Released on March 21, 2007, this device was a big success. Known as a digital media converter this device is unique because of its performance. Designed to access and play digital content from YouTube, MAC OS X, iTunes store, MobileMe and Windows on a high definition widescreen television Apple TV has two main roles: to act as a digital media receiver on one hand and to be a home theater connected iPod device on the other hand.

The main disadvantage in the case of this device is the fact that if you want to connect an external drive to it you will not be able. Why? Because of the fact that it doesn’t have a USB for connecting external drive. There is no such software implemented on Apple TV. Because of this big discomfort for the Apple’s users Apple TV Hack found a solution after just 4 months from the release of the Apple TV. The solution is called Apple TV USB hard drive. Its aim is to make the connection between Apple TV and other external hard drives.



In conclusion, the storage limitations problem was resolved. This patch allows the Apple TV to boot from its internal hard drive. The external USB drive is used just when the user wants to storage movies, videos, music and so on. So the external USB drive is set to be the primary option when saving information.

Here are the steps you need to follow in order to connect your HDD. I have to note that for Apple TV software 1.0 it will definitely work. If you have Apple TV software 1.1 I am not certain that it will work. You’ll need to have an SSH-enabled Apple TV, an Intel-Mac, a Mac OS X 10.4 Intel version, the “mach_kernel.prelink” file (is an Apple TV file) and an external USB drive that uses the so called “Journaled HFS+” and the Apple Partition Map option.

Do not forget to always back up your Apple TV! Extract and read the zip file. There you’ll find the steps that you need to follow. Also you have to run the script “install-atvrhd.sh” and then follow the instructions. The device will be rebooting after your kernel will be patched. From this point the next steps are the easiest ones. First you have to turn on your Apple TV. Do not insert the USB drive yet. After the so called intro sequence please insert the USB drive. You’ll then see that all your content for the internal hard drive will be transferred to your external drive. It will take a long time. If you want to skip this pat before plugging in your USB hard drive delete the content from your internal Apple hard drive. After this step Apple TV will automatically be restarted. And that’s all!



If you want to uninstall the patch, open the terminal under UNIX and type “uninstall-atvrhd.sh”. If you encounter difficulties go and read the instructions from “Factory Restore” feature on your Apple TV. What do you think? It is a hard procedure? Did you try it or are you tempted to try it? Let me know about your thoughts.

Apple TV are some of the best TVs both in terms of components that are used and in terms of multiple functions that any user can have.

The network device allows users to use an HDTV set for playing music, watching videos from Internet media service, and also in order to view photos. Youtube, Flickr, iTunes Store are all included in the category of Internet media services. The biggest disadvantage is that Apple TV doesn’t come with any connecting cables, except for AC power cable. To connect to a TV or other video equipment you have to buy the HDMI cable or others such as stereo audio cables or component video cables. Apple TV supports a variety of ports and interfaces: HDMI, optical video, USB 2.0 analog RCA stereo video. Also supports a lot of video and audio formats like: H.264, iTunes, MPEG-4 AAC, and others.



Some say that Apple TV cannot record any television programs or movies from cable, broadcast, or satellite. When it comes to record talking, many critics have expressed opinions about the lack of capabilities of personal video recorders of Apple TV. Apple TV can only be used to stream movies and other content from your MAC or purchase/rent movies online through iTunes Music Store and the Apple TV interface.  Though Apple TV has no TV tuner built-in, in other words it cannot receive any broadcast or cable/satellite signals, the capability of PVR software and tuners can be applied to the connected home computer. PVR software will connect to iTunes, allowing scheduled HDTV recordings to appear automatic on Apple TV for playback.

Nowadays, many of us have lots of favourite movies or family events kept on DVDs. But if you want to watch these DVDs on Apple TV it is  not possible because this device has no DVD drive. A solution is to convert DVDs into digital files so that they might be played by Apple TV and after that you can transfer the digital file to Apple TV. For that, on your Mancintoch PC, you will need to load some free software programs. First of all you have to download and install the software programs: VideoMonkey, MactheRipper and iTunes on your pc’s desktop. On “ (Settings->Network )” on the  apple TV device, select the wireless or wired network which both apple tv and  pc will share. Write down the activation number which can be found on “Computers->Select iTunes Library” on the Apple TV. In the PC, on Apple TV icon enters the number you have just written down.

After inserting the DVD onto the disc tray, run the MachteRipper program and wait till the DVD is registered on this program. After that begin by selecting the “mode” tab and press “go” button for beginning copying the content of the movie to the hard drive. Repeat the process for everything you want to copy from your DVD. For modifying the DVD to Apple TV format you need drag everything you copied by MactheRipper into the VideoMonkey software. Be sure that (“Apple TV-> 1024X720P ->Quality”) is set to “High” and press “Start” button from VideoMonkey program to start conversion of the DVD files.



After that, all the files will be transferred into the iTunes program. In the iTunes program press the “Movies” tab, check the “Sync Movies” and the DVD files that were transferred into this program, press “Sync” button and wait until the DVD files are copied to the Apple TV’s drive hardware.

Nowadays, films are much more popular than they used to be. Movies can always become a pleasant company and you can watch them with your boyfriend or girlfriend, or if you want to relax after a long, hard day of work or when we want to cheer up funny videos are ideal. We cannot always go to the cinema to watch movies on a big screen. Instead, with your own Apple TV, you can watch movies on a big and multicolor screen.

The DVR, also called the Digital Video Recorder can hold up to hundreds of hours of TV programming and records in digital format to an SD memory card, USB flash device or other storage devices. It is also called PVR meaning personal video record. This just stores the digital stream directly to the disk. In terms of technical meaning, television and video features they differ. In time, DVRs evolved into devices which can do much more besides simple recording of video images. It has much more control over quality and frame rate. Television can be called as a combination of audio and video modulated on a carrier frequency, while video contains just the visual part from the TV.



Why should we use Apple TV and not other TV?
First because, this TV offers many good quality features that are daily updated. Depending on each of our needs, it can be used as a digital media receiver or as a home theater-connected iPod Device. HD TV shows, HD movies, HD YouTube are all available through Apple TV. It supports a lot of video and audio formats like: iTunes, H.264, MPEG-4 AAC, and many others. Its performance is extraordinary. From what many people who have used it say we can consider that the video quality is excellent. 'Video and audio never stuttered or Went out of sync', they sustained.

There are lots of software programs available for users of HTCP, software which can turn computers, that run Windows, Linux, MacOS, into DVR. An example could be TiVo ToGo software. This software could be used to transfer movies or TV shows from your DVR TiVo to your computer. Besides the TiVoToGo software, the Toast 10 Titanium software allows you to transfer movies from TiVoToGo to your Apple Tv or iPod, iPhone.

But how can you transfer them?First of all you have to download Toast10 Titanium and TiViToGo software. For installing the programs you just have to double-click on the program files. The next step is to click the “iTunes icon” from your screen’s dock. After opening the Applications folder, double click the “Toast 10 Titanium icon”,  and “convert tab” for “Video Files”. After that, the button “Media Browser” will display a list from where you have to select “TiVo “.



After dragging the TiVo movies to the project area, for adding to your iTunes library you have to click on the button “Export”.  After you have finished with all these steps you just have to plug the Apple TV’s AC power cord into its Apple TV port, plug also the HDMI cable into the HDMI Apple TV’s port and the coaxial cables into your television’s HDMI ports. After plugging the Ethernet cable into the tv and the other end into your PC, your iTunes will sync with your Apple TV.

A simple transfer makes your movie life more colorful and brighter. You should try it!

iMac, "Internet” Macintosh desktop computers is a very successful brand of Apple. iMac was released more than one decade ago (the first model was released in 1998).

This all in one computer is a combination of high resolution and a 27 inch display unique desktop (because of its LED backlight (the enclosure is very easy and thin) and IPS technology:”an in-plane technology that makes the view of a picture a perfect one even though you’re watching your display by standing off to the side”) that gives a bright and clear image and also of hardware and software components that were built to work together at the same time. These are the reasons why iMacs offer you the greatest experience in the simplest way.



Apple is considered to be the author of Mac and software applications, devices and also of the operating system. This is why iMac is such a fast computer, which doesn’t occupy much space, the cable clutter problem is minimal. Because of its interesting mix of hardware and software features this device is considered to be a great value for both types of computer users: the new computer users and the old ones who upgrade their machines in order to keep the rhythm with the new technology.

On one hand the way in which the new technology is built in these devices, the thin LCD monitor (met at the desktop Mac computer released with the beginning of 31 August 2004), the multiple ports: microphone, speaker, USB, Ethernet port, a telephone jack, holes for Reset switch, programmer’s switch, the magic mouse (a wireless Magic Mouse – it’s the first multi-touch mouse appeared in the whole world) or even the magic trackpad convince you to buy them. On the other hand, there are also multiple problems that you could face with especially in the case of two devices: the mouse and the trackpad, which  can make you think twice before buying the iMac.

The Magic mouse is a multi-touch device that does not have buttons incorporated. Because of its built-in software, with simple gestures on its smooth surface you can interact with your computer easy and fast. Many people have complained about the fact that their mouse was either not recognized by the computer or that it didn’t scroll in both ways: up and down or side by side or even that it didn’t track as it should. What might be the solution to this problem? Should you replace your mouse?



The answer is no. Because this works wireless and because it has software with a beautiful interface you can easily detect the problem and its solution. If you have mouse pointer graphic problems first check the battery level. Go to System Preferences from Apple. From the View Menu select Keyboard&Mouse. In the left corner you’ll see an indicator that will show you the battery level.  If you still have problems with scrolling also check the scrolling speed slide control. You have to select the Scroll option. By scrolling we understand the movement of one finger.  If you have jitter, jumpy, slow or fast – these types of problems with your mouse go to Set the Tracking option from View menu met in System Preferences -> Mouse. Adjust the speed; also try to clean the sensor window of your mouse (it may be full with dust).

iMac, “Internet” Macintosh desktop computers is a unique brand of computers released by Apple in 1998. During that period Apple brought on market new and more powerful iMac devices.

Unique and trendy in technology (high resolution display with backlight led and IPS technology (an in-plane technology which makes each image or picture to be a perfect one), in hardware and software parts (like for example the Snow Leopard software that enables the Multi-Touch operations), in the external input devices (magic mouse which is the first multi-touch device in whole Europe, trackpad) and even in the operating system that iMac has, these devices offer you the experience you wished for in a very simple way. With hardware and software that work together in a synchronized way, iMac is considered to be a new generation of computers in the computer technology market.



Like any operating system and like any new thing that appears you always have to face with different problems. Even if they can to be called “stupid “problems, because of their difficulties (some of them may seem to be very easy to solve, but when you try to do it, it just doesn’t seem to work or you can’t understand why and how this is possible) these problems can stop you from watching a movie or having fun by accessing interesting files. One of these bad examples is the JPG files. Many people have found out that you can’t see iMac jpeg pictures. Why? How come such a standard JPG file can’t be recognized? The answer is MAC Finder. Because of it MacOSX has modified this type of file somehow.

Can you think of any solution for this problem? Did you confront with it? If so, please let me know about the type of the solution you have adopted. The JPEG standard stars after 0x80 bytes. If so you could try to delete the bytes before – cut 128 bytes from any picture. If you have error messages such as “the file may be truncated or incomplete” download a software that can identify the format of your image, can correct the errors or can even convert from one type to another. Usually the .jpg files on an mac, when trying to open them are blank. Even after repairing permissions this type of file does not seem to give up so easily. As a solution you should try to add the .jpeg or .jpg extension at the end of the file. There is the possibility for those files to come from sources that didn’t add the jpeg format. In conclusion OSX systems can’t recognize them. When adding an extension the Finder will ask you the following question:” Would you like to Add the JPG file extension to this file”. Click Add. In addition go to “get info”, after selecting the file. At “Name & Extension” option add a file a file format if the file doesn’t have one.



Moreover try to drag and drop the file with the help of the Preview application icon or try to right click on the file and choose Preview option. It could work! Usually the Preview option can open files though they may not have the format extension actually specified when downloading a .jpg or .jpeg file. Did these solutions help you? Let me know!