“A Series of Tubes” Plug-In Brings YouTube to Apple TV

Apple TV modders are preparing a plug-in that will allow Apple TV owners to watch YouTube videos directly from the Apple TV menu system. While the plug-in is not available to the general public yet, videos have been posted on YouTube, showing it in action.

The plug-in is called "A Series of Tubes" and is being developed by ‘Xdog’ of the AwkwardTV Apple TV plug-ins directory. The video shows the "A Series of Tubes" plug-in entry in the Apple TV’s FrontRow interface, alongside with music and movies. Once selected, the plug-in lets the user choose between collections of YouTube Videos, such as: Recently Featured Videos, Week’s Most Discussed, Week’s Most Viewed, Month’s Most Discussed, and Month’s Most Viewed. Once a category has been selected, a list of all available videos becomes available, with the currently selected video showing a still preview and a description. Playback is very smooth in the video but this could be because the plug-in has caching options that would help iron out any bumps caused by network traffic.

So far, Apple has made no changes to the Apple TV in order to allow for easier modding or to officially support any of the most popular mods. However, with services such as YouTube and Joost being as popular as they are, it is probably only a matter of time before they have to do something. It is obvious that Apple intended the Apple TV to be the iPod equivalent of movie and TV shows; however, that strategy has not been working out that great for them so far. Video sales are simply not as big as music sales, and many have put forward that they simply will not be because users prefer renting video content.

Regardless of what Apple does do with the Apple TV, those who are willing to tinker around with the Apple TV box and want to be able to watch YouTube videos, will be able to find the "A Series of Tubes" plug-in on the AwkwardTV plug-in directory soon.

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