06-17-2011, 09:49 AM

i bought a apple tv 1 to put movies on hard drive when i bought it 2nd hand the video content on it was good had a couple of poor quality movies i thought they were just badly converted but synced it to my itunes to put my movies on it and have mild pixilation on all the movies and poor picture quality i have tried different connections and picture settings but it makes no difference doesnt matter wether you stream it or put it on hard drive i have factory restored it and updated the software on it can anyone point me in the right direction to fix it

i can watch movies in itunes perfect picture i can also watch it on my apple tv 2 without any problems

06-21-2011, 07:58 AM

I'm sorry, but your post is one long run-on sentence and I'm having trouble deciphering this. The movies that you say look bad when played on the ATV1… do they look equally bad on the ATV2 or on your PC? Do any movies look good when played via the ATV1?

06-21-2011, 07:15 PM

The apple tv 1 has bad picture pixilated
The pc and apple tv 2 perfect picture

06-22-2011, 12:57 AM

Originally Posted by 67mustang

The apple tv 1 has bad picture pixilated
The pc and apple tv 2 perfect picture

Alrighty. How is the ATV1 connected? What kind of cables? HDMI? Component cable? My best guess at the moment is there is a problem with the cable you are using. If you can use either type of connection, switch to the other. If not, try a different set of cables.

06-22-2011, 08:03 PM

I am using a new hdmi cable it works on the apple tv 2 with no problems so I didn't think that would be the issue

06-22-2011, 11:43 PM

Originally Posted by 67mustang

I am using a new hdmi cable it works on the apple tv 2 with no problems so I didn't think that would be the issue

Alrighty, well then the cable wouldn't be the problem. This narrows it down to likely being the HDMI port on the ATV, or on the TV. If you can, try switching to another HDMI port on the TV. If that still looks bad, try component cables instead if your TV supports them. Other than this, there's really not much else to do other than perhaps a factory restore on the ATV to rule out a software issue.

06-24-2011, 09:56 AM

I ran apple tv with component cables has made no change picture still pixilated
Factory restored no difference
Updated software no change
Is there a way to check software or hardware for fault via the USB port

06-24-2011, 10:47 AM

Originally Posted by 67mustang

I ran apple tv with component cables has made no change picture still pixilated
Factory restored no difference
Updated software no change
Is there a way to check software or hardware for fault via the USB port

None that I am aware of. The only other thing to really do is try it on another TV set. It may be some weird incompatibility with your set.

What you could also try is make a patchstick, then try your videos with XBMC to see if that makes a difference.
atvusb-creator - USB flash drive creator for the AppleTV - Google Project Hosting

06-26-2011, 03:36 AM

ran atv patch stick the video is good now both on xbmc and boxee
but i would still rather run video through itunes
is it the way i have converted video using handbrake as it works fine for itunes and apple tv2
settings i used were h.264 25 fps pal average bitrate 2500 kbps audio aac dolby pro logic 160 kbps ac3 passthru auto 384 large file size and 2 pass encodeding

06-26-2011, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by 67mustang

ran atv patch stick the video is good now both on xbmc and boxee
but i would still rather run video through itunes
is it the way i have converted video using handbrake as it works fine for itunes and apple tv2
settings i used were h.264 25 fps pal average bitrate 2500 kbps audio aac dolby pro logic 160 kbps ac3 passthru auto 384 large file size and 2 pass encodeding

Ah yes, that does appear to be the problem. Here are the h.264 requirements for the original ATV:

H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): Up to 5 Mbps, Progressive Main Profile (CAVLC) with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (maximum resolution: 1280 by 720 pixels at 24 fps, 960 by 540 pixels at 30 fps) in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

The problem is that it doesn't support 720p content at greater than 24 fps. There are also other x264 encoding options that the ATV2 preset uses and are supported by the ATV2, but not supported on the original ATV.

06-26-2011, 11:03 AM

thanks for all the help changed settings works okay
i should have checked the specs didnt think it would be any different sorry

06-26-2011, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by 67mustang

thanks for all the help changed settings works okay
i should have checked the specs didnt think it would be any different sorry

No sweat. I had the original ATV and quite frankly I thought it was an underpowered hunk of garbage. I'm happier with the ATV2, but even that still has room for improvement.