TUTORIAL – How to install addons in XBMC

Given that there is a new great addon called ‘1Channel’, I have deemed it an appropriate time to show you how to install addons yourself. This will allow you to have more freedom in customizing your ATV and taking advantage of new addons without having someone install them for you.

The 1Channel addon contains streams for both TV and movies and lets you pick from sources such as putlocker, moveshare, sockshare and so on. This allows a much more versatile experience over that of Icefilms, which relied solely on MegaUpload for it’s content. This addon is still in beta so there may be some hiccups but, so far, it’s been a great alternative to the late IceFilms that we all loved so much.

“We make sacred pact. I promise teach karate to you, you promise learn. I say, you do, no questions.”

STEP 1 – Download the repository with the Channel1 addon

• Download repository from this link – repository.bstrdsmkr-0.0.2.zip
• Save it in a place that is easily accesible as you will need it for the next step

STEP 2 – Transfer the zip folder to your ATV2 (The tricky part)

Transfer using Cyberduck (BEST OPTION FOR MAC USERS)
Cyberduck is free and open source file transfer software. It is available on Windows and Mac OS X. Follow the steps below to use Cyberduck for file transfer.

1. Download and install the Cyberduck client program from the Cyberduck website.
2. Find and make a note of your ATV2’s IP address. You can find this by exiting XBMC, and in the normal ATV2 menu go to Settings -> General -> About. Then look for “IP Address” and use the numbers listed there. It will be something like 192.168.1.3, or something similar that has 4 groups of numbers.
3. Open Cyberduck and click on the “Open Connection” button in the top-left corner of the window.
4. Enter the following information into the relevant boxes, and then click the “Connect” button.

   Drop down menu: select “SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol)” from the list.

   Server: enter the IP address of your ATV2 (e.g. 192.168.1.3)

   Username: mobile

   Password: alpine (this is the default, if you’ve changed the password then enter whatever you changed it to)

   example:

   

5. If a dialogue box pops up stating “unknown host key for [IP address]” then check the box next to “Always”, and then click the “Allow” button.
6. Navigate to the folder

   /private/var/mobile/

7. Transfer the add-on zip file into this folder by dragging and dropping from an Explorer/Finder window*.
8. In XBMC go to the Add Ons manager and choose to “install from zip”
9. Select the “Home Folder”
10. Find and select the zip file you want to install
11. Done!

Transfer using FileZilla (BEST OPTION FOR PC USERS)

FileZilla is free and open source file transfer software which is available on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Follow the steps below to use FileZilla for file transfer.

1. Download and install the FileZilla client program from the FileZilla website.
2. Find and make a note of your ATV2’s IP address. You can find this by exiting XBMC, and in the normal ATV2 menu go to Settings -> General -> About. Then look for “IP Address” and use the numbers listed there. It will be something like 192.168.1.3, or something similar that has 4 groups of numbers.
3. Open the FileZilla client and input the following information into the boxes near the top of the FileZilla window:

   Host: enter the IP address of your ATV2 (e.g. 192.168.1.3)

   Username: mobile

   Password: alpine (this is the default, if you’ve changed the password then enter whatever you changed it to)

   Port: 22

4. Hit the “Quick Connect” button. If a dialogue box pops up which states that “The server’s host key is unknown”, just check the box next to “Always trust this host, add this key to the cache”, and then click “OK”
5. The files and folders on your ATV2 should now be listed in the “Remote site” frames on the right-hand side. The frames on the left-hand side contain the files, folders, and drives on the computer you are working from. It should look like this:

   

6. Navigate to the folder

   /private/var/mobile/

7. Transfer the add-on zip file into this folder by dragging and dropping from the left-hand panels, or from an Explorer/Finder window*
8. In XBMC go to the Add Ons manager and choose to “install from zip”
9. Select the “Home Folder”
10. Find and select the zip file you want to install
11. Done!

STEP 3 – Install the repository in XBMC

• Navigate to System –> Add-ons –> Install from zip file.
• Open the home folder – here you should see the zip folder you just transferred (repository.bstrdsmkr-0.0.2.zip)
• Click on the zip folder (repository.bstrdsmkr-0.0.2.zip) to install the repository
• Once installed (which should be within a few seconds), you will see a confirmation of the installation in the bottom right hand corner of the screen
• Click menu twice to go back to the previous screen (STAY ON THIS SCREEN FOR THE NEXT STEP)

STEP 4 – The final step! Installing the addon

• Navigate to Get Add-ons – here you will see a list of the repositories installed in your XBMC
• Choose the Bstrdsmkr Repository and then Video Add-ons
• Choose the 1Channel Add-on and click install
• That’s it! You’re done – now you can navigate to your video add-ons and 1Channel should be installed with all of your other video addons

Once you’ve mastered installing addons, you can search through the Unoffical XBMC Repositories to find other addons you may want to check out.

Feel free to send me an email if you have any questions regarding the installation on an addon or the above tutorial.