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Plex Releases Client for Non-Jailbroken Apple TVs

KhrisGarcia said:
If you're running XBMC then you wouldn't need Plex. They're both media centers. I run Plex Media Server on a headless hackintosh that serves out our family's entire Blu-ray collection. We have two teenagers who are the primary users. All in all we have the plex client on 2 MacBooks, a Windows 7 PC, an iPad, and now the Apple TV3 hack in the living room connected to the HD projector. I'd like to get the kids ATV3s for their rooms so they don't have to use their computers for Netflix, Hulu and Plex when friends are over. Seems like their bigger TVs just sit there doing nothing these days. PlexPass is also another nice feature that allows syncing for when you're on the road. Plan to use that this summer and best of all my daughter can do it herself.

It's all about simplicity. There's a lot of options out there and there's no wrong way to go about it. Before moving to Plex I used simple iTunes home sharing with the ATV3. That was before I ripped a cabinet full of movies. Whatever works for you.
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Hi, were you able to confirm if the apps/channels were available on your ATV with the hack?
 
imladris said:
As I remember it, the MKV container is more flexible in what it can contain than what the MP4 container is. For example, the MP4 container only supports the 3gpp (tx3g) subtitle format. This isn't convenient when the discs you rip have subtitles in vobsub or pgs format, i.e. bitmap formats – OCR is not reliable.

Also, MKV is open and free, which is nice.
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You can easily add subtitles to MP4 files using Subler which ensure compatibility with all Apple's devices without having to convert the video or hack/trick your Apple TV.
 
Am I missing something here? If I reconfigure the DNS on my ATV to point to my desktop which houses all of my movies, how the heck am I going to access Netflix? If I have to reconfigure the DNS every time I need to make a decision between local and internet, this would be a royal pain in the you know what.
 
chuckiej said:
Ripping your own Blu-Rays. I have zero illegitimate content on my Plex Server. My Blu-rays go to my closet for safe-keeping. The MKVs are huge though and add up fast so Handbrake really is needed at some point.
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I wasn't implying that you were pirating content -although in some countries such as Japan, ripping your own DVDs is illegal and can get you a 2-year term in jail- but I was just really curious to know if there was any commercial use for MKV? As far as I know, Amazon, Apple and Google Play all use MP4 and WMV exclusively, and since Apple is not well known for supporting "fringe" or "enthusiast" formats (FLAC on iTunes for example) it seems very unlikely that they'll ever support MKV. Is there any benefits of ripping to MKV instead of MP4 for users of Apple products?
 
When installing following the instructions in the wiki for ATV2 connected via ethernet to OSX, I am getting the following error in Terminal. Does anyone know what might be causing this?

DNSServer : Failed to create socket on UDP port 53: [Errno 48] Address already in use
PlexConnect : DNSServer not alive. Shutting down.

Cheers, Brett
 
I have been using Plexconnect for a couple weeks and it works very well. It handles all of my movies and TV Shows easily.

As for Channels, some work and some don't as the developers haven't really looked into channel support yet, though they intend to. Channels that work include TWiT.tv, IMDB trailers, Daily Show, Colbert Report, PBS, History Channel. Others will give an interface and list shows and allow search but usually will not play the media files themselves. Channels that don't work yet include NBC, CBS, SSPlex, IceFilms, LetMeWatchThis amongst others.

Someone mentioned being concerned about using Netflix and other apps on the ATV at the same time that Plexconnect is running. This is not a problem as Plexconnect sends every non Trailer.app URL onto another DNS that allows them to connect. For example, I use UnBlock-us and can enter their DNS in Plexconnect and still get US Netflix (in Canada).
 
Has anyone here noticed audio/video syncing issues with bigger 1080p MKV video files? I'm using the 1080p@40mbps option with my appletv3 with a gigabit LAN connection over my RAID5 drive filled with MKV's. What happens at first is the video and audio are in sync, and then it slowly gets out of wack and its not watchable because its so off.
 
I've been running the plex server on my mac mini and while not using my apple tv, python's been consuming crazy resources on my mac. Is this typical?
 
Just a quick question...

Ive installed this and it works beautiful... do i have to keep terminal running at all times running the pythin script thing to keep this working?
 
I've got this working, but the quality of the video appears to be really bad, even though the source files look great. Even when I watch the same files on the plex Iphone app then airplay it up on the Apple tv it looks good.

Any Ideas how to increase the quality while using this client??

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neo179neo said:
Just a quick question...

Ive installed this and it works beautiful... do i have to keep terminal running at all times running the pythin script thing to keep this working?
Click to expand...

I think so, I shut down terminal and had to redo the process to get it working again. Would be curious to know if anyone finds a way of fixing this!
 
Terminal Issues...

On the instructions for Terminal you type "cd" and you drag the PlexConnect-XML_templates folder over?

Is that what I'm suppose to be doing... because I'm getting no such file or directory.

I've gotten the DNS part right... just not so sure about the Terminal part of the method.
 
Ludatyk said:
On the instructions for Terminal you type "cd" and you drag the PlexConnect-XML_templates folder over?

Is that what I'm suppose to be doing... because I'm getting no such file or directory.

I've gotten the DNS part right... just not so sure about the Terminal part of the method.
Click to expand...

Make sure you type 'cd' followed by a space before you drag the folder over.
 
a0me said:
You can easily add subtitles to MP4 files using Subler which ensure compatibility with all Apple's devices without having to convert the video or hack/trick your Apple TV.
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Sorry to come in so late; I forgot about this thread.

Although what you say is correct in some sense, it hardly relates at all with my post that you quoted. As far as I know, the MP4 file format does not support PGS or VOBSUB subtitles. Also, even if it did, Apple's devices don't support these subtitle formats. I would be very happy if you proved me wrong on this.

For this reason, and some others, I use Plex. I can keep the original media and it converts it on the fly for Apple's devices, if needed. For my use cases it is more convenient.

(I have tried Subler's OCR for PGS and it doesn't work well enough to be useable.)
 
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