I’ve been waxing poetic on my Twitterstream about my Apple TV’s new lease on life, thanks to the Boxee Beta and a few related hacks.  A few friends have asked what exactly I did, so I thought I’d put the process together here.

I’m a Boxee beta tester, but you too should be able to get the Beta as it is released to the public.  There’s just one problem–there is no Beta release for the Apple TV.  But, never fear…the community is on top of things.  I honestly think that the Boxee Beta install is even easier than the Alpha ever was.

Ready to install?  The details are after the jump!

First of all, you’ll need to create a patchstick to open up access to your Apple TV.  If you don’t know how to do that, I’m not going to go into it here.  Most likely, you’re here because you already have your ATV patchsticked and you just want to be able to get the Beta on it.  If you don’t know how, use this handy dandy utility called ATV USB Creator.  Download it here.

Once you have SSH access to your Apple TV, you will need to SSH into your it.  Don’t forget, Apple TV hackers–the password is frontrow!  Once you’ve gotten access to your Apple TV via Terminal or the command prompt, you’ll need to download and run a script created by a Boxee/Apple TV enthusiast that installs Boxee along with Firefox 3.6, NitoTV, and the newest beta of Flash.  Run each line as a command, one at a time.

wget -m -nd http://www.green-light.ca/cmn_external/app/boxee/beta/BoxeeBetaInstallScript.sh
sudo sh BoxeeBetaInstallScript.sh latest
sudo reboot now

Once you’ve gotten your Apple TV rebooted, you’ll need to go to the Nito TV menu > Settings > Install Software > Smart Installer.  Let that do its thing installing…at this point I rebooted again for good measure once it was done.

This gets the latest and greatest bits installed.  After this, I actually did some further tweaking that has really helped the way that my Apple TV performs, especially with streaming video.  Another one of the forum members posted up these tweaks on the Boxee forums.  He recommends, as do I, that you shouldn’t attempt these tweaks unless you are comfortable with command line work and are willing to possibly require a factory restore on your Apple TV if you mess something up.  However, just follow the directions and you should be fine!

1. Tweak the network settings of the Apple TV.

Make sure you are SSH’ed into your Apple TV, and then you’ll use the terminal to create and run some files.

Type the first command in:

sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf

Then you’ll copy and paste the following:

kern.ipc.somaxconn=512
net.inet.tcp.mssdflt=1460
net.inet.tcp.sendspace=98304
net.inet.tcp.recvspace=98304
kern.ipc.maxsockbuf=1048576
net.inet.udp.maxdgram=57344
net.inet.udp.recvspace=42080
net.local.stream.sendspace=98304
net.local.stream.recvspace=98304
net.inet.tcp.delayed_ack=0
net.inet.tcp.rfc1323=1
net.inet.tcp.rfc1644=1
net.inet.tcp.newreno=1

Then press Control+X to save, and Y followed by Enter to accept the filename.

Then create a script that will initiate the changes you just made using these two commands (one at a time):

cd ~
nano -w Tweaks.sh

This will create another new file, which you’ll paste this into:

awk '{ if (!index($1, "#") && index($1, "=")) print $1 }' < /etc/sysctl.conf | while read
do
sysctl -w ${REPLY}
done

Control+X to save again, followed by Y and Enter to accept the filename.

Now, run the following commands (again, one at a time):

chmod +x ./Tweaks.sh
sudo ./Tweaks.sh

And you should get the following output (or else something went wrong):

kern.ipc.somaxconn: 128 -> 512
net.inet.tcp.mssdflt: 512 -> 1460
net.inet.tcp.sendspace: 32768 -> 98304
net.inet.tcp.recvspace: 32768 -> 98304
kern.ipc.maxsockbuf: 262144 -> 1048576
net.inet.udp.maxdgram: 9216 -> 57344
net.inet.udp.recvspace: 42080 -> 42080
net.local.stream.sendspace: 8192 -> 98304
net.local.stream.recvspace: 8192 -> 98304
net.inet.tcp.delayed_ack: 3 -> 0
net.inet.tcp.rfc1323: 1 -> 1
net.inet.tcp.rfc1644: 0 -> 1
net.inet.tcp.newreno: 0 -> 1

2. Create advancedsettings.xml to adjust the skiploop feature (making things run faster/smoother, as well as prevent the Boxee screen from randomly blanking out after you turn your TV off for a bit)

Still using SSH and the command prompt, run the following command, which will create another file for you:

nano /Users/frontrow/Library/Application\ Support/BOXEE/UserData/advancedsettings.xml

Then paste this into it, Control+X to save, Y plus Enter to accept the filename:

<advancedsettings>
<osx_gl_fullscreen>true</osx_gl_fullscreen>
<skiploopfilter>8</skiploopfilter>
</advancedsettings>

Exit Boxee, then run the following command:

rm /Users/frontrow/Library/Logs/boxee.log

Then restart Boxee, and issue the following command:

less /Users/frontrow/Library/Logs/boxee.log

You should scroll down in the results from that command and see a line about advancedsettings.xml.  If there is no error, things are just fine!

3. If you want to run Netflix…

Boxee does not include the Netflix app for Apple TV, and even though you’re installing the Mac version of the Beta it still doesn’t shoehorn the Netflix app into the install.  I wish it did, because despite the reports of the Apple TV not being powerful enough for it, it’s my experience that Netflix runs GREAT on the Apple TV after all these tweaks are done.

How exactly am I running Netflix?  Well, here’s the deal.  When you install Boxee Beta and Nito TV, Firefox 3.6 gets installed with it, along with Silverlight.  Go to the Nito TV menu from the main Apple TV menu, then choose Applications > Firefox.  You can use it like a normal browser, and I use it to watch streaming content from netflix.com.  I like to pause it and let it buffer just a little bit at the beginning so that playback is smooth.

In order to work with Firefox and Netflix on the Apple TV, I’ve done a couple of things.  I’ve used the Awkward TV wiki to enable the mouse pointer and install a VNC server so that I can easily control the screen using Chicken of the VNC on my Mac or Mocha VNC Lite on my iPhone.  I really only use that to choose what I want to watch from my queue if I’m too far away from the TV to see it clearly (the browser stuff is small).

Mostly, I use Rowmote Pro on my iPhone to control the Apple TV itself as well as Firefox, Boxee, and other apps using the remote feature and the wireless keyboard/mouse feature.  It works just like the keyboard does on my Mac when I’m using Netflix in Firefox–space bar pauses, escape exits from full screen.  Rowmote is great because it controls just about anything you want on your Mac, plus they have an installer so you can use it on the Apple TV too.  I had the 99 cent original Rowmote, but I upgraded to Rowmote Pro so that I could have the wireless keyboard and mouse in addition to just the remote functions.

Another thing I have done (that I figured out myself, mind you!) is installed the extension Full Fullscreen in Firefox on the Apple TV, and set it to launch in fullscreen mode every time. That gets rid of the annoying menu bar and such along the top and makes Firefox true fullscreen.  I’ve been using this extension for a while on my netbook for real fullscreen browsing and it’s fantastic.

It’s not the MOST elegant solution, but it works great to watch Netflix using the Apple TV.  We have an XBox 360 and PS3 in our living room, which I use quite a bit to watch Netflix and I really love the ease of access and always growing library of Netflix’s streaming offerings.  I was determined to find a way to easily watch Netflix on the new 19″ LCD HDTV in our bedroom, and I knew that I couldn’t move any of the gaming systems in from the big TV in the living room (my husband wouldn’t be pleased).  I also didn’t want to buy a Roku box or anything else just for Netflix access, but I knew that my netbook doesnt run it well enough that I could have just hooked it up to the TV.

I wanted the Apple TV to be able to work with my needs, and I wasn’t disappointed.  Between the Boxee installation for local media, music, Boxee apps, Hulu and other streaming media, and now Netflix for my streaming fix, PLUS all the shows and music available via the iTunes store, the Apple TV gives me just about anything I could want.

Thanks go to Keith and Jim from the Boxee forums for figuring out the Beta install and tweaks!

• Shooting in RAW, with RAW Average, RAW Sum, and RAW Develop features
• Live histogram (RGB, blended, luminance and for each RGB channel)
• Zebra mode (live-view under/over-exposure subject-area alerts)
• DOF-calculator, Hyperfocal-calculator with instant Hyperfocal and Infinity focus-set, and more
• Battery indicator
• RAW and Video space-remaining gauges with custom low-limit alerts
• Scripts execution (exposure/focus/bracketing, intervalometer and more)
• USB-cable remote shutter-release
• Motion-Detection triggered photography (fast enough to capture lightning strikes)
• Customizable high-speed continuous (burst) Tv, Av, ISO, and Focus bracketing (unlimited shots)
• 99 constant bit-rate and 10 constant-quality video compression levels
• 1 Gig video-size limit removed in earlier cameras
• Zoom during video for cameras without
• Shutter, Aperture, and ISO Overrides (shutter speeds of 64″ to 1/10,000″ and higher)
• High-speed Flash Sync at all speeds up to 1/64,000 second (even faster in some cameras)
• Custom framing, cropping, and alignment viewfinder Grids (user editable)
• File browser
• Text reader
• Calendar
• Some fun tools and games

Keep in mind that the installation methods for Mac and Windows are very different.  I completed my CHDK installation with the help of my G4 iBook and an SD card reader.

Before I could even download the beta CHDK, the first thing I needed to do was determine the firmware installed on my camera.  This will help you determine which CHDK to download.  Thankfully there are very detailed instructions.  Read on for my experience with the CHDK installation.

To determine the firmware on your camera, you have to create an empty text file called ver.req and put it in the root directory of your camera’s SD card.  I used TextEdit to create my text file.  I opened a new file, went to the Format menu and selected Make Plain Text (it opened in Rich Text Format), and then selected Save from the File menu.  It is important when you save the empty file that you make sure that you change the plain text encoding from UTF-8 to UTF-16 and that you uncheck the If not extension is provided, use .txt checkbox.  Your Save window should look something like this.  Don’t forget to put it in the root directory of your memory card!

It should be noted that it is a lot easier to save files to your memory card and get CHDK to work when you use a card reader versus plugging your camera in to your computer.  This is recommended by the CHDK wiki because sometimes the camera can be very finicky if you’re using it to transfer the CHDK files and get them working.

Once I got the ver.req file transferred over, I started the camera up in playback mode by pressing the playback button on the back of the camera.  Then, I held down the FUNC SET button while pressing the DISP button.  However, instead of seeing the firmware version as I had expected, I saw a blank screen with a stylized clock on it.  Never fear–this can happen with certain cameras and the ver.req file.  This just means that the particular camera needs a file called vers.req instead!  I popped my SD card back into the card reader, renamed the file, and returned it to the camera.  I held down FUNC SET and DISP again, and the camera informed me I was running firmware version 1.02A.

After checking the wiki page for the SD750, I downloaded the correct version of the CHDK beta for my camera.  For some reason, the ZIP file for my firmware was called filename.zip.zip.  When I saved it as-is, I could not unarchive it even when I renamed it to be filename.zip.  So, I deleted it and tried again, this time saving it as filename.zip during my download, which worked perfectly.  I unarchived the zip using Stuffit Expander–one important thing of note in the wiki is that the Archive Utility in Leopard 10.5 locks down files downloaded from the Internet to not run unless you do some complicated things in the Terminal.  If you use a utility such as The UnArchiver or Stuffit Expander, you don’t have the problem.  Stuffit unarchived two files: DISKBOOT.BIN and PS.FIR.  I copied both files to the root of my SD card, ejected it from my Mac and then installed the card back into my camera.

To get the CHDK running on my camera, I again started the camera up in playback mode and then pressed the MENU button.  I scrolled all the way down to the bottom and selected the Firm Update… entry from the menu.  The camera rebooted itself, and voila! CHDK is now running on my camera.  The great thing about CHDK is that it doesn’t actually overwrite your camera’s firmware.  Unless you set it up to load automatically upon startup (more on this process later), you just load it into the camera memory every time you turn your camera on by following the steps I described above.  Now, if I can just figure out these fancy new features on my camera…

If you’re interested in installing CHDK on your Canon camera, you can check for a CHDK version for your model here on the CHDK Wiki and click on the link for your model for more information.

Next up–using the CHDK!