__1. Get xVid working. __
This thread at the SomethingAwful.com forums shows how. It's not for the faint-hearted, and even enthusiastic tinkerers will need to put in some elbow grease, removing the hard drive and mounting it on a standard Mac. The goons are currently working on getting keyboards to work.
__2. Upgrade the hard drive.
__
A Gizmodo reader purports to have accomplished this, but there's no "howto" yet up. It might be as easy as ripping it it open and swapping out the drive with a similar model (Fujitsu, if you're wondering). This makes me wonder: did he have to copy an image of Apple TV's gimped, Finderless OSX from the old drive? What about those hidden partitions?
__3. Hook it up to an old TV.
__
You can convert the widescreen/HD only output to work on older SD televisions with a simple adapter. The linked one here is, however, ludicrously expensive at $100 — Before springing, see if a standard component-to-SVideo/Composite adapter doesn't do the trick by itself.
More hacks should soon be forthcoming, given that the thing really is just a Mac Mini with fancy TV out and a tight UI experience. Moreover, the graphics chip turns out to be a GForce 7300 — that's a capable little DX9-ready bugger — making the prospect of World of Warcraft suddenly rather possible.
Also, check out Apple TV's screensaver. Port to standard-issue Mac, plz!
.png){kind=logo}
