Invoke full sleep with Apple TV

Hello...

Has this horse been beat to death yet? Seems like this is the place to discuss this...

I realise that the Apple TV product isn't meant for automotive use, I dig the simplistic interface and the hacks out there make it a bit more fun. I come from the old Empeg world, but now that every car has a nice screen for GPS, etc I want the whole package. I've thought of putting OSX on the Apple TV but then I think it complicates things, I want to keep it simple and just listen to music and see the nice interface on my screen.

I can get around most hurdles, including composite video output, installing a larger hard drive, etc. What I need is a method to put the device into a full sleep while not in use (via a 12v trigger perhaps.) I know the Mac Mini has an aftermarket power supply that does this, but I don't want to spend any more money plus I'd rather not have full blown OSX in my car.

I've seen a few USB type input / output boards that have digital / analog monitors. Perhaps I could get this to work with it? I'd need some sort of driver loaded onto the Apple TV that monitors for this device, and when it sees it, that it knows that if there isn't 12v on a particular input, that it should be asleep. That's hurdle #1. Any ideas?

Hurdle #2, is that lets say we get past #1, the apple tv doesn't have a full sleep mode. When it goes to sleep, it just turns the display off, but the HD is still spinning, board is still awake. Anyone figured out a way to get it to go into full sleep?

I think if we can get past these hurdles, alot of people would like this as an alternative. I use iTunes at home for my huge library, and it would be nice to just bring it in the house, hook it up and let it sync (or install wireless into the car so when I pull into the garage it'll sync.) I know people have done this already but I believe they're just powering it down ungracefully and power-up takes minutes. This also sometimes results into database corruption.

Thanks for listening...

Pete

There are several things that make the Apple TV difficult to use in the car.

1. No touchscreen or integrated control (such as a powermate) support. This makes it difficult to operate in the car.

2. No DC-DC power supply. This means you need to operate it on an inverter.

3. No way to startup or shutdown automatically. See number 2, above.

4. No way to fully sleep device.

The Mac Mini with Front Row is very, very similar to the Apple TV and because it has the full OS X installed, is more flexible for the car environment. In addition, because it can run VM Ware or Parallels, it can run Windows based GPS programs or even full Windows front ends. Power up is quicker than minutes, although it still probably takes a good 60 seconds to get up and running.

The problems you are citing are not insurmountable. I know you can hack the Apple TV and you may or may not be able to solve many of the problems but for just $100 or $200 more you can find a used Mini that will make it much easier and will include Bluetooth.

The ATV is not completely unsuitable for the car, however. You can easily install it as a backseat entertainment system for passengers, although it doesn't come with a CD/DVD drive so all movies will need to be ripped and synched ahead of time.

I already have a nice GPS/Bluetooth capable headunit, I just wanted to use the AUX inputs (video/audio) for the Apple TV. I only want to use this for 2 channel Audio.

If I went with a Mac Mini, it's alot more than $100-200. The cheapest used Mac Mini I can find is from the first generation, which uses IDE hard drives, not SATA. I'd like to keep it all contained in one unit, finding large hard drives are more common if they're SATA. Thats about $400 for a used Mac mini that can support that.

Then theres the carnetix power supply, that's $100, plus $25 for the special mac mini harness. So, let's say I sell the Apple Tv for $200, I"m still out close to $400 for just parts. This is why I wanted to use the Apple TV... Don't care about touch screen, I can use the remote.

I was browsing the other threads, it appears there is a way to invoke sleep/wake-up from tieing a few wires together from an ethernet cable, but these options are configurable in XP/Vista, but don't see that stuff in OSX. The power supply isn't a big deal, 5V 6AMPS DC is doable.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by narkotic

Then theres the carnetix power supply, that's $100, plus $25 for the special mac mini harness. So, let's say I sell the Apple Tv for $200, I"m still out close to $400 for just parts. This is why I wanted to use the Apple TV... Don't care about touch screen, I can use the remote.

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Sounds like you're aiming for a different type of install than is common. It just seems like you want to overcome a lot of problems just to run the ATV interface in the car, but by all means, if you are able to make progress on these issues, please post the how-to's so others can learn from it.

BTW, I'm not aware of a way to shut down the Mac via ethernet but if there is, it would probably require both a hardware and software hack to make the ATV do it. You are probably better off trying to fit a relay to the power switch for on/off functions, to get it working in the car. Then concentrate on solutions for deep sleep/hibernation.