ATV vs ATV2 - which one to buy?
#1
First off I will let everyone know I am very new to XBMC, media center's etc... I tried a few years back to build a htpc and gave up. I came across the XBMC app while on my ipad the other day, installed it and found the user interface amazing, so I starting thinking and reading and reading, a lot of reading the past 2 days and decided that I wanted to create a media center so the kids and family could 1) view movies and listen to music and stream some tv shows and movies and not have to be in front of the home computer or in front of my ipad.

I think the Apple TV or Apple TV2 are my best bet as most I have come across already have xbmc and add ons installed. The question that I have is which one should I get? Both seem to be at the same price level on eBay and local craiglist sites, I like the idea that I can add an external drive to the ATV so I don't have to set up a shared network (seems confusing to me). I read that I should add a Broadcom Crystal HD to get the 1080 i/p. Since this is going to be a $250 - $300 investment I want to make sure I spend it correctly,which one should I get?
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#2
The ATV and ATV2 both do 720p max output - so if 1080 is important to you - you cant hack the ATV2 - so maybe the ATV?
Also - you cant hook up a hard drive to the ATV2 - as you mention you want to do - so again - the ATV?

But its not too hard to set up sharing - depends on what you already have (network) and the hardware I guess.
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#3
$250?? It should be possible to get an ATV1 in good condition on ebay and the BCHD both for under $150.

In any case:

ATV1 (wiki) + BCHD (wiki) + Crystalbuntu (wiki) > ATV2

normal ATV1 < ATV2

So yeah, if you can get an ATV1 in good condition and are willing to do the BCHD install (very easy), then I would go for the ATV1. I have 2 ATV1s and 1 ATV2, and my ATV1s are my favorite HTPCs right now.
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#4
@Enthdegree there's a great overview in this thread http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=130945

I've had both the ATV1 and ATV2. ATV1 is great if you are happy to stump up the cash for both atv1 and BCHD, tear off the rubber bottom, get the torx screws out, pull out the wireless card and pop in the CHD. Its easy to do and fun if you enjoy that sort of thing. You also need to prepare the Crystalbuntu stick...or if you want to stick with the Apple OS there's the patchstick process. I think people go down the Crystalbuntu route as the XBMC UI becomes snappier.

The ATV2 is also great but is now overpriced because ATV3 hasn't been jailbroken. I love having both the ATV2 native features with iTunes, Airplay Mirroring, iPad Remote App etc in combination with XBMC. You need to be happy with connecting the ATV2 with a networked hard drive though which you said you weren't comfortable with. ATV2 will happily play 720p and is a smaller form factor than the ATV1 and consumes a lot less power (ATV1 has no powersaving to speak of and gets egg frying hot). There's a good guide to whether you will appreciate 1080p v 720p here (but most people just want to turn it up to 11 right) http://carltonbale.com/1080p-does-matter/

WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) I think is high for both ATV1 & ATV2.

Given your requirements I have a feeling the Android route might be the way to go for you:-

Pros
Almost certainly lower cost
Easily Plug in USB Drives
Simple to set up
Small Form Factor and generally good WAF I would say
Easily boot directly into xbmc if you want to avoid all the android goodness

Cons
Early days for hardware decoding+XBMC which means XBMC + Android is a little bit of a teaser/taster at the moment

However, using the MoviePlayer App is an alternative until XBMC Android is more mature

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ATV vs ATV2 - which one to buy?0