Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

New to Apple TV and some questions

J

jdaniel

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 21, 2009
1,150
15
Lviv, Ukraine
Hi guys, I need some assistance:

I have always used my Samsung led TV connected to my mbp via a mini display port to HDMI cable from kanex, where I am TV shows are not in sync with the US so I download them and I play them on the tv... well that is simple enough... till I decided to get a Apple Thunderbolt display, this will not support a minidisplayport directly out from the back of it: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=18222930#post18222930

So now I have to figure out how inconvenient it is to convert every single thing I download to an apple tv capable format.

also I would have to individually add the file to itunes library before i am able to see them? itunes wouldnt auto populate?

is there anything else I need to know? I am not in the US so if I want to make use of the other features I would have to use vpn etc...

The apple tv would be a cheaper option than buying a thunderbolt dock or other peripheral that I do not need.

Pls help :) THANKS
 
B

Brein

macrumors newbie
Oct 24, 2013
5
0
Netherlands
You are essentially correct: it IS a hassle to convert your entire media collection to iTunes, so an Apple TV may not be the best media streamer for you at this time.

Before anyone butts in: I own four of these things, I'm not slamming them. But mine are generation 2 ATV's and I have Firecore/Infuse on them, so I can browse network shares and watch anything I like, regardless of format. If you have a 3rd gen. ATV you can't do that as there is, at present, no jailbreak for them. 2nd gen. ATV's are selling on eBay for a lot more than new gen. 3 ATV's, for this particular reason.

The free torrent client Vuze can help you on your way, it encodes almost anything to Mac-type files, with presets for iPhone, Apple TV 2 or 3, etc. and even transfers it into the iTunes library afterwards. However, for most files encoding takes a while. If you plan your movie nights ahead of time, you can convert on a per-case basis.

What the ATV will allow you to do is to display anything from your iPad or Phone on your TV (AirPlay), play any music or video you may already have in your iTunes library, lets you view your iPhoto collection (if you have one) on your TV and it gives you access to specific apps such as Netflix. But if you just want to watch all those movies you've torrented over the years, it's not ideal.
 
J

jdaniel

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 21, 2009
1,150
15
Lviv, Ukraine
Brein said:
You are essentially correct: it IS a hassle to convert your entire media collection to iTunes, so an Apple TV may not be the best media streamer for you at this time.

Before anyone butts in: I own four of these things, I'm not slamming them. But mine are generation 2 ATV's and I have Firecore/Infuse on them, so I can browse network shares and watch anything I like, regardless of format. If you have a 3rd gen. ATV you can't do that as there is, at present, no jailbreak for them. 2nd gen. ATV's are selling on eBay for a lot more than new gen. 3 ATV's, for this particular reason.

The free torrent client Vuze can help you on your way, it encodes almost anything to Mac-type files, with presets for iPhone, Apple TV 2 or 3, etc. and even transfers it into the iTunes library afterwards. However, for most files encoding takes a while. If you plan your movie nights ahead of time, you can convert on a per-case basis.

What the ATV will allow you to do is to display anything from your iPad or Phone on your TV (AirPlay), play any music or video you may already have in your iTunes library, lets you view your iPhoto collection (if you have one) on your TV and it gives you access to specific apps such as Netflix. But if you just want to watch all those movies you've torrented over the years, it's not ideal.
Click to expand...

thanks for the response i appreciate it, I do not have that many movies yet !. I dont usually keep them, i have 40 or so files which I am re-encoding now with wondershare, but for next time I will try and download apple tv safe ones.. I will also look into the apple tv 2.. is that like an iphone where if someone has upgraded then you cannot go back? or is it hardware dependent... that way I know what I am looking for.
 
P

priitv8

macrumors 601
Jan 13, 2011
4,038
641
Estonia
For a simple task of one-time watching, without conversion and option to attach subtitles from external SRT files, I'd go with the app called Beamer. Until you pay the 15€ license fee, it's limited to 15 minutes of playback per movie.
http://beamer-app.com
 
B

Brein

macrumors newbie
Oct 24, 2013
5
0
Netherlands
The 2nd Generation Apple TV is no longer sold by Apple and people who have one know the value, so you'll pay quite a bit more for it than if you were to get a midrange, perfectly serviceable mediastreamer from any of the other brands. The Roku LT seems to be quite popular, for instance. I used to have a WDTVLive, they're quite good.

If you have an XBOX 360 or a PS3, it can also be used as a mediastreamer. Maybe your flatscreen TV can do it too, if it has a network connection. And then there is the Google Chromecast. So you have many affordable options.

Like iPhones, Apple TV's version of IOS can (sometimes) be jailbroken and extra software can then be installed. Sadly, there is no jailbreak for the 3rd generation at the moment. And, as with iPhones, it is a major pain in the ass to figure out how to do it. You'll need a special USB cable that most people don't have lying around. Plus, the software I mentioned, Firecore/Infuse, is not free.

On the other hand, just 40 or so movies, that's manageable. And once you have all your media in iMovie, you just need to make sure you download compatible stuff (or convert it, if there is no choice). And Apple makes it real easy to buy movies and shows from iTunes, if you value convenience.
 
B

Brein

macrumors newbie
Oct 24, 2013
5
0
Netherlands
Oh, I forgot to answer a part of your question. Yes, if you get a used ATV 2nd gen. it does matter which IOS version is on there, as not all of them can be jailbroken AFAIK. Or at least, some can only be jailbroken in 'tethered' mode, which can be inconvenient. Older = better, I think.

But you should be able to find more info via the vendor of the mediaplayer you can install on a jailbroken ATV, Firecore:

http://firecore.com/atvflash-black

They refer to an ATV jailbreak utility, seas0npass, which is free. It's their actual mediaplayer software that costs money. (But worth it, IMHO.)
 
Jambalaya

Jambalaya

macrumors 6502a
Jun 21, 2013
714
151
UK
@jd - yes it's a bit of a pain to convert everything but Handbrake allows you to queue things up overnight
 
I

institute

macrumors regular
Oct 10, 2012
177
0
Plexconnect allows you to have a Plex client on ATV3 without a jailbreak. I highly recommend it.
 
J

jdaniel

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 21, 2009
1,150
15
Lviv, Ukraine
Thank you all for taking the time to respond in such detail, much appreciated.

I have the Apple TV all hooked up, I will give plexconnect and Beamer a try.

If I had a smart tv apparently I won't need Apple TV (for streaming video to the tv direct from the mac) I'll get one down the road, for now Apple TV works nicely, cheap and it solves my problem :)
 
J

jdaniel

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 21, 2009
1,150
15
Lviv, Ukraine
After much difficulty I managed to install plex on the Apple TV and use plex connect, it was not that str8 fwd, I managed to get the iPhone configurator to work but not the other method. But now that I have it, it is a good alternative to streaming from iTunes, doesn't require any file conversion :) but don't know if any future updates will break this
 
W

westrock2000

macrumors 6502a
Oct 18, 2013
524
22
jdaniel said:
also I would have to individually add the file to itunes library before i am able to see them? itunes wouldnt auto populate?
Click to expand...

It won't auto add files, but you can select many files all at once, or just a folder holding movies and it will add everything you selected all at once. It will categorize it, assuming you edited the metadata ahead of time....else it will all get dumped into "home videos" or "unknown" or something.

So for instance I will rip a whole season of a TV show. Put it into a folder, edit all the metadata with a separate program. Then go into iTunes and select "Add Folder" and select the folder and everything in the folder gets picked up.
 
J

jdaniel

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 21, 2009
1,150
15
Lviv, Ukraine
westrock2000 said:
It won't auto add files, but you can select many files all at once, or just a folder holding movies and it will add everything you selected all at once. It will categorize it, assuming you edited the metadata ahead of time....else it will all get dumped into "home videos" or "unknown" or something.

So for instance I will rip a whole season of a TV show. Put it into a folder, edit all the metadata with a separate program. Then go into iTunes and select "Add Folder" and select the folder and everything in the folder gets picked up.
Click to expand...

thanks for the response i managed to get plex etc to work on the ATV so I am using that for now... so I dont have to waste time encoding stuff, which btw takes forever. so far so good with plexconnect and plex server... some bandwidth issues but if i am downloading lots of stuff while watching or so it seems but i guess that is easily solved.. lets home nothing breaks plex coz then I have to deal with itunes.. which is a real pain.

and yes that meta data thing is SUPER irritating wish I knew how to change that all at once.. one at a time is a bit much.
 
P

priitv8

macrumors 601
Jan 13, 2011
4,038
641
Estonia
jdaniel said:
itunes wouldnt auto populate?
Click to expand...
As a matter of fact, it will! There's a folder named Automatically Add to iTunes somewhere in your iTunes home folder. Whatever you drop in there, Itunes will pick up and add to it's library automagically. At least on the Mac.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom