidden Safari, so it works fairly well. I decided to hook up the Apple TV via ethernet so the initial sync went faster, and once it was done, WiFi syncing of any new media or changes continued without hiccup. After turning on USB drive support, plugging in my external drive, and rebooting the Apple TV, iTunes on my Mac Pro reported that my 1TB Apple TV was ready to gobble up our entire 650GB library. I was most interested in Boxee, the prospects of using my Apple TV to browse the Web on my HDTV, and USB hard drive support for iTunes syncing. New menus like Media (for content you add manually outside of iTunes), Browser, XBMC/Boxee, and Maintenance appear in-line with the Apple TV’s standard media sections, making the additions feel right at home. This way, the modifications aTV Flash provides to the Apple TV OS don’t get blown away by an Apple update before Fire Core issues an update of its own.ĪTV Flash adds features to your Apple TV by adding them to the new horizontal menu system introduced inĪpple TV software 3.0 (which aTV Flash 4 requires it supports 3.0.1, the current software version). Another unfortunate-though-necessary minor drawback: aTV Flash, by default, disables the Apple TV’s built-in ability to check for new updates from Apple, so you’ll have to wait on official new features. ![]() Granted, this is because the aTV Flash software downloads the most recent version of features like Boxee or Flip4Mac (for Windows Media support) when you want to turn them on, but it’s still a slight hassle nonetheless. A drawback in this process, however, is that many of the most appealing features are not enabled by default. After purchasing from Fire Core’s site, you download a file, plug a USB flash drive into your Mac (or Windows PC), double-click the installer, then sit back and enjoy the modern age of automation.ĪTV Flash’s additional menu items.Installing on the Apple TV is just about as simple: Unplug the power cable, plug the flash drive into the Apple TV’s otherwise useless USB port, plug power back in, and wait a few minutes as the aTV Flash installer works its magic. They are generally more tedious and/or clunky than difficult, but if you’re looking for an Apple-y “just works” solution to spice up your Apple TV, aTV Flash is it. There are free ways to add many of the same features to your Apple TV, such as the open-sourceĪtvusb-creator, but most require tinkering with install files and Terminal (atvusb-creator, for example, doesn’t currently for Mac users and Apple TV OS 3 without a lot a additional work on your part). One of the most refreshing things about aTV Flash is its extremely simple setup.
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