Getting Broadcom CrystalHD into AppleTV [[ A 2 Z ;-) ]]

If you don't happen to know much about "crystalHD" yet, you will find the gist of the story here: http://xbmc.org/davilla/2009/12/29/broadcom-crystal-hd-its-magic/. In short, it's a mini pci-e card which lets you decode "H264" in hardware.

Can't wait to see the proper driver and XBMC version which will leave everyone with the possibility to have a kick-ass media center for the living room:

Which card to buy: BCM970012 or BCM970015 ?

Answer:  BCM970015.
Why: http://www.logicsupply.com/blog/2010/08/09/next-gen-broadcom-hardware-decoder-one-chip-many-advantages/

1. Installing hardware 
   http://rufn.it/aTV/
   http://patchstick.wikispaces.com/Broadcom+Installation
2. Installing driver
   http://todayguesswhat.blogspot.com/2010/01/thanks-davilla-and-xbmc-team-apple-tv.html
3. Installing XBMC
   
   (manual process)
   replace "latest.dmg" with the version you want. You can get a list of version on this website: http://mirrors.xbmc.org/
   

------------------------------------------------------------------------------SSH into ATV (username: frontrow, password: frontrow)
 
cd Downloads 
 
wget http://mirrors.xbmc.org/nightlies/osx/latest.dmg
or, curl http://mirrors.xbmc.org/nightlies/osx/latest.dmg

sudo hdutil mount latest.dmg
cp -r /Volumes/XBMC/XBMC.app /Users/frontrow/Applications/
sudo reboot
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(automatic process)

Installing XBMC and CrystalHD drivers by "Launcher":

• DON'T RUN THE "DEFAULTS" COMMANDS WITH SUDO.
  

• defaults write com.teamxbmc.xbmclauncher XBMCAdditionalDownloadPlistURLs -array-add http://mirrors.xbmc.org/nightlies/osx/update_urls.plist

• defaults write com.teamxbmc.xbmclauncher XBMCAdditionalDownloadPlistURLs -array-add http://crystalhd.sartori.at/files/crystalhd.plist
• defaults write com.teamxbmc.xbmclauncher XBMCAdditionalDownloadPlistURLs -array-add http://www.sshcs.com/xbmc/Info.asp
  
• REBOOT. THERE SHOULD BE TWO NEW ENTRIES UNDER "LAUNCHER" MENU NAMELY - NIGHTLIES, CRYSTAL-HD.

Checking Crystal-HD:

• grep -i crystal /Users/frontrow/Library/Logs/xbmc.log
• dmesg | grep -i crystal 

Getting Other log files:

• xbmc.log: /Users/frontorw/Library/Logs/xbmc.log
• Console log: /Library/Logs/Console/501/console.log
• Crashreporter log: /Users/frontrow/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/CrashReporter.log

More Info:

• http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/Broadcom_HD_Decoder 

CrystalHD-UBUNTU:This is a live ubuntu with crystalHD driver and xbmc, bootable from USB stick.

• Source: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=74992
• Download:
  
  • http://www.surfanddestroy.org/resources/xbmc-r28256-crystalHD-1.0.3-alsa-1.019-nvidia100.14.19-hardy-cust_machkernel-2.6.24.27.rar
  • http://stmlabs.com/resources/xbmc-r28256-crystalHD-1.0.3-alsa-1.019-nvidia100.14.19-hardy-cust_machkernel-2.6.24.27.rar
    
    MD5 hash: d4cb24bca0042e84425ab23454a5bab4
    

Installing Ubuntu on AppleTV:

There is a very nicely written wiki located here:

• http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO_install_a_Miminal_Ubuntu_and_XBMC_with_sound_over_HDMI_on_the_AppleTV

Related Threads on XBMC Forum:

1. http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=81209
   
   Quotes:
   
   

   atv(osx) has a quirk that limits display to 720p, it's been discussed about a million times and here's a trac ticket for it.
   
   atv(linux) has no such limit, xorg controls display resolutions that are available.
   --
   davilla
   Team-XBMC Developer
   2010-09-20, 10:21