Apple TV Search Expands to 10 More Apps, Including Apple Music, TBS, and TNT

[JohnApples]

Once it supports DTV Now, I will be a very happy camper, assuming it'll work like xfinity's remote. I want to be able to say "Watch History Channel" and Siri will be able to bring up the actual live channel within DTV Now.

 

[GeneralChang]

so, if I have Home Videos stored on my MacBook's iTunes I cannot easily get to them with the new AppleTV?

with ATV 3rd gen I think I go through My Computer and select the home sharing iTunes and can see music, tv, movies, Home Movies stored on that computer/iTunes.

I think they were probably trying to make a Windows joke. There is a "computers" app that functions the same way as the 3rd gen ATV as far as shared iTunes libraries go.

 

[ksnell]

All I want for Christmas is Universal Search on Plex.

I don't care that it is local content. We aren't building a rocket here - Apple, figure it out.

 

[sinsin07]

Looks like someone else jumped in on my behalf but no, I didn't phrase this well. I use the home sharing feature on my 4th generation Apple TVs and it works well, I'm just disappointed that universal search support has never been added for this type of content. The rationale I've seen used is that the search is server side so does not have an index of my local content but this could easily be extended to search both server and local then reconcile both result sets together.

This is a good point, however if you use Plex on ATV4 and use the search function there, it works.
It's not universal search, however how is Plex doing it?
They claim they do not have a server side index on your media, wouldn't want to get involved in that and would need user permission to upload an index of your media if they did.
So I wonder how Plex is able to do a local search of my media.

 

[ksnell]

Looks like someone else jumped in on my behalf but no, I didn't phrase this well. I use the home sharing feature on my 4th generation Apple TVs and it works well, I'm just disappointed that universal search support has never been added for this type of content. The rationale I've seen used is that the search is server side so does not have an index of my local content but this could easily be extended to search both server and local then reconcile both result sets together.

Agreed. As I previously noted, I think Plex would work the same way.

 

[tazinlwfl]

I use the home sharing feature on my 4th generation Apple TVs and it works well, I'm just disappointed that universal search support has never been added for this type of content. The rationale I've seen used is that the search is server side so does not have an index of my local content but this could easily be extended to search both server and local then reconcile both result sets together.

I'd suggest that Genius scanning of ones iTunes library (plus iCloud syncing of progress between libraries/devices) should give enough information to Apple to provide a solid index. iTunes is literally a media server with indexing features. Shouldn't be a huge leap to allow an iCloud/iTunes account to hook into Universal Search in the way we'd want. That would be a game changer, in my opinion. I have thousands of videos (movies and tv shows) ready to stream in my iTunes Library (not purchased, so not available in the TV App). I don't even care for voice search if the TV App could at least match a show I have in my iTunes Library and offer it as an option...

 

[ksnell]

Plex and Infuse are both somewhat similar but do work differently. Essentially they're Media managers / players that auto download metadata so you see artwork and all that jazz.

Plex requires a server component, can be installed on a Mac, Windows computer or even a NAS in some instances. The Plex server you build your library within (point it to your movies folders, tv shows, music, etc). Plex builds the library, and then you use the client app on iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV. All devices will see one library and all updates (new media, currently watched items, watched/unwatched status, etc).

Infuse is also a media manager, but designed to be more standalone I believe (not 100% familiar with it). It's nice as you can install it on an Apple TV, and point it directly to the shared folders from a computer or NAS where you have media. It'll build the media library and have it accessible right on the Apple TV. Not sure how it would work if you wanted to have it accessible from multiple devices though.

You can also run Plex from a router now (Nighthawk X10), granted it's a $500 router. For most it would just be better to re purpose an old laptop or desktop and leave it on in the closet. As long as it is not incredibly under powered, you should have speed for at least one or two streams.

 

[V.K.]

Looks like someone else jumped in on my behalf but no, I didn't phrase this well. I use the home sharing feature on my 4th generation Apple TVs and it works well, I'm just disappointed that universal search support has never been added for this type of content. The rationale I've seen used is that the search is server side so does not have an index of my local content but this could easily be extended to search both server and local then reconcile both result sets together.

Exactly. Still waiting for Apple to show real courage and include home shared content into universal search. They definitely could if they wanted to. It has always been possible to do local text search of home shared music. It is still possible now. They simply don't want to bother with this.

 

[malexandria]

This might not work with purchased / DRMd media, but Plex does a perfect job for exactly what you describe. You can have the client on any device (iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, etc), and it always starts in a 'Discover' tab with a summary of recently added media and the 3 most recent shows/movies that were playing (so you can resume). Really bloody well done.

But yes, I do agree, for iTunes Movies or TV Shows, once you're beyond a handful of purchases it becomes unwieldy to sort through them all. Even the way it handles TV shows, if you want to go see a new episode you have to scroll horizontally through every season & episode to get to the most current. Makes you wonder if the people who designed it even use the product themselves.

The recent changes to the TV side is perplexing. I can't even tell what season I'm on half the time and then it doesn't accurately reflect what seasons I own vs. don't own and I don't understand why when I'm navigating through the store it doesn't automatically tell me what content I already own. It's a mess.
[doublepost=1481812931][/doublepost]

I have been wanting this too. the idea that I could be watching something on my MBP or iPhone or iPad and then want to quickly resume on the AppleTV doesn't seem so hard. I get the attraction of the Most recent list...and how Apple promotes the iTunes store with popular titles too but Just clicking back to a show I started or a list of seasons didn't seem 'that' hard to do.

I guess it just took a while to figure out how to monetize the situation more. just having previously watched/started isn't going to bring in more money. having what they have with the TV App to help promote new stuff will get them more money. Wondering if the new curated shows/movies will be better than the "iTunes suggests these movies for you" oh, what's that, you already have 9 of 10 of those? oh well. the suggested list should be somewhat personalized and NOT show movies you already have on iTunes.Maybe their recommended titles should be a list of 25-50 and they show the top ten excluding any you already have...if you have them all, then i don't know but it would be similar to how it is now I guess.

Agree. Most recommendation engines seem to be pretty dumb. I've been watching YouTube lately and it drives me nuts if I watch one iPhone 7 review video and maybe a Batman Arkham video then my recommendation for the next 10 days are nothing but videos related to the iPhone 7 and Batman Arkham. I already watched a video on those topics, I don't want to see a list of 40 videos on the same 2 topics. The iTunes recommendation engine seems to either just pick the genre or actor and doesn't take into account I already own those programs and may be interested in a different genre or something similar but different. Not the biggest films/tv shows in the genre.