External HD and ATV4

[SalukiTD]

I am traveling to China next month for a week and a half and I'd like to take my Apple TV 4 and external hard drive full of movie and tv shows. At home I run a plex server of of an old pc, but I don't have the room to drag all that along. Is there any way to make the ATV and HD play together. As far as I can see, the company line is no, but there has to be a way. Jailbreak the ATV...is that still a thing?! Is there a small intermediary piece of hardware to go in between the ATV and HDD.

Thanks much!

 

[priitv8]

Doesn't Plex offer you a playback from your home server over Internet?
I understood this must be one of the selling arguments for Plex.
So you could leave your HDD home as well.
AFAIK the last aTV that could be jailbreaked was the 2 Gen (the very first black puck).

 

[jtara]

OMG, a week and a half in China without movies and TV shows! How will you survive?!

You could attach your hard drive to a Raspberry Pi, or other small form-factor computer to make a media server. Or even a WiFi router that has a USB port and a media server built-in.

Good luck explaining to the border officials why you are bringing a Raspberry Pi (or WiFi router) and a hard drive...

 

[SalukiTD]

Doesn't Plex offer you a playback from your home server over Internet?
I understood this must be one of the selling arguments for Plex.
So you could leave your HDD home as well.
AFAIK the last aTV that could be jailbreaked was the 2 Gen (the very first black puck).

The internet is sketchy at best and I'd probably need a vpn.
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OMG, a week and a half in China without movies and TV shows! How will you survive?!

You could attach your hard drive to a Raspberry Pi, or other small form-factor computer to make a media server. Or even a WiFi router that has a USB port and a media server built-in.

Good luck explaining to the border officials why you are bringing a Raspberry Pi (or WiFi router) and a hard drive...

First, it's eight weeks and last Summer, one week of Chinese state tv was enough for me. I had three HDDs last time and they didn't even blink.

 

[jtara]

I am traveling to China next month for a week and a half

First, it's eight weeks

I'd go with the Raspberry Pi.

Scare up a mouse, keyboard, and display once you get there, and you have a throw-away Linux desktop system to boot.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

As someone who travels for 8 months of the year, I say 'Get out there and explore'. Try and see as much of it as you can or even go to the health clubs there were you'll make friends and socialise. People that you meet along the way leave imprints on your heart - I've met some of the most incredible people in the last 5 years that have truly changed my life. I didn't get that feeling when I lived in the UK.
It breaks my heart that you want to take a movie collection with you to a new and exciting country! Try and see as much of the place that you can. TV should have a Govt health warning - it's no good for anyone!

 

[waw74]

https://www.plex.tv/apps-devices/#modal-devices-my-passport-pro

or sync a bunch of stuff to a mobile device,
you might have to sacrifice some quality for space though

 

[HDFan]

Try and see as much of the place that you can.

This reminds me of an experience of one of my guides. Seems that a couple took a trip to China. One problem though - they didn't like Chinese food. So they took a suitcase full of powerbars!

First thing I do when I get into a hotel room is turn on the TV to see what the local folks watch. I usually find great stuff, like music videos that aren't played in the states. Game shows are fascinating .... Or walking the streets ....

 

[docmcallister]

As someone who travels for 8 months of the year, I say 'Get out there and explore'. Try and see as much of it as you can or even go to the health clubs there were you'll make friends and socialise. People that you meet along the way leave imprints on your heart - I've met some of the most incredible people in the last 5 years that have truly changed my life. I didn't get that feeling when I lived in the UK.
It breaks my heart that you want to take a movie collection with you to a new and exciting country! Try and see as much of the place that you can. TV should have a Govt health warning - it's no good for anyone!

The internet is sketchy at best and I'd probably need a vpn.
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First, it's eight weeks and last Summer, one week of Chinese state tv was enough for me. I had three HDDs last time and they didn't even blink.

Just offering support. As someone who has to be in the USA for weeks at a time, I understand the need to bring something familiar and good. I hear the advice to go and explore but sometimes one needs to come back to base and recharge. It is like eating foreign food (American in my case), interesting at first, sometimes even good, but it gets old and one needs a break.

As someone posted, the concern is real about Americans asking you to turnover your disks and who knows charging for having something they don’t like. I don’t know about Chinese but I have never heard anybody I know have concerns in Asia.