Minor Apple TV patch breaks Boxee hacks, does little else

(Credit: John Falcone/CNET Networks)

Apple has released a minor firmware update for Apple TV, taking the unit from version 2.3 to 2.3.1. The changelog has yet to appear on Apple's site, but Apple Insider users are discovering just very minor feature changes, such as the inclusion of a built-in bandwidth monitor. (Unfortunately, we got the error message pictured when we tried to use it.)

Otherwise, the only big achievement of the 2.3.1 update is to cripple the Boxee installations that some enterprising users have added to their Apple TV. (Boxee, a popular software package that allows easy access to Web-based videos, is an unauthorized hack that's not supported by Apple.)

Bottom line: if you're running Boxee on your Apple TV, you'll want to turn off automatic updates. You can be content that (with this update, anyway) you don't appear to be missing much.

[Daniel L Smith]

There *are* not automatic updates. You have to request a software update for it to happen.

[jpfalcone]

FYI:

http://lifehacker.com/5160020/turn-off-automatic-updates-to-keep-boxee-on-apple-tv

[g8crapachino]

@Daniel L Smith. If there are no automative updates, why is there an option to turn it off? Think about it...

[yuri_stout]

Why would they want to break Boxee? Boxee doesn't take much away from what Apple is trying to do, in fact having Boxee on Apple TV is a major plus. Is Apple not listening to its customers?

[totorototoro]

Each firmware update from Apple will normally erase non-Apple menu items from AppleTV.

Boxee users simply need to re-apply the patchstick to add the menu item back. Additionally boxee software and data persists so after the patchstick has be applied, user logins, media sources, preferences, etc. will be just as they were before the upgrade.

Calm down and carry on,
Andrew & Team boxee

But keep on whining about Apple!

[goodspeed8701]

You buy it from them and They control it for you. Tell you how to use it. Apple is a dictator. i wont use a product even if a gun is pointing at me.

[RonInCharlotte]

You wouldn't watch a movie o Apple Tv if someone was threatening to kill you?

[Button Boy]

You *will* be assimilated.

[tappy727]

That is problem with movie download, you just don't know if one company's technology will work with another company's. Hulu won't work on AppleTv. AppleTv won't work with anything but iTunes, unless you want to spend a lot of time trying to figure out video formats. It is just a "bag of hurt".

[Mike_JK]

I got my AppleTV from www.boxeeonappletv.com .
Luckily they disable the sneaky auto-update feature so I don't have to deal with repatching it now.

[bugabudon]

I ran the update hoping for some improvements in the Apple TV itself. You're right. Nothing much to brag about. I lost my "boxee" but I only wanted it for Hulu. I will probably rehack, because the online radio and the visualizers are pretty cool and absent from ATV. Some of the other XBox stuff seemed to freeze or just not work at all. Thanks to the Boxee people for their efforts, though.