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Bbafett

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 14, 2012
317
88
Georgia
Currently we have all of our ripped movies on my computer in Itunes. We have a a 2nd Gen(maybe 3rd) Apple TV in our bedroom. Our kids don't have access to our movies. Was thinking about getting our daughter a Amazon Fire stick on Prime Day this week. However, I started thinking that maybe it wouldn't be bad if we upgraded our Apple TV box for our bedroom and put our old one in her room. I know I would have to keep my computer on all the time if I did that, but I don't think that would be too big of an issue as long as two Apple TVs can access the content at the same time.

Is there a way to limit what movies one apple tv can play vs others?

Are there benefits to media apps like Plex/Infuse vs using Apple's TV app on Apple TV 4th gen?

Trying to get the best option that might work in the longterm.
 
You don't actually have to leave the computer on all the time. It can go to "sleep" and the :apple:TVs will wake it when they seek access to your media. Of course, maybe "sleep" is still considered "on" and an actual "off" would definitely fail to "wake" ( :apple:TV can't reach out and push a computer's power button to turn it on).

Limiting is done with parental controls.

Some people love Plex/Infuse over the stock Apple :apple:TV app. However, for your stated purposes, you don't need to go to the (modest) trouble of adopting either of those- the stock app will "just work" fine for your purposes. Bonus: you won't have to learn a new UI.
 
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Are there benefits to media apps like Plex/Infuse vs using Apple's TV app on Apple TV 4th gen?

* The server doesn't have to be a Mac or Windows PC (i.e. it doesn't have to support iTunes). It can, for example, be a Linux/FreeBSD machine or in some cases a NAS appliance.
* Plex/Infuse support a much wider range of video/audio/container formats
* Plex supports things like live TV and DVR functionality
* Plex and Infuse's UI are arguably much better
* You can watch your media remotely with Plex if you set things up right
* Plex supports non-Apple devices

Quite frankly, Plex and Infuse are much better solutions for watching your own movies. That said, Apple's stock solution does "work", depending on your definition of "work" but I'd never go back to that nor would I ever recommend anyone going down that road.
 
Is there a way to limit what movies one apple tv can play vs others?

Are there benefits to media apps like Plex/Infuse vs using Apple's TV app on Apple TV 4th gen?

Trying to get the best option that might work in the longterm.

Set restrictions on the device (by rating eg: G, MA15+), would be the only way i know. Either iTunes should be able to do that as well. Wouldn't really matter which direction you set restrictions on as one would take priority over the over.

* The server doesn't have to be a Mac or Windows PC (i.e. it doesn't have to support iTunes). It can, for example, be a Linux/FreeBSD machine or in some cases a NAS appliance.
* Plex/Infuse support a much wider range of video/audio/container formats
* Plex supports things like live TV and DVR functionality
* Plex and Infuse's UI are arguably much better
* You can watch your media remotely with Plex if you set things up right
* Plex supports non-Apple devices

It doesn't have to be iTunes, but its often the easiest that will work 100%. and work straight out of the box. (apart from turning on Home Sharing and importing).

The rest, have to be set up with more options than a London bus.
 
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