ATV 3 + Plex

[kiler129]

Hi!
I started thinking about buying Apple TV again, but this time due to prices of 2nd gen and lack of fhd I'm planning to get 3rd one. For now I use my custom made HTPC which also perform as a router and NAS w/Time Machine.
Multimedia side is powered by XBMC which works so well but due to buggy AMD drivers in Linux it crashes often. Also Netflix support looks nice only in tutorials.

ATV by default offer accessing iTunes HS only. I think about two solutions:
1. Plex (with Plex Connect)
2. iTunes installed inside Windows VM on my NAS (so crappy...)

Is anyone really use ATV with Plex? How stable and usable it is?
If I decide to use iTunes can I organise and easy access a lot of tv shows and movies?

p.s. I also have RPi 512 but it's slow and doesn't offer netflix and airplay.

 

[waw74]

if you're not invested in video from the iTunes store, i would look at roku.
the interface is not quite as nice as the aTV, but it works well.
it's got a native plex client.

about the only thing you loose is airplaying from your mac or iOS devices (and the ability to play stuff purchased / rented from iTunes)

one annoyance is netflix on roku will start streaming at low quality, and then bump up to HD normally only takes 5-10 seconds, but it's annoying.
but you gain a lot of other native apps.

I use a roku for my bedroom TV, but i've got airplay speakers there so i can still have whole house music.

plex connect is a work around, and as we found out a few weeks ago, apple can and will kill it. the community quickly patched it, but next time they might not be able to.

 

[jmcgeejr]

Hi!
I started thinking about buying Apple TV again, but this time due to prices of 2nd gen and lack of fhd I'm planning to get 3rd one. For now I use my custom made HTPC which also perform as a router and NAS w/Time Machine.
Multimedia side is powered by XBMC which works so well but due to buggy AMD drivers in Linux it crashes often. Also Netflix support looks nice only in tutorials.

ATV by default offer accessing iTunes HS only. I think about two solutions:
1. Plex (with Plex Connect)
2. iTunes installed inside Windows VM on my NAS (so crappy...)

Is anyone really use ATV with Plex? How stable and usable it is?
If I decide to use iTunes can I organise and easy access a lot of tv shows and movies?

p.s. I also have RPi 512 but it's slow and doesn't offer netflix and airplay.

ATV3 on 5.3 with Plexconnect (been using it for about 6 months now actually) and I have never had an issue with it. Well except for when Apple changed the trailers to https from http and within a couple of days that was fixed. The people who have issues are usually people who dont know much about networking or computers (they have a PMS box that doesnt have a static IP, or they close out python(plexconnect) and dont understand why it stops working). I run it on my windows 7 box with python 2.7 and it's flawless I never EVER get the Trailers Unavail.

 

[kiler129]

@waw74 - Last year my sister bought ATV 2 & Roku 2 XD and I agree with her that buying roku was a mistake. It's less responsive plus interface is just ugly and unintuitive. I don't know if something changed since last year coz she sold it and bought another ATV.
So, roku is not an option for me I think.

I agree with @jmcgeejr about breaking "trailers hack" - if Apple wanna break it they move to static certificate (like eg. dropbox) instead of just switching to https. I reversed many protocols - it's my little hobby

@jmcgeejr - is anything changed on 6.0 or you didn't updated yet?

 

[Mr. Zarniwoop]

is anything changed on 6.0 or you didn't updated yet?

Works great in 6.0. PlexConnect is worth the effort with Apple TV.

 

[waw74]

It's less responsive plus interface is just ugly and unintuitive. I don't know if something changed since last year coz she sold it and bought another ATV.

they have updated both the hardware (roku 3) and the interface.
It is faster, but the interface still isn't as nice as the aTV.

 

[troy14]

they have updated both the hardware (roku 3) and the interface.
It is faster, but the interface still isn't as nice as the aTV.

Ditto. I went from an Apple TV 2 (Jailbroken w/ Plex client) to a Roku 3.

The Roku 3 works fantastic, no problems. The only complaint I have is that compared to the aTV, the Netflix & Plex (the only two apps I use) interfaces are absolute garbage. In the end, I can play my media..but I wish it was easier/prettier to get to.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

How is the Plex Appletv interface? Any links to screenshots?

 

[jmcgeejr]

@waw74 - Last year my sister bought ATV 2 & Roku 2 XD and I agree with her that buying roku was a mistake. It's less responsive plus interface is just ugly and unintuitive. I don't know if something changed since last year coz she sold it and bought another ATV.
So, roku is not an option for me I think.

I agree with @jmcgeejr about breaking "trailers hack" - if Apple wanna break it they move to static certificate (like eg. dropbox) instead of just switching to https. I reversed many protocols - it's my little hobby

@jmcgeejr - is anything changed on 6.0 or you didn't updated yet?

Held off on the ATV 6 iOS update due to the seek/scan feature bar being broken.

 

[kage207]

ATV3 on 5.3 with Plexconnect (been using it for about 6 months now actually) and I have never had an issue with it. Well except for when Apple changed the trailers to https from http and within a couple of days that was fixed. The people who have issues are usually people who dont know much about networking or computers (they have a PMS box that doesnt have a static IP, or they close out python(plexconnect) and dont understand why it stops working). I run it on my windows 7 box with python 2.7 and it's flawless I never EVER get the Trailers Unavail.

Is there MyPlex support yet on PlexConnect?

I actually don't mind Plex on iOS and just using AirPlay. It works pretty well for me. Some problems which have mostly been fixed though they you have to keep in mind that Plex is still a very new piece of software and hasn't even reached 1.0.