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An open source media centre is available on Ithings
A TEAM of open sourcerors has ported some free media centre software so it runs on a host of Apple's Ithings.
The coders ported its XBMC open source media centre software that can run on jailbroken Apple TV2s, Ipads and Iphone 4s.
On their blog, the testers said they did the port simply to see if it was possible and it was. However, as it requires jailbroken hardware it's not a legitimate application that you can get at the Apps Store.
"You might have guessed, you won't be seeing XBMC in the app-store any time soon, since it directly competes with apple products," blogged the XBMC team.
"You will need to jailbreak your device first. After that, head to the wiki for instructions for the atv2 or ipad/iphone," they added.
XBMC is a fully featured open source media centre app that has a long list of supported codecs. Installing it on an Apple TV2 means you don't have to rely on bloatware like Itunes and you don't have to transcode videos anymore. It also adds full hardware decoding and lets you choose how you want to share files on your network.
As with the Apple TV2, putting XBMC on the Ipad or Iphone 4 is a full software install rather than an app that accesses a remote or thin client streamer.
XBMC lets users share media so it's not tied to Itunes, and it even offers hardware acceleration for most formats. µ
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But XBMC is NOT a fully featured open source media centre app. Cant do TV(DVBT).
The software improves the Apple TV, but a major fault remains - Apple TV can only output 720p even if given a 1080p signal to decode. Even my £29 Hisense player and £60 WD HD player can output a 1080p picture, and they have slower chipsets.
I think it's a major failing and I bet Apple fix it in their next hardware update when they use the faster A5 chip.