Just a quick update here. I’m going insane playing with and hacking the Apple TV. I’m trying to write things up in a clear and coherent way–but please let me know which topics are the ones you want to see first (either by e-mail or leave a comment here). Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.
I’ve gotten VLC up and running and am trying to learn all the command-line nuances because using the interface is just a wee bit iffy and I want to be able to automate displaying shows without having to return to a desktop machine. Fortunately, VLC works perfectly with the Apple Remote so you can control playback (and playback volume!) directly from the Living Room/Apple TV side of things. I’m hoping to get live streaming of recording and recorded eyeTV shows up and running later today. Joost is running well (with just a few hesitations) on my 802.11g network, so I’m confident that the eyeTV streaming (for standard, not high def) TV will be able to work with VLC. Having bricked one Apple TV, I don’t have the cash to purchase an Airport Extreme (and I’m not even sure my Intel Mini is “n” capable–any hints on how to find out?), so High Def streaming is going to have to wait a bit.
Finally, proof of gaming on Apple TV. Yes, I’m controlling it over VNC. So it’s kind of a lame gaming example, but there you have it.
I just found cytv, a system to stream content from an eyetv install somewhere on your net. it's a little ghetto, but works relatively well, uses vlc as its transport and even supports "live tv" i.e. pausing video. check it:
http://www.lucid-cake.net/cytv/index_en.html
might work out well to get actual tv onto the appletv.
Have you tried using VLC's ncurses interface? (VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC --extraintf ncurses) I use it with screen and ssh to make a remote out of my powerbook, but depending on what settings you're trying to work out, you could potentially use it to make some adjustments from your desktop (It allows queueing of files, switching to and from fullscreen, and a few other things as well) until you figure out how to automate the entire mess.
PS: Great stuff on the AppleTV thus far, keep it up! (Have you tried a USB restore of your aforementioned bricked AppleTV, or even just removing the drive and re-imaging it from a back-up or your second AppleTV? (If, as you say, you bricked one and you're still working, I presume you have another.))
Apple looks great.
Amazing
Well, I started to play chess again in my beneficial association because I was no match for my computer and mostly because it didn’t use harsh language when I performed a good move. They were not many of them, but its silence turned me back to my engineers I know for a life time. This must be because I did not have an Apple. I’ll try to get one. Looks great from here!