Nuvyyo’s new Tablo app is the first real live TV app on the Apple TV 4. The app is free but it requires you purchase additional hardware (Tablo DVR), antenna and TV guide service, because, obviously, Apple TV doesn’t have a coaxial connection in the back that you can hook up an antenna.

Tablo is not an IPTV app. It’s a hardware and service that gives you major networks over the air, like NBC, ABC, Fox, CBS, PBS, and as many channels as the antenna in or on your house can pick up.

You get a grid-style Program Guide and the ability to record single and multiple recordings. You also can manage recordings right from the app.

This is the best way to stop paying a monthly subscription to your cable provider and cut the cord for good.

Last year Apple stated: “The future of television is apps”. And they are correct.

Watch the video and tell me if you agree.

Learn more about Tablo.

Search for “Tablo” on your Apple TV’s App Store to download the free app.

Also check out:

• Infuse 4 for Apple TV 4: first look (video)
• Plex on Apple TV 4 explained (video)
• How to save media files to your Apple TV 4 ‘hard drive’ for offline viewing (video)

You can find more videos on my YouTube channel AskUncleDave.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post A first look at Tablo’s live TV and DVR app for Apple TV 4 (video) appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Tablo has finally released a native Apple TV app that was unveiled and previewed at this year’s CES. The free app lets Tablo customers record and stream both live and recorded broadcast TV programs on their big screen TVs via the 4th gen. Apple TV.

The app works in conjunction with the networked Tablo DVR, a small $200 box that plugs into a digital TV antenna to capture free, local HDTV broadcast programs including news and sports within the US and Canada.

Unlike traditional DVRs that are connected to one TV, Tablo does not feature an HDMI connection – it connects to your home network using WiFi or Ethernet to stream content to any connected device inside your home or anywhere you have internet.

With version 1.0 of the Tablo App for Apple TV, customers can get access to their favorite network shows via both a Live TV guide and Recordings screens. One-time and series recordings can also be scheduled for programs airing within the next 24 hours.

Thanks to integration with Apple TV Siri Remote, Tablo users can easily skip commercials simply by asking Siri to jump ahead in the stream.

The app is said to provide “exceptionally fast performance during in-app navigation, as well as launching both live TV and recorded playback streams” thanks to the “superior processing power” of Apple TV 4.

Tablo also announced that the additional screens and features will be rolled out “over the coming months”.

Tablo app for Apple TV 4 is available for download now through the Apple TV App Store.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post Tablo offically launches its live TV and DVR app for Apple TV appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Apple TV has just gained a new CNNgo channel featuring live streaming and on-demand content. CNNgo requires a subscription to a participating pay-TV partner for viewing live content and full shows, while the short clips can be watched without a cable subscription.

Pay-TV customers can log in for access to Live TV and Shows, such as CNN Original Series Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown, Finding Jesus, Mike Rowe’s Sombody’s Gotta Do It,Morgan Spurlock Inside Man, This is Life with Lisa Ling, The Wonder List with Bill Weir and Anderson Cooper’s nightly news program, AC 360°.

All users of Apple TV can enjoy a collection of hand-curated clips by topic – from world and politics to entertainment and tech – in the Must See section.

This marks the first Turner brand to launch on Apple TV. CNNgo’s launch on Apple TV joins CNN’s current offerings on CNN.com and on the CNN app for iPad.

This Apple TV offering refresh comes just a day after Apple added TED Talks, Tastemade and Young Hollywood channels to its set-top box.

On a similar note, Apple is working on their own standalone streaming service, and the HBO NOW service is coming to Apple TV next month. Also, Apple TV 4 with a new interface, upgraded specs, own App Store and Siri integration is expected to be unveiled in June.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post CNNgo channel added to Apple TV appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Major network TV4 landed on the Apple TV in Sweden yesterday, becoming the first Scandinavian content provider to launch on Apple set-top box. Apple TV users in Sweden can now access TV4 Group’s TV4 Play service that gives viewers direct access to a wide range of TV4 content including live broadcasting and on-demand content.

With ‘TV4 Play’ on Apple TV, full episodes of current TV4 Group shows are available to watch for up to 7 days after their original air date. ‘TV4 Play Premium’ subscribers in Sweden can access an extensive library of additional content with most current and previously aired episodes available for a longer time period.

The ‘TV4 Play’ experience on Apple TV also includes:

• play queue support
• easy access to a personalised list of favourite shows
• a “resume play” option allowing viewers to pick up watching an episode right where they left off

Selected shows are available in HD only through ‘TV4 Play’ on Apple TV, with the number of available HD shows expected to “increase rapidly” over the coming months.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post TV4 network launches on Apple TV in Sweden appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has been building out an extensive network of data centers and connections as groundwork for moving deeper into television. Today, Apple uses a mix of content that is hosted in Apple-owned data centers and content distribution from Level 3 and Akamai, which is a good strategy for more “static” content like what is currently available in the iTunes store. Essentially, Apple can push a copy of “Thor: The Dark World” to Akamai and let them provide the servers and bandwidth to all of the users who purchase the movie.

Where this model fails is when more interactive or real-time content is being viewed. If Apple is truly going to compete for living room space as the primary set-top device, the “Live TV” problem must be tackled. Verizon did a reasonably good job of this with the Super Bowl, streaming it live to a peak of 1.1 million viewers. Yet this was a paltry 1% of the total TV audience, and those viewers were often watching the game with a 20-30 second delay. This is problematic for almost any live event, and a deal-breaker when it comes to sporting events.

The fundamental problem is one of fairly simple math. Using the new “Thor” movie as an example, the bandwidth required for a single viewer of the 1080P stream is 4.5Mb/s, well within the realm of most broadband users in the U.S. Unlike “Thor”, however, Apple can’t ship a copy of the Super Bowl video to Akamai and let them handle streaming that 4.5Mb/s out to millions of users. The streaming needs to occur in as close to real-time as possible.

Apple approaches services like this from an evolutionary perspective. Downloading of music content was the first offering, and the infrastructure was scaled up, broke, fixed, and scaled some more. Then, standard definition video downloads were added. Scale, break, fix, scale. High definition video downloads. Scale, break, fix, scale. Then streaming of static content, both music and video. In this process, they have undoubtably learned many lessons about how to build and manage the infrastructure required to support large-bandwidth events, whether it’s a new movie or the release of iOS 7. And they have learned is what they can use partners like Akamai and Level 3 for, and what they cannot.

Being the control freaks they are, it would be surprising if they continued to rely on Akamai for such a large portion of their user experience, and even more surprising if they believed that a 20-30 second delay for something like the Super Bowl would be acceptable to their users. The only solution to this is to build out the infrastructure themselves, allowing them to produce and deliver the content with as little latency as possible to as many users as possible, while still meeting their goals for quality and performance.

The WSJ article certainly lends credence to this. Apple has 20 million Apple TV’s sold to date, and another 700 million iOS devices. Whatever they build has to support this volume of users. For Apple to handle just 10% of the Super Bowl viewers via Apple TV would require a staggering 45 Terabits of data per second, all of that delivered in a manner that is at least comparable in quality and latency to what users receive today from their cable provider. From the sounds if it, they are preparing to do just that.

Related articles:

• New rumors on Apple TV 4 surface as Apple TV gains special profile at Apple official website
• Opinion: Where is Apple taking the TV in 2014?
• Native gaming on Apple TV could soon become a reality as a new Apple TV with its own App Store is on the way, sources say

The post WSJ: Apple quietly building its own content delivery network as possible groundwork for television appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

• HD audio support, including DTS-MA and Dolby True-HD, via the new XBMC AudioEngine (OSX/iOS not yet available)
• Live TV and PVR support
• h.264 10bit (aka Hi10P) video software decoding for anime
• 64bit support in OSX to match the 64bit support in Linux
• Improved image support, allowing the database to accomodate numerous additional image types and more interesting and complex skins
• Support for the Raspberry PI
• Initial support for the Android platform
• Improved AirPlay support across all platforms, including AirPlay audio in XBMC for Windows to match the other platforms
• Improved controller support in Windows and Linux
• Advanced Filtering in the library
• Video library tags to complement movie sets
• Advanced UPnP sharing
• Default video languages now match the language being used by XBMC
• Translations now powered by Transifex

For you Apple TV fans, one of the biggest adjustments is the extended support for H.D. audio. This latest builds helps enable you to make the most of the audio capabilities that the Apple TV has to offer. Aside from these listed improvements, you will see many changes under the hood. Some of these are great to see, others are a bit frustrating. One of the more exciting features, to me, is the inclusion of something known as skin.widgets. This tool makes skinning a much better experience. If you want to get a real idea of what this means for skins in Frodo, look no further than SiO2 by a developer named fastcolors. This skin is designed with you in mind.

Read also:How to change skins in XBMC on Apple TV

In contrast, one of the frustrating items is the fact that we lose the use of last.FM playback in this latest build. They explained this on their blog, at xbmc.org, as something that was unavoidable do to the changes in the coding, but it is missed none the less. It is also worth noting that there are quite a few add-ons/skins that are not currently supported in Frodo. Usually, this is not a problem as developers can easily make changes to get their add-ons/skins working in the latest XBMC build. Sadly, there are quite a few devs, of some well known add-ons/skins, that are no longer actively keeping their items up to date. This means that we may lose some of our favorite add-ons/skins in the upgrade. Time will tell.

All in all. It is worth the update. As a rule, we should always upgrade as it only improves the overall experience. If an add-on, or skin, is missed enough, someone will get it working again!

The post XBMC Frodo (12.0) is officially released appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

If a jailbroken Apple TV loaded with XBMC 11.0 “Eden” was not enough for you, we have some great news. XBMC has just released their first public BETA of XBMC 12.0 “Frodo”. The team has been hard at work pushing out one of their fastest, and most feature-rich, upgrades in history. As of the release of Eden, XBMC’s current stable build that is likely installed on all of your Apple TV’s, the team promised the beginning of a new monthly building plan that would hopefully expedite the process of fixing bugs and updated releases. As of this week, it would appear that this plan has, in fact, worked.

For those of you who have been following XBMC you will notice that the naming paradigm has shifted with this release. Up to now, XBMC has named all of their releases according fantastical points on the map, either real or imagined, such as Camelot, Babylon, and Eden. With the release of 12.0, now in the “F” category, the team did something special in naming it FRODO. Where I initially thought the name was chosen to pay homage to one of my favorite literary characters from a ‘certain collection’ of stories, I was surprised to learn that it was actually intended to honor a team member. I will let them explain:

Ten years ago, an individual with the username Frodo joined the Xbox Media Player team, bringing along his open source software project called YAMP. With the addition of Frodo’s project the three founders, Frodo, d7o3g4q, and RUNTiME, released the first non-beta version of the Xbox Media Player – XBMP 2.0 – as open source software. Frodo then spearheaded the move from XBMP to the more feature rich XBMC, including acting as the primary author for the initial UI engine.

XBMC FRODO FEATURES (that ATV owners will enjoy):

• HD audio support, including DTS-MA and Dolby True-HD, via the new XBMC Audio Engine
• Live TV and PVR support [this is awesome news!]
• h.264 10bit (aka Hi10P) video software decoding for anime
• 64bit support in OSX to match the 64bit support in Linux
• Improved image support, allowing the database to accommodate numerous image types
• Improved Airplay support across all platforms
• Advanced Filtering in the library
• Advanced UPnP sharing numerous JSON-RPC updates, including PVR support, optimizations, better conflict handling, and better webserver support by Montellese
• PVR timeshift support (if the backend supports timeshift)
• the CD ripper now works in the background thanks to Spiff
• panoramic photo panning support

PLEASE NOTE

In hopes to give you the best information possible, we felt it would be worth pointing out that, though this is exciting, this is a BETA release! This version has yet to be labeled STABLE for a reason. For many people these builds work out just fine, as XBMC is a fantastic team, but this can vary from machine to machine. So in the heart of full-disclosure, here are a few words of warning from XBMC Developers themselves:

Needless to say, this is beta software. You should absolutely expect problems to occasionally crop up. At present, we are anticipating a number of issues as we switch XBMC over from the Eden addon repository to a new Frodo repository, including partly broken skins and various scripting/scrapers errors. Please bear with us if these problems do crop up. Additionally, PVR users will not be able to switch channels via the channel up/down buttons using their remotes or CEC due to a slight change in the way PVR keymaps are being handled. We are aware of this issue and should have it fixed by Beta2.

For those of you who may be chomping at the bit to get a glimpse of the newest build, in action, on your Apple TV(1 or 2) simply check back with us shortly. We will be posting a complete guide on how to install Frodo on your Apple TV!

More news on FRODO from XBMC.ORG.

The post XBMC 12.0 Frodo (beta 1) released: One media center to rule them all! appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Holiday Gift Guide 2015: Best Accessories for Apple TV

Wondering how to watch live sport streaming on Apple TV? The answer is easy: XBMC, AirPlay, Mac/PC screen mirroring and, of course, native Apple TV sport apps. Finding football, baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, UFC, WWF, or anything else on your Apple TV can feel like and impossible task to anyone one who sits down and sees the limited options in Apple iOS interface, with its limited content partnerships. Though it looks bleak there is a very bright cloud to this quandary and that is the never-ending combination of features we can through at this magical little box.

XBMC

If you have read any of my other pieces, you already know that I am an XBMC fan-boy. XBMC is the best thing to happen to the Apple TV for many reasons, the least of which being its ability to stream live sports content. There are many addons that can be found at forums.xbmc.org to fill your gaming needs! Here is a list of the most popular, stable tools:

• SportsDevil

This is easily one of the more popular, and better-known, add-ons when it comes to sports and XBMC. This add-on is great because it works 95% of the time. I have only ever missed one college game with SportsDevil. This add-on is free and there is no charge for connecting to the streams it makes available.

Download SportsDevil addon (note: you’ll need to add the Max Mustermann repository to get SportsDevil working on your Apple TV.)

Read more about SportsDevil

• LiveTV

This is another great source for sporting content. The truth is, if you want to view a LIVE TV event… one of your best bets would be to view it via this Live TV add-on. With in this add-on you are able to choose different categories of TV, specifically Sports. You are then given a large list of links for currently streaming sports channels: ESPN, CBS, NBC, etc. And again… this add-on is free to use.

Download LiveTV addon

• Navi-X

Navi-X is one of the best tools, yet sometimes tricky to utilize. This add-on often has more links than any other source out there for LIVE streaming TV and specifically SPORTS. The trick is finding them. If you are unfamiliar with Navi-X you will simply want to use the search feature found on the main screen. Otherwise, often you can scroll through the MOST POPULAR OVER THE PAST 24 HOURS and you will see all of the Live Sports Streams posted on this page.

Download Navi-X addon

Check out this tutorial to learn how to install XBMC addons on Apple TV (1st and 2nd generation).

AirPlay

If XBMC is the best thing to happen to the apple TV, AirPlay is certainly the second best! Quite often you can find the game you want on apps that are available in the AppStore for you iOS device (iPhone, iPod, iPad). With these apps, or perhaps a webpage link, you are able to AirPlay content from your mobile device’s screen to your Apple TV, or even XBMC on your Apple TV, without skipping a beat.

• Justin.TV (iOS)

Justin.TV is a long time king of live sports streams. Though this app can be more hit and miss than its XBMC counterparts, it does often have what you are looking for. Simply download the app, search for the game, and choose the AirPlay option to through the video to your Apple TV.

• CBS SPORTS (iOS)

Get CBS Sports for iPhone! The app delivers comprehensive news, video and scores for MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, Golf, Tennis, NASCAR, College hoops and more. Follow your favorite team and sport, and catch up on the latest news, scores, stats and video highlights of the day. Plus, the app offers live streaming College Basketball and Football

• TO MANY TO COUNT (iOS)

To be fair, when it comes to the ability to AirPlay there is a limitless number of options that are available in the form of the AppStore apps. For this reason, here is a link to the AppStore offering all of the apps labeled “sports”.

• Android 

Though Android devices do not have the iOS 5 feature of AirPlay built in, XBMC does! With this remote installed on your mobile device, you can send any “ONLINE” video content to your XBMC installation on your Apple TV. This is true AirPlay functionality with out the name, or the help of Apple.

Holiday Gift Guide 2015: Best Accessories for Apple TV

The post How to watch live sports on Apple TV appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

ITV has launched a new update of its ITV Player app for the iPhone and iPad, which will let users not only watch its stations live for the first time (ITV1 and ITV2 channels), it also has been updated to AirPlay directly to your Apple TV 2 or Apple TV 3.

Until now, the previous version of the ITV Player app only allowed viewers access to archive content or the ability to catch up on programmes after they were broadcast for seven days. So now being able to watch LIVE TV – over both Wifi and 3G – and also via AirPlay Mirroring, this has made this app brilliant.

There is a catch, though, not all devices support AirPlay Mirroring, only  iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and 3, and the app only works in the UK.

When I AirPlay mirrored this app to my 42” LED TV screen I was amazed at how brilliant it works. I was expecting maybe some drag or some interference from my iPad to my Apple TV, but there was none, it works seamlessly. For a free app to work so perfect on AirPlay, this is a must to download.

And since the ITV will be broadcasting EURO 2012 tournament, thanks to ITV Player app you will be able to watch EURO 2012 matches live on your Apple TV.

So have you tempted enough to go and download this app?  Well if you have, you can get it from here

iJ0rd8n

The post iTV Player app adds live streaming, supports AirPlay Mirroring appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

We all know we can watch live sports online, but sometimes it’s a right mission to get to where you want to go or find a good link to watch live sports right on the Apple TV. Well, this is where SportsDevil, an XBMC addon, comes into its own!

SportsDevil gives you access to thousands of links for all the different kinds of sports. And I mean all! You will be shocked to see how many different varieties of sport that SportsDevil covers. It gives you several internet steaming sites to where you can view sporting events (it seems that it gets updated with new streaming sites every month or so).

There are 6 streaming sites with live sports at the moment which you can choose from, hopefully this list will get bigger to give you more and more options. Not every stream will work, but you normally have 10+ links per streaming of whatever sporting event you choose, and 1 of them will work for you! In my experience, SportsDevil really stands up to its name and I can’t go without this on my Apple TV 2.

List of supported sites:

• Live Sports
  • LiveTV.ru
  • FirstRowSports.eu
  • ChanFeed.com
  • LSHunter.tv
  • RojaDirecta.me
  • Coolsportz.de

• Highlights
  • Goalsarena.com
  • LiveTV.ru

• Blogs
  • Sport1.de (german)
  • Captain-Trikot.de (german)

• TV
  • LiveSportsOnWeb.com
  • Twww.tv
  • PutPat.tv
  • ShadowNet.ro
  • TVEmbed.eu
  • MyPremium.tv

List of supported streams.

Download

IMPORTANT: You’ll need to add the Max Mustermann repository to get SportsDevil working on your Apple TV.

Download SportsDevil addon

Installation
1. Go to addon browser
2. Install from zip or via repo by following this tutorial.

Enjoy!

Need more addons? Check out our list of Top 10 best XBMC addons for Apple TV 1 and Apple TV 2.

iJ0rd8n

The post Watch live sports on Apple TV with SportsDevil XBMC video addon appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.