It was not long ago that we shared the news regarding Apple officially activating its Bluetooth hardware, via the 5.2 update, on their Apple TV 2 and Apple TV 3 devices. Though it seems that support is limited to Bluetooth keyboards, not Bluetooth remotes, only time will tell if Apple has a line of new peripherals on the way for us all. As exciting as the news is, having Bluetooth capabilities does no good if users are unsure/unable to utilize these features.

We also want to remind those of you that own an Apple TV 1, the silver box, that this guide will not pertain to your device as you have no Bluetooth hardware enabled by default. If you own an Apple TV 1, and would like Bluetooth support, you will need to look into other LINUX-based options (see our guide on installing openELEC) paired with Bluetooth dongles.

REQUIREMENTS

1. Bluetooth keyboard
2. Apple TV remote (hardware or software)
3. Apple TV (2nd or 3rd generation) updated to the latest 5.2 firmware
4. A desire for your media center to have additional awesomeness

LIMITATIONS (according to Apple)

1. Bluetooth support on Apple TV is for keyboards only. Headsets, speakers, and other devices are not supported.
2. If you are having difficultly connecting or using a third-party Bluetooth keyboard, contact the manufacturer to verify that it is compatible with Apple products and Apple TV.
3. The original Apple Wireless Keyboard (2003), that features a white case and uses four AA batteries, is not compatible.

PAIRING

The first thing we need to do, as is the case when using any Bluetooth devices, is “pair” our hardware. Pairing is simply the process of connecting the two devices to each other, therein allowing them to communicate with each other.

1) From your main menu, navigate to the Settings -> General -> Bluetooth

3) At this point, let’s go ahead and turn on the keyboard and set it in “pairing mode”

5) You will immediately see the word “Bluetooth” at the top of your screen with the word “Searching” next to it.

6) In a matter of seconds you should see your Bluetooth keyboard’s name pop up on your Apple TV.

7) Using the Apple TV remote, click on the name that represents your Bluetooth keyboard.

8) You are now met with a sequence of 4 numbers: type these IN ORDER on your keyboard.

9) Congratulations, your keyboard is now paired with your Apple TV.

HOW TO USE

Now that your keyboard is paired with your Apple TV, everything can be controlled by either the keyboard or your Apple TV remote. So, let’s assume that you now want to put away your remote and control your system via the keyboard – here are the basic keys that you would be looking for:

You can use your keyboard to:

• Enter text and other information (search, email addresses, passwords, and so on)
• Navigate Apple TV menus using the arrow, Return, and Escape keys
• Navigate recently updated aTV Flash (black)
• Jump to an item, title, or name on the screen by typing the first few letters (for example, when viewing your music collection, you can type a song title or artist name to jump to it in the list)
• Use media controls when playing music and video to play or pause content and select previous or next.

Volume, brightness, and other controls are not available for Apple TV. Apple TV uses the U.S. English keyboard layout regardless of the keyboard’s hardware layout.

DISCONNECTING

If you want to stop using your keyboard or disconnect it from the Apple TV:

• Select Settings -> General -> Bluetooth
• Select your keyboard and then select “Forget this device”

(This article is also available in Spanish / Este artículo también está disponible en español)

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If you are one of our faithful fans who have XBMC Eden (11.0) installed on your jailbroken Apple TV 1, Apple TV 2, or any other device for that matter, we have some exciting news for you: the development team over at xbmc.org has been hard at work, this past month, preparing to release the latest iteration of their multimedia center software known only as Frodo (12.0). This update comes complete with a great deal of improvements, bug fixes, and extended hardware support. The real question is what will this mean for us Apple TV junkies. Well, this new build offers:

• HD audio support, including DTS-MA and Dolby True-HD, via the new XBMC AudioEngine (OSX/iOS not yet available)
• Live TV and PVR support
• h.264 10bit (aka Hi10P) video software decoding for anime
• 64bit support in OSX to match the 64bit support in Linux
• Improved image support, allowing the database to accomodate numerous additional image types and more interesting and complex skins
• Support for the Raspberry PI
• Initial support for the Android platform
• Improved AirPlay support across all platforms, including AirPlay audio in XBMC for Windows to match the other platforms
• Improved controller support in Windows and Linux
• Advanced Filtering in the library
• Video library tags to complement movie sets
• Advanced UPnP sharing
• Default video languages now match the language being used by XBMC
• Translations now powered by Transifex

For you Apple TV fans, one of the biggest adjustments is the extended support for H.D. audio. This latest builds helps enable you to make the most of the audio capabilities that the Apple TV has to offer. Aside from these listed improvements, you will see many changes under the hood. Some of these are great to see, others are a bit frustrating. One of the more exciting features, to me, is the inclusion of something known as skin.widgets. This tool makes skinning a much better experience. If you want to get a real idea of what this means for skins in Frodo, look no further than SiO2 by a developer named fastcolors. This skin is designed with you in mind.

Read also:How to change skins in XBMC on Apple TV

In contrast, one of the frustrating items is the fact that we lose the use of last.FM playback in this latest build. They explained this on their blog, at xbmc.org, as something that was unavoidable do to the changes in the coding, but it is missed none the less. It is also worth noting that there are quite a few add-ons/skins that are not currently supported in Frodo. Usually, this is not a problem as developers can easily make changes to get their add-ons/skins working in the latest XBMC build. Sadly, there are quite a few devs, of some well known add-ons/skins, that are no longer actively keeping their items up to date. This means that we may lose some of our favorite add-ons/skins in the upgrade. Time will tell.

All in all. It is worth the update. As a rule, we should always upgrade as it only improves the overall experience. If an add-on, or skin, is missed enough, someone will get it working again!

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It now seems as if it has been years since we began the wait for an Apple TV 3 jailbreak! The truth is, I have grown tired of the wait and decided to look into what I could do with my existing Apple TV 1 & Apple TV 2. What I found was an tool known as OpenELEC 2.0! OpenELEC is one of the projects that aims to give users the ability to install XBMC as a standalone operating system for a wide variety of devices. What OpenELEC has done is build a stable version of XBMC using Linux and then create an installable package, integrated with a host of drivers, for a growing number of machines, including: old & new laptops, old & new desktop computers, raspberry pi boxes, and, yes, even your old Apple TV 1! Sadly, due to the software/hardware, the Apple TV 2 is not supported.

OpenELEC is not, necessarily, new to the Apple TV scene. What is new is that they have recently released OpenELEC 2.0, a stable version of their software based on XBMC Eden. This gives the Apple TV a strong and stable, standalone, XBMC experience. With it being an Eden build, it even offers your little silver box AirPlay! The team has added a few functionality increases to XBMC and even has a custom group of add ons and services that are made available to OpenELEC users only. These tools alone, make this a project worth looking at! If you are interested, you can find more specific information for this project at openelec.tv. To save you the visit, here are some of the key points made by their team:

What is OpenELEC?

Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center, or OpenELEC for short, is a small Linux distribution built from scratch as a platform to turn your computer into a complete XBMC media center. OpenELEC is designed to make your system boot as fast as possible and the install is so easy that anyone can turn a blank PC into a media machine in less than 15 minutes.

Key Features:

• It’s completely free
• Full install only 80-125MB
• Minimal hardware requirements
• Trivial install onto HDD, SSD, Compact Flash, SD card, pen drive etc
• Optimized builds for Atom, ION, Intel, Fusion etc
• Simple configuration via XBMC
• Plug and Play external storage
• File sharing out of the box

Required?

1. Mac, or Linux, computer
2. USB Stick,with at least 1 Gig of memory (to be on the safe side)
3. Apple TV 1
4. Remote Control
5. 10-20 minutes

STEP 1:
Connect the USB key to your machine, then open your Terminal app (For Mac it is located in /Applications/Utilities) and cut/paste the following commands to download the AppleTV SwissArmyKnife USB creator script for Mac OS X:

• curl -O http://chewitt.openelec.tv/atv_swissarmyknife_osx.sh
• chmod +x atv_swissarmyknife_osx.sh
• sudo ./atv_swissarmyknife_osx.sh

STEP 2:

The script will ask you confirm the /dev/disk# for the USB Drive. It runs with root privileges so please be careful with your selection! You will see a list of all current drives available on your machine… so simply look for the name and size of your thumb drive. Once the target device has been confirmed the script will repartition the USB Stick, download files needed to boot the AppleTV (11MB) and then install them to the thumb drive. It should take no more than a couple of minutes to complete, at best.


PLEASE NOTE: If you choose the wrong drive, you could accidentally delete important content. Make sure you read the list of available devices carefully. Mine, for example was a 2 GIG drive that I named UMOUCH-ATVH. Once I knew the drive, I entered “/dev/disk2″ and hit Enter. You are then prompted to confirm the election… type in “Y” for yes. When complete, your output will match the image below:.STEP 3:
Power the AppleTV OFF and then connect the USB Stick to the single USB port, between the Ethernet port and the Power Cable on the back of your device.

STEP 4:
Power the AppleTV ON (Plug it in). After 10-15 seconds you should see the Grey/Blue OpenELEC logo on the screen, then the “SwissArmyKnife script” will start and confirm the current keyword function. The default keyword is “install”. This is where the device will download the OpenELEC software from the OpenELEC website.

STEP 5:
Before anything destructive is done, the installer will pause for roughly 30 seconds, and display a warning message; this ensures you enough time for you to power the AppleTV off (remove the power cable) before anything is changed. After the 30 second wait the installer continues. 

What is Happening  (advanced):

Once it completes, a message will be displayed telling you it is safe to remove the USB key and reboot.

That’s It! If you followed the steps correctly, you should have XBMC running as your standalone operating system! If you had any troubles with the process, openELEC has a great source for troubleshooting any, and all, issues: Troubleshooting USB Key Creation & Opperating System!

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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!

Black Friday has long been a great way to get insane deals on all things, especially when it comes to high-end tech and accessories. Thanks to Amazon.com, and others, we no longer have to deal with the clear downside of Black Friday… lines, lines, and more lines. Knowing there are likely to be many deals out there that will benefit you and your Apple TV setup, we thought we would collect some of the best Black Friday deals and put them here, for you. So whether looking for an Apple TV, a mount, a stand, a TV, cables, remotes, or some AirPlay devices, we have you covered. Though Amazon is not the only place to go, we have to admit they have clearly got the most going for them from pricing to delivery. That said, we will focus primarily on Amazon.com deals.

WHY AMAZON.COM (straight from the source)

You shouldn’t have to stand in a long line to get a great deal. We’ve been searching for the best Black Friday deals everywhere–including Black Friday deals other stores are planning–so we can bring them to you even earlier. These limited-supply deals will go quickly, but we’ll add new ones throughout the day, every day, so you can skip the long lines and still save a bundle.

The fact that Amazon is price comparing makes this search much easier on us but to ensure you are getting the best deal possible, we will compare each price with that of other sites. If we find a better deal, we will post it!

Apple TV 1

The box that started it all! We all have fond memories of this silver box, and for some (myself included) we still find them a vital part of our entertainment system thanks to OpenElec and CrystalBuntu! 

• 160G HD New – As low as $368.50
• 160G HD Used – As low as $128.74
• 40G HD New – As low as $400
• 40G HD Used – As low as $90

Apple TV 2

Though the Apple TV 1 started it all, the Apple TV 2 is the best Apple. Television, connected product out there. Considering the fact that there is still no jailbreak for the Apple TV 3, the 2^nd gen puck offers all the goods along with the ability to have XBMC installed on top of it!

• New – As low as $200
• Used – As low as $126

Apple TV 3

Perhaps the worst Apple TV to buy, the Apple TV 3 is seeing its own deals right now as well. Keep in mind that there is know way, as of now, to unlock this device meaning it will be the most expensive addition to your setup, in the long term.

• New – As low as $89

Now that you have you device figured out, let’s look at all the goodies that can go along with them:

Apple TV Mounts

• H-Squared TVTray – As low as $19.48 (30% off)

• NuStand – As low as $17.50 (35% off)

• Total Mount – As low as $17.55 (40% off)

• Out of Sight – As low as $14.99 (25% off)

AirPlay Devices

• iHome iW1 AirPlay Speakers – As low as $144.99 (50% off)

• Philips Fidelio SoundAvia with AirPlay – As low as $104.99 (48% off)

• Panasonic Audio System with iDock – As low as $157.68 (25% off)

• Altec Lansing inAir 5000 AirPlay Speakers – As low as $249.00 (50% off)

Apple TV Remotes

• Official Apple TV 2 & 3 – As low as $14.49 (25% off)

• Official Apple TV 1 – As low as $7.49 (50% off)

Logitech Harmony 700 – As low as $55.12 (60% off)

Acoustic Research ARi3G – As low as $25

Apple TV Audio Cables

• Amazon basic Digital Optical Audio Toslink Cable – As low as $5.49
• LQP  Premium Optical Toslink Audi Cable – As low as $3.33
• MediaBridge Toslink Optical Audio Cable – As low as $4.59 (70% off)

Apple TV HDMI Cables

• Amazon Basics High-Speed HDMI Cable – As low as  $5.49
• Official Apple HDMI Cable – As low as $17.99 (36% off)
• eForCity HDMI Cable for Apple TV – As low as $4.79

HD TV’S

• LG 42-Inch 1080p HDTV – As low as $479.00 (24% off)
• Toshiba 50-Inch 60Hz LED-LCD HDTV – As low as $499.99 (44% off)
• Seiki 46-Inch 1080p 60hz Slim LED HDTV – As low as $349.98 (50% off)
• TCL 55-Inch 1080p 240Hz LED HDTV – As low as $699.99 (36% off)

TV Stands

• 3M Adjustable Stand – As low as $23.36
• Screen Deck – As low as $24.94

Well, there you have it. We hope that this list helps you find some great deals for your entertainment system… and more importantly for you Apple TV! We personally enjoy more than a few of these products and look forward to hearing about the deals you are finding out there as well. Make sure to leave a comment with your thoughts or perhaps other deals that we missed!

Happy Holidays from Apple TV Hacks!

More deals:
Black Friday 2012: Deals on iPhone, iPad and iPod Accessories!
Best Black Friday Deals on iOS Apps

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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!

We have had XBMC 11.0 Eden for 8 months now and, if you are anything like me, it is time to begin the process of upgrading our XBMC installations to the new & improved XBMC 12.0 Frodo. The process should be fairly straight forward and essentially identical to the process we used for install the previous version of XBMC. Before we get started let’s clear the air on a few points so that we are all on the same page:

• This is a BETA release and as such may result in some unexpected behaviors.
• This is the 1’st BETA XBMC has released, there will be more to come.
• XBMC Frodo can cause a good time and may be habit forming.
• To install Frodo to Apple TV 1 you will need to:

- Visit OpenElec.tv regarding their 2.0 project
- Visit Stnlabs.comregarding their 2.0 project

How to install XBMC 12.0 Frodo (beta 1) APPLE TV 2 (Running iOS 5+)

Requirements

• Jailbroken ATV2 running iOS 5+
• Mac Computer (use Terminal App)
• Windows PC (use PuTTY App)

Step 1: Launch the “Terminal” or “PuTTY” application.

Step 2: Ensure that your computer and your Apple TV are on the same network.

Step 3: Connect to your Apple TV via SSH using the following commands.

• ssh root@[Your Apple TV’s I.P. Address]

Example: ssh root@192.168.2.18
This can be found under General/Network on your ATV’s main menu

Note: Should you receive an “Authentication Error,” copy and paste the following command into the Terminal window and press Enter, then continue.

• rm ~/.ssh/known_hosts

Step 4: Agree to any Security Prompts by typing “yes” (without quotations), then press Enter.

Step 5: When prompted for a Password, type the word “alpine” (without quotations) then press Enter.

Step 6: Copy and Paste the Following Commands into your Terminal App, pressing the Enter key after each. It’s important that you wait for each one to finish before moving onto the next. Don’t worry… you will know when each line is finished.

1)      apt-get install wget

2)      wget -O- http://apt.awkwardtv.org/awkwardtv.pub | apt-key add -

3)      echo “deb http://apt.awkwardtv.org/ stable main” > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/awkwardtv.list

4)      echo “deb http://mirrors.xbmc.org/apt/atv2 ./” > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/xbmc.list

5)      apt-get update

6)      apt-get install org.xbmc.xbmc-atv2

7)      reboot

Step 7: Once the Apple TV menu reloads, Launch XBMC into XBMC Frodo!

Step 8: To ensure the new build fits your screen, let’s enter the “Settings” sub menu under the “SYSTEM” heading.

Step 9: Select the “Appearance” tab from the left menu bar.

Step 10: Under the “Skin” menu, you’ll now want to choose “-4%” for the “Zoom” field so that your XBMC configuration will properly fit your television display. Depending on the television, you might have to play around with this, but it should work flawlessly at the “-4%” setting. Press “MENU” on your Remote Control to return back one level once this is done.

Congratulations! Your second generation Apple TV running iOS 5+ now has XBMC Frodo installed on it, and fitting on your screen. Now that wasn’t so bad… was it?

• More on FRODO from Apple TV Hacks : XBMC 12.0 Frodo (beta 1) released: One media center to rule them all!
• More on FRODO from XBMC.ORG
• Installation on other platforms.

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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!

If a jailbroken Apple TV loaded with XBMC 11.0 “Eden” was not enough for you, we have some great news. XBMC has just released their first public BETA of XBMC 12.0 “Frodo”. The team has been hard at work pushing out one of their fastest, and most feature-rich, upgrades in history. As of the release of Eden, XBMC’s current stable build that is likely installed on all of your Apple TV’s, the team promised the beginning of a new monthly building plan that would hopefully expedite the process of fixing bugs and updated releases. As of this week, it would appear that this plan has, in fact, worked.

For those of you who have been following XBMC you will notice that the naming paradigm has shifted with this release. Up to now, XBMC has named all of their releases according fantastical points on the map, either real or imagined, such as Camelot, Babylon, and Eden. With the release of 12.0, now in the “F” category, the team did something special in naming it FRODO. Where I initially thought the name was chosen to pay homage to one of my favorite literary characters from a ‘certain collection’ of stories, I was surprised to learn that it was actually intended to honor a team member. I will let them explain:

Ten years ago, an individual with the username Frodo joined the Xbox Media Player team, bringing along his open source software project called YAMP. With the addition of Frodo’s project the three founders, Frodo, d7o3g4q, and RUNTiME, released the first non-beta version of the Xbox Media Player – XBMP 2.0 – as open source software. Frodo then spearheaded the move from XBMP to the more feature rich XBMC, including acting as the primary author for the initial UI engine.

XBMC FRODO FEATURES (that ATV owners will enjoy):

• HD audio support, including DTS-MA and Dolby True-HD, via the new XBMC Audio Engine
• Live TV and PVR support [this is awesome news!]
• h.264 10bit (aka Hi10P) video software decoding for anime
• 64bit support in OSX to match the 64bit support in Linux
• Improved image support, allowing the database to accommodate numerous image types
• Improved Airplay support across all platforms
• Advanced Filtering in the library
• Advanced UPnP sharing numerous JSON-RPC updates, including PVR support, optimizations, better conflict handling, and better webserver support by Montellese
• PVR timeshift support (if the backend supports timeshift)
• the CD ripper now works in the background thanks to Spiff
• panoramic photo panning support

PLEASE NOTE

In hopes to give you the best information possible, we felt it would be worth pointing out that, though this is exciting, this is a BETA release! This version has yet to be labeled STABLE for a reason. For many people these builds work out just fine, as XBMC is a fantastic team, but this can vary from machine to machine. So in the heart of full-disclosure, here are a few words of warning from XBMC Developers themselves:

Needless to say, this is beta software. You should absolutely expect problems to occasionally crop up. At present, we are anticipating a number of issues as we switch XBMC over from the Eden addon repository to a new Frodo repository, including partly broken skins and various scripting/scrapers errors. Please bear with us if these problems do crop up. Additionally, PVR users will not be able to switch channels via the channel up/down buttons using their remotes or CEC due to a slight change in the way PVR keymaps are being handled. We are aware of this issue and should have it fixed by Beta2.

For those of you who may be chomping at the bit to get a glimpse of the newest build, in action, on your Apple TV(1 or 2) simply check back with us shortly. We will be posting a complete guide on how to install Frodo on your Apple TV!

More news on FRODO from XBMC.ORG.

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Making my Apple TV sexy is one thing I am passionate about. Whether you are want to change the background, adjust the location of your menu options, or even change the complete look and feel of your operating system, XBMC allows you to do it all! If you are a regular visitor to our site, you know that we are fans of XBMC and what it can do for you, and your Apple TV. Of all the benefits it offers, my favorite has to be the fact that XBMC offers skins. These skins are free to download, free to install, and free to design.

There are roughly 30 skins available today at XBMC.org. XBMC has “stable” skins that can be added via their repo, they have “stable “ skins that you can add via third party repositories, and they have skins that are in development that you can add, test, and play with.

This is the area of XBMC that I find myself playing with on a regular basis month to month. So, first-things-first: how do we change a skin with in XBMC?

Prerequisites:

• Decide what skin you would like: you can find a complete list of XMBC skins here.
• If needed, add the repository for that skin (click for help with repos)

Changing Your Skin:

Step 1: Navigate to the “Settings” menu under “SYSTEM” in XBMC.

Step 2: Select the “Appearance” tab on the left side bar.

Step 3: Under the “Skin” field on the right side of the window, select the name of your current skin. It should display “Confluence” by default.

Step 4: Select the name of the skin which you wish to use, I’ve chosen “Quartz” as an example (I will tell you why after we get through the HOW TO facet of this article).

Step 5: You will then see, after a few seconds, the interface change completely.

Things to consider:

The Apple TV is a unit with limited power. XBMC is a tool of tremendous power! If you are trying to use the fanciest skins, with the most abundant features, you will find that the Apple TV will begin to move at a snails pace. It is important when looking at skins to consider the effect it will have on your OS. That said, I have tested every skin you can find… yes, EVERY SKIN YOU CAN FIND and I can give you a little help on what skins offer a great experience without costing you performance:

(in no specific order)

• Quartz
• reFoucs
• refocus BIG (MODDED VERSION)
• XEEBO

The best place to go, if you want to investigate yourself or need some help with XBMC skins would be the official SKINS thread at XBMC.org.

(This article is also available in Spanish / Este artículo también está disponible en español)

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Desperately awaiting the release of a jailbreak for Apple TV 3? It may take a while, you know that, right? Meanwhile, how about digging your old, already jailbroken 1st gen Apple TV out of the closet and supercharging it with the newest aTV Flash? FireCore has just released aTV Flash 4.5 for the original Apple TV that includes support for Mountain Lion as well as a handful of general improvements and fixes.

What’s new in aTV Flash 4.5?

• Added support for OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion)
• Added active memory management (to keep things running smoothly)
• Added ability to copy files between playlists
• Resolved Smart Installer bug
• Other miscellaneous improvements and fixes

FireCore has also said they are still working on a number of additional features for the ATV1 and plan to have additional updates available soon.

Version 4.5 of aTV Flash is available through the Downloads tab in your account. If you’re already running aTV Flash on your Apple TV you can update through the Maintenance –> Manage Plugins menu.

Also read: How to install XBMC 11.0 Eden on first-generation Apple TV

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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!

The default remote control for your Apple TV is small, slick, and smooth. To many users, of Apple‘s “hobby” device, it is also thought to be too small and somewhat limited in features. For those of you have found the Apple TV to be limited only by its remote… you have likely found the iOS remote to be a decent alternative to Apples’ hardware offering. Though this iOS remote can help fill the void, eventually you will want to control your Apple TV while using your iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod) device for something else.

For years now Apple TV’s have had a simple, yet amazing, ability to use a remote that came with your TV, cable box, or DVD player to also control Apple TV (both 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd generation). Here is how to do this (official instructions from Apple):

Note: If you have an Apple TV (1st generation), update to Apple TV software 2.3 or later.

1. Using the Apple Remote included with Apple TV, choose Settings > General > Remotes.
2. Choose Learn Remote.
3. Set your remote to a device setting that doesn’t control any other devices in the area or identify other buttons that do not already control a function on your TV or other device. Many third-party remotes have an option to control different devices such as a VCR or DVD player, or have an auxiliary (AUX) option for an unspecified device.
4. Start.
5. Apple TV will display icons that represent the six buttons on the Apple Remote with the “Up” or “+” button highlighted first.
6. Using your third-party remote, press and hold the button you would like to use to control the “up” function until the blue progress bar is full, as shown below.

7. Apple TV will then select the next button function. Repeat step 6 and 7 using a different button
8. After you have programmed all six button functions, you can now use your third-party remote to control Apple TV.

Optionally, you can set up specific playback buttons for fast-forward, rewind, next chapter, and more.

You can program additional remotes to control Apple TV by repeating steps 1 through 8. At anytime you can rename, delete or revise your button choices for a selected third-party remote by choosing Settings > General > Remotes and selecting a third-party remote that Apple TV has already learned.

I, personally, encourage you to take the time and give it a go… and post your results below. This little trick can help breathe new life into your little magic box!

umOuch (Andrew Brasher)

You may also want to read:
FireCore: Work is underway on Apple TV 3 jailbreak and Apple TV 2 5.0 untethered jailbreak
aTV Flash (black) 1.5 for Apple TV 2 is live
How to install IceFilms on your jailbroken Apple TV

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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!

Original Apple TV got a lot of love yesterday. Soon after App Dynamic released Remote HD plugin 5.0 for the 1^st generation Apple TV, Firecore announced the release of aTV Flash version 4.4 for your original shiny box of joy. Apart from the support for the new Remote HD features (iOS 5 AirPlay streaming, support for playing DRM protected media, support for doubleTwist + AirTwist add-on), the new update includes support for Mac OS X Lion and NFS file streaming.

What’s new in aTV Flash 4.4?

• Added support for Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion)
• Added NFS file streaming (Lion compatible)
• Remote HD: Added support for iOS 5 AirPlay streaming
• Remote HD: Added support for playing DRM protected media from iOS devices and iTunes via AirPlay
• Remote HD: Added support for doubleTwist + AirTwist add-on (AirPlay from Android devices)
• Remote HD: Added supports enhanced slideshows with music when streaming via AirPlay
• Updated metadata scrapers
• Resolved VPN setup issues
• Other miscellaneous fixes

Full details on setting up NFS streaming from Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) can be found here.

aTV Flash version 4.4 is available through the Downloads tab in your account. If you’re already running aTV Flash on your AppleTV you can update through the Maintenance –> Manage Plugins menu.

You may also want to read:
Remote HD 5.0 plugin keeps old Apple TV kicking with iOS 5 support
Installing and Configuring a FTP Server in Your Apple TV 1st Generation
aTV Flash (black) RC1 for Apple TV 2 Now Available

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!