We’ve been so busy lately going through all the rumors on the upcoming Apple Television that we forgot to let you know that the Plex client for Apple TV 2 has been updated to version 0.10 (and later on to version 0.10.0.71 – beta 2). The new version brings some significant changes, like DirectPlay support and Full myPlex support, and supports Apple TV 4.3 and 4.4 firmware.

Highlights of the release:

• Full myPlex Support – view your myPlex queue or Friend’s shared server.
• Top Shelf is now configurable – You can choose which Plex Media Server, then the Section, and Recently Added or OnDeck – the posters are added to the shelf for easy selection.
• Badges! Grid and Bookshelf view now sport badges!
• DirectPlay Support – now works on the ATV client. Avoid transcoding! Save the Planet!
• Directories are now loaded asynchronously. That means that you will see a nice spinner while waiting for the directory to load.
• Memory leaks galore fixed – more stable, particularly on media playback.
• Many annoying bug fixes – more useable. The UI is becoming more consistent, reliable and snappy!
• Added settings for subtitle size and audio boost.
• Fixes capability settings on AAC. The ATV only supports 2 channels AAC.
• Fixes where you couldn’t disable DTS and AC3 support under 4.4.4.
• Tons of fixes to the main menu where categories should show up faster and more reliably.
• Correctly order Channel, Search and Queue in the main menu.

Installation

The installation has also been improved. You can now use plex-atv-installer on your Linux or OSX box.

Installing using the installer:

• Download the installer here: https://github.com/P…/zipball/master
• Unzip it
• Open Terminal.app and enter the plex-atv-installer directory
• update: if you have an older version installed, first run

./plex-atv-installer.py remove

• Run

./plex-atv-installer.py -b beta install

Note: if your Apple TV is not named ‘Apple-TV.local’ and if you have changed your login password on the atv you need to check the usage of Plex ATV Installer here: https://github.com/P…aster/README.md

• Done!

Installing manually:

• SSH into your ATV
• Run

wget http://nightlies.plexapp.com/plex-atv-plugin/repo/com.plexapp.repo.beta_1.0_iphoneos-arm.deb

• Run

dpkg -i com.plexapp.repo.beta_1.0_iphoneos-arm.deb

• Run

apt-get update

dpkg -r com.plex.client-plugin

• Run

apt-get install com.plex.client-plugin

• Run

killall AppleTV

• Done!

Known issues:

• Some high profile H264 MKV’s will not play back on ATV. There seem to be something that the transcoder does here that is not working out for the Apple TV.
• Badges in the bookcase doesn’t work correctly.
• The devs have seen, in some cases,  a serious issue with network connectivity disappearing from the atv. But they haven’t been able to say for certain it’s because of plex-atv, it might be the jailbreak for 4.4.4 instead.

Note: the current version is 0.10.0-720fd8d1 and it only works with Plex Media Server 0.9.5.2.

[via Plex forums]

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Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!

aTV Flash (black) for the second generation Apple TV has just received its first update in 2012. Version 1.2 of aTV Flash (black) features a number of new things including: video zoom options, grid view watched icons, quick access to recently visited pages, improved support for subtitles, and a truckload of other improvements and bug fixes.

Main new features include:

• New zoom options: three new zoom options (Normal, Crop, and Stretch) allow you choose how videos are displayed. You can keep videos in their native format (widescreen or pillar box) or crop/stretch them to fill the entire screen.

• Grid View Watched Indicators: watched indicator icons allow you to quickly see which content is new (these can be disabled through the Media –> Settings).

• Recently Visited Pages: Couch Surfer now displays thumbnail images in the ‘top shelf’ area of the main menu, which allows you to quickly get back to recently viewed pages.

Here is the complete list of changes:
• Added video zoom options (available through Playback Menu)
• Added watched indicators to grid view
• Added ‘Recently Visited’ section to Browser top shelf
• Added support for MicroDVD .SUB files
• Added screensaver during pause
• Added file delete option
• Added activity indicator for metadata clearing
• Added ‘tune’ icon placeholder for audio files without metadata
• Added episode number to the fetched name the list view
• Added Reload Metadata’ option in contextual menu for folders
• Added ‘no items’ message to the ‘Unwatched’ filter of the list view
• Added gray ticket image caching
• Added loading screen when opening Manage Extras menu
• Improved scrubber bar logic
• Improved audio feedback for watched and pre-playback screens
• Improved poster loading for large folders
• Improved support for DVDs without menus
• Improved subtitle support for right-to-left languages (e.g. Hebrew)
• Improved installer device detection
• Resolved minor memory management issues
• Resolved issues with subtitles settings while playing a playlist
• Resolved issues with yellow subtitles displayed for movies converted with Handbrake
• Resolved conflicts with default audio player
• Resolved issues with passwords that contain @ symbols
• Resolved issues with metadata loading for files that contain ‘/’ in folder or file name
• Resolved buffer overflow in libafpclient observed when navigating folders with long names
• Resolved issues with installer Bonjour detection
• Resolved rare crashes during web browsing
• Changed metadata format to S.# / Ep.# for TV Shows
• Disabled metadata processing during movie playback
• Corrected audio feedback when pressing Menu while in grid view
• Minor UI improvements
• Other miscellaneous bug fixes

If you’re already running a version of aTV Flash (black) the new 1.2 version can be installed through the Maintenance –> Manage Extras menu. Links for the new version can also be found in your FireCore account under the Downloads tab.

If you’re not yet using aTV Flash (black) you can get started here.

You may also want to read:
AppleTVHacks Best of 2011
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Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!

aTV Flash (black) for Apple TV 2 is no longer in beta: FireCore has finally released version 1.0 of its flagship product – a suite of applications to enhance the 2nd generation Apple TV. aTV Flash (black) features all-new Media Player, WebKit based browser, Last.fm radio, Weather, RSS feeds and gives you fast access to plugins like nitoTV, Remote HD, XBMC and Plex client. All new features are installed alongside the normal Apple TV features, so things like movie rentals, Netflix, and AirPlay will remain unchanged.

Media Player
The new Media Player included with aTV Flash (black) can access files directly from a Mac, PC or NAS drive without having to use iTunes. It downloads and organizes metadata and covert art automatically and will present media in your choice of a list or grid view. Supported file formats include AVI, FLAC, ISO, M2TS, MKV, MP3, MP4, MPEG, VOB, WAV and many others. Support for AC3/DTS sound, subtitles, DVD menus, playlists and photo slideshows are also included.

Native web browser
Also included is Couch Surfer Pro; a fully featured web browser that includes support for HTML5 streaming music and video as well as easy to use bookmarks and history. The browser can be controlled using the standard Apple TV remote, or the free iPhone/iPad Remote app.

Last.fm
Rounding out the offering is an interactive Last.fm feature that provides access to Last.fm streaming radio. While streaming Last.fm radio (or playing your own music) you’ll have access to artist bios, and a seemingly endless amount of artist photos.

Weather, RSS feeds
RSS news feed and iIntuitive weather forecast options are also included. Your current weather location will be detected automatically, and other locations can be easily added as well.

aTV Flash (black)1.0 is available now for $29.95, which includes updates for one year. You can download it from here.

Those who pre-ordered the beta can download the new 1.0 version through the Downloads tab in their account. Note: Those wishing to update from an early version will need to run the 1.0 installer from a Mac or PC.

aTV Flash (black) 1.0 can be installed on AppleTV 4.2 and later. Before installing, the AppleTV will need to be jailbroken. Read How to Jailbreak Apple TV 2 on iOS 5 (Apple TV 4.4) Using Seas0nPass – Tethered or How to Jailbreak Apple TV 2 on iOS 4.3 with Seas0nPass (untethered).

MacUpdate has aTV Flash (black) 1.0 for the sale price of $19.99 today only.

You may also want to read:
Apple TV 2 price drops suggest Apple TV 3 is coming soon
aTV Flash 4.4 for original Apple TV now available
How to Watch Hulu on Apple TV 2
Apple TV 4.4 Software Released

Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!

A freshly baked version of Media Player for Apple TV 2 has been released by Firecore. Version 0.9.4 adds new folder artwork in Grid View, loop and shuffle playlist options, support for large photo collections and comes with a bunch of improvements and bug fixes.

What’s new in version 0.9.4?

• Added new folder artwork in Grid View
• Added loop and shuffle playlist options
• Added TV Show series cover art in Grid View and Top Shelf
• Added top to bottom and right to left navigation in grid view
• Added global setting for enabling/disabling subtitles
• Added support for large photo collections
• Added support for folders containing dot (‘.’) in their name
• Added (watched) view options in List View (use Play/Pause button to switch mode)
• Improved metadata caching logic
• Improved TV Show filename parsing
• Improved Grid View stability
• Improved metadata fetching speed
• Resolved issues with audio file metadata fetching
• Resolved issues with chapter selection screen layout observed on short files
• Resolved issues with metadata reloading in Grid View
• Resolved issues with TV Shows aired date
• Resolved issues with hangs on certain DVD menus
• Resolved minor memory management issues
• Resolved issues with scrolling in Top Shelf
• Resolved issues with folder names overlapping in Grid View
• Minor UI improvements

Media Player 0.9.4 can be installed on your ATV2 (with aTV Flash black already installed) through the Maintenance –> Manage Extras menu.

You may also want to read:
aTV Flash 4.4 for original Apple TV now available
aTV Flash (black) RC1 for Apple TV 2 Now Available
How to Jailbreak Apple TV 2 on iOS 5 (Apple TV 4.4) Using Seas0nPass – Tethered

Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!

Firecore, a developer of aTV Flash (black), has just released a “hefty update” of its Media Player for Apple TV 2. The new version adds some new features (like TV Show metadata fetching and folder tagging) and a ton of performance related improvements and bug fixes.

Here is the complete list of new features and improvements:

• Added hardware decoding for .m2ts files
• Added TV Show metadata fetching
• Added option to correct movie metadata
• Added DSI ping for better operation with AFP shares
• Added folder tagging
• Added metadata view indicator
• Added support for metadata overriding using xml files
• Added DVD menu buffering
• Improved data buffering and playback performance
• Improved network error handling
• Improved filename parsing for metadata fetching
• Improved NAS drives support and increased connection timeout
• Improved video loading process
• Improved playback position detection
• Resolved audio synchronization issues
• Resolved problems when streaming from an AirPort Extreme
• Resolved issues that caused the first subtitle section to be skipped
• Resolved performance and crash related issues for certain DVD files
• Resolved audio playback issues when the connection to Last.fm fails
• Resolved potential issues in shares handling and filename processing
• Resolved AFP related crashes
• Resolved .dvdmedia extensions and folder images not hiding
• Resolved floating crash during metadata fetching
• Resolved critical compatibility issues with iOS 5
• Minor UI improvements
• Many other miscellaneous fixes

Media Player 0.9 can be installed on your ATV2 (with aTV Flash black already installed) through the Maintenance –> Manage Extras menu.

Find out more about Media Player 0.9 on Firecore’s blog.

You may also want to read:
aTV Flash (black) Beta6 for Apple TV 2 Now Available
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Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!

Firecore’s Media Player, a core feature of the company’s flagship product – aTV Flash (black) for Apple TV 2, has been updated to version 0.6 that comes with added AC3 and DTS (5.1+ surround) sound, access to DVD menus during playback and a low buffer detection warning (prevents stuttering) as well as with many other improvements and bug fixes.

Here is the complete list of changes:

• Added AC3 and DTS (5.1+ surround) sound
• Added access to DVD menus during playback (press menu)
• Added low buffer detection warning (prevents stuttering)
• Improved playback of larger files
• Improved buffering and re-buffering (when required)
• Improved FF/RW controls for larger files
• Improved audio decoding performance
• Improved center channel (voices) audio mixing
• Improved DVD file playback
• Improved file sorting logic
• Improved performance and memory management
• Improved error handling
• Resolved DVD subtitle issues
• Resolved stalls observed with some files during and after FF/RW
• Resolved synchronization issues observed after buffering some files
• Resolved audio synchronization issues
• Resolved rare floating crash observed at the end of some files
• Resolved resume related playback issues
• Resolved various screensaver related issues
• Local files are now hidden when one or more remote shares are setup
• Minor metadata fetching improvements
• Minor UI improvements
• Other miscellaneous fixes

Media Player 0.6 can be installed on your ATV2 (with aTV Flash black already installed) through the Maintenance –> Manage Extras menu.

You may also want to read:
aTV Flash (black) Beta6 for Apple TV 2 Now Available
How to Watch Hulu on Apple TV 2
How to Jailbreak Apple TV 2 on iOS 4.3 or iOS 5 Beta with Seas0nPass 0.7.7 (untethered)

Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!

What’s new in Beta6?

General

• Added show/hide options for standard Apple TV menus
• Added option to manually install if no Apple TVs are detected
• Improved auto-update disabling
• Improved installation error handling
• Minor UI adjustments

Media Player

• Added new lightweight player
• Added recently played items to ‘Top Shelf’ in main menu
• Added Favorites to main menu
• Added option to manually mark files as watched/unwatched
• Added ‘Test Connection’ option for AFP/SMB shares
• Added support for DVD subtitles
• Added support for multiple DVD audio tracks
• Added basic support for MT2S files
• Improved overall video playback (especially HD video files)
• Improved thumbnail generation when cover art is not available
• Improved FF/RW controls
• Improved DVD menu and video playback
• Improved DVD playback progress reporting
• Improved memory management
• Improved AFP/SMB streaming
• Improved error handling for invalid files
• Resolved most video stuttering issues
• Resolved energy saver mode issue
• Resolved issue that resulted in some DVDs being displayed in (squished) 4×3 mode
• Resolved numerous DVD playback issues
• Resolved flickering when navigating through certain menus
• Resolved additional conflicts with XBMC
• Reduced number of network connections used
• Minor UI and other miscellaneous fixes

Beta5 is available through the Downloads tab in your account. If you’re already running aTV Flash (black) on your AppleTV all the new features can be installed through the Maintenance –> Manage Extras menu.

You may also want to read:
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Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!

The other feature is AirPlay mirroring that lets wirelessly display everything you do on your iPad 2 right on your HDTV through Apple TV 2. According to Apple’s iOS 5 promo video, this will let you airplay not only photos, videos and websites (it’s already available on Apple TV 2) but also video games. To allow atv2 to make use of the AirPlay mirroring, the new Apple TV 4.4 software will be released. The beta version of this new firmware has been released to the developers yesterday.

You may also want to read:
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aTV Flash (black) Beta5 for Apple TV 2 Now Available
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Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!

What’s new in Beta5?

General

• Added AppleTV 4.2.2 compatibility
• Improved installer routine
• Improved handling of failed installations
• Improved error handling
• Minor UI adjustments

Media Player

• Added SMB streaming
• Added photo slideshows
• Added basic video playlists
• Added ‘Favorites’ section
• Added individual photo browsing and viewing
• Added support for ‘xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/folder’ shares
• Added support for guest/anonymous NAS logins
• Added volumes list sorting
• Added option to disable metadata fetching
• Added option to hide file extensions
• Improved handling of HD video files
• Improved memory management
• Improved DVD file detection
• Improved remote share folder browsing (root folder issue)
• Improved Remote.app support
• Resolved artifact issues (green line near bottom of screen)
• Resolved rare crashes related to AFP streaming
• Resolved issues in share navigation resulting in incorrect ‘menu’ button handling
• Resolved issues resulting in incorrect video playback after rewinding on ‘fastest’ speed
• Resolved issues related to removing saved shares
• Resolved duplicate AFP share entries
• Resolved conflicts with XBMC
• Minor UI fixes
• Other miscellaneous fixes

Couch Surfer Pro

• Added HTML5 audio support (for sites like http://tv.tunein.com/)
• Added EyeTV streaming
• Improved web pages scrolling and layout handling
• Improved iOS-optimized JavaScript support
• Improved highlighting of large web elements
• Auto-complete history is now cleared when clearing history
• New SSL indicator
• Other minor bug fixes

Weather

• Added 5-day forecasts
• Added location search option
• Added automatic location detection (if no saved locations exist)
• Added day/night weather forecasts
• Added ‘Feels Like’ temperature info
• Minor UI fixes

Last.fm

• Added lightweight audio streaming player
• Improved memory management

What Firecore is still working on

• New lightweight audio/video player
• Additional codecs
• DVD chapter controls
• AC3/DTS (5.1 surround) sound
• Subtitle support
• Multiple audio track support
• Improved UI and file browsing
• Better memory management

Beta5 is available through the Downloads tab in your account. If you’re already running aTV Flash (black) on your AppleTV all the new features can be installed through the Maintenance –> Manage Extras menu.

You may also want to read:
Apple Updates Apple TV 2 Firmware to 4.2.2, Untethered Jailbreak is Already Out
SHOUTcast Radio App Updated to Support AirPlay
AirPlay Implementation on the Old Apple TV is Now Complete
AirPlay-Enabled Apps: Air Video (review)

Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!

Apple TV 2

As you already know, if you don’t want to lose your jailbreak (and all the apps/plugins/add-ons you’ve already installed) you can’t update. But if you have SHSH blobs saved you can update to 4.2, check out the new features and then decide whether you stay with these ones or you prefer to go back to your old jailbreakable 4.1.1 (iOS 4.2.1) to enjoy some other great features it offers (XBMC, Hulu, aTV Flash and many more).

AppleInsider reports that users are reporting flickering issues with latest Apple TV software update. Check out the AppleInsider post and the growing thread in Apple’s Discussions forums for the latest.

To disable auto-apdates:
-          with nitoTV installed: nitoTV -> Settings -> AppleTV Updates – click “OK” to disable
-          with aTV Flash installed: Maintenance -> Settings menu

Full list of Apple TV Software Update 4.2 features:

• NBA Game Time: live and on-demand games with an NBA League Pass Broadband subscription. Available are both live and on-demand games. NBA League Pass costs $100 for one-year unlimited streaming or $65 if you pick 7 teams to watch (check all the available options here). Non-subscribers can access real-time NBA scores and in-game stats, plus see the full-season schedule, standings, stats, and video highlights.

• MLB.TV: live and on-demand Major League Baseball games in HD with an MLB.TV subscription ($100 a year for standard and $120 for the premium offering; details here).

• AirPlay for apps and websites: wirelessly stream video from iOS apps and websites that are enabled for AirPlay, on an iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch running iOS 4.3.

• Netflix Dolby Digital 5.1: support for Dolby Digital 5.1 surround  sound on Netflix streaming (Not available with all titles.)

• New slideshow themes: new Scrapbook, Photo Mobile, and Holiday Mobile slideshow themes.

• Improved on-screen keyboard.

• AirPlay photo slideshow themes: All Apple TV photo slideshow themes are now available when using AirPlay to wirelessly send a photo slideshow from an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to Apple TV.

• HDMI color mode: atv software update 4.2 includes a setting for changing the color mode output over HDMI.

• Connectivity and performance fixes.

You may also want to read:
How to Watch Hulu on Apple TV 2
How to jailbreak Apple TV 2 with greenpois0n rc6
How to install XBMC on Apple TV 2

Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!