Play movies in movie folder on ATV?

So I've just picked up a cheap 160g old ATV from the refurb store, so I've got a question, or two!
My setup at home is a Mac Mini in the living room hooked into one of the TV's, which has hundreds of movies, mainly in AVI format, on an external, which we can access thru Front Row thanks to the alias in the movies folder and watch on the connected TV. We also have a few movies in the iTunes library on this machine, which we can also watch via frontrow.
Now the movies on the external are many and varied, from adults to kids, and there is a lot of them, for this reason I don't want them all in the iTunes library. On the external they're split into different folders by genre etc. There are just too many movies to put in one folder, or the iTunes library.
Now the new ATV will be going into the lounge, and I know it will sync itself with the media in the Mac Mini's iTunes library, but we'd also like to be able to stream the movies from the external to it to. Ideally with the ability to navigate to them in the same way we do using Frontrow on the TV connected to the Mini.
Can I do this? I realise I might need to hack the ATV a bit, this doesn't bother me unduly.
Failing that being possible, can I simple remove the external from the Mini and plug it into the ATV and get access to it's contents that way?
Worth noting..... I don't want to convert all the movies to the iTunes friendly format. Yes, I know AVI is old, and rubbish and so on, but I'm happy with them that way. This is my personal choice, so please, no need to take this thread OT on that one!
Also, I'm aware that Apple might not have intended me to use the ATV in this way, but it's mine now, so I'll use it the way I want, not the way Apple dictate. So please don't bother going OT on that one either.
Finally, yes i know there is a new ATV out, and that I maybe should have got that one, but again, I know what I'm doing, and that was my personal choice. So leave that one too.
I'm putting in these last three comments to try to stop the thread disappearing off into directions it's not intended to, and to stop the usual arguments that start when someone mentions using an Apple product in a slightly different way to that intended.

stevebb wrote:
Can I do this? I realise I might need to hack the ATV a bit, this doesn't bother me unduly.
no. appletv can only access content that is in itunes
Failing that being possible, can I simple remove the external from the Mini and plug it into the ATV and get access to it's contents that way?
no. the USB port has no end user function.
Worth noting..... I don't want to convert all the movies to the iTunes friendly format. Yes, I know AVI is old, and rubbish and so on, but I'm happy with them that way. This is my personal choice, so please, no need to take this thread OT on that one!
appletv cannot play AVI files
Also, I'm aware that Apple might not have intended me to use the ATV in this way, but it's mine now, so I'll use it the way I want, not the way Apple dictate. So please don't bother going OT on that one either.
note that my answers refer to a standard "as is" appletv. discussions regarding hacking or modifications (which i suspect is what you want to do) are not permitted here as per Ts&Cs.
if you want to do anything other than what it is designed to do then you will need to seek assistance elsewhere.

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