PlexConnect is worth the effort with Apple TV

[Harry Muff]

Ok, so I've got all up and running now and it looks pretty sweet.

Turns out that changing the DNS before adding the profile was a bad idea.


That said, it still didn't work until I found a post stating that the address should be: 192.168.2.22/trailers.cer (obviously tweak the numbers for you).


My only question now is whether I have to have Terminal open all the time to keep the server running. It's no big deal, but it's not a very tidy option.

Anyhoo, it's indexing my music from a backup on the same drive as the movies at the moment.

After that, I'm going to start messing with the skins. 😎

 

[Idgit]

My only question now is whether I have to have Terminal open all the time to keep the server running.

Nope. In the OS X folder inside the Support Folder, you can edit the com.plex.plexconnect.bash.plist with the correct path to your PlexConnect folder and the installer path. Then run the install.bash file and it should create a launch daemon that will auto-start PlexConnect on reboot. Works for me.

The PlexConnect forum will have more specific help and instructions.

 

[schlotz]

You might find this helpful for getting plexconnect to run automatically:

Plexconnect as Daemon
On OSX you can run PlexConnect as a daemon, which will automatically start on boot and run as a background process. NB ensure that you have PlexConnect fully working before setting it up to automatically start at boot.

First, stop the running instance of PlexConnect if you have one open (CTRL-C)

Open a terminal window and navigate to the "OSX" folder in your PlexConnect "support" folder (you can do this by typing "cd", hitting the spacebar, dragging the OSX folder to the terminal window and hitting enter)

Enter (without the quotes) "sudo ./install.bash"

Provide your Administrator password and press enter.

A PlexConnect plist will be installed to /Library/LaunchDaemons (for the forthcoming boots) and the PlexConnect daemon will be started.

Additional Commands

sudo ./uninstall.bash <will shut down the daemon and uninstall it - (removes the plist).

sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.plex.plexconnect.bash.plist <will unload or stop the service for this boot.

sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.plex.plexconnect.bash.plist < will restart the process.

sudo launchctl list | grep plexconnect < indicates whether the process is running (first number - PID) and (if neccessary) an error number.

 

[irnchriz]

everything I get is converted to Apple TV 1080p/720p so it can be loaded onto Apple devices or streamed via Apple TV. Plex seems like a total waste of time for me as I embed all of the meta data in my media files already.

What are the benefits for me to use plex?

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That's great DS works well for you. DS is just an operating system forked from BSD instead of Linux (which originally comes from BSD, as all unix does).
I guess they have better programers than some of the other NAS companies (I have QNAP and the OS is great, but the iOS app sucks).

Although, at the time I bought the QNAP Synology did not even support FLAC or gapless playback. So it was a no go for me. I still mainly use Squeezebox Server or Twonky with my SBTouches or RasperyPi's with hifi DAC's. I am just interested in making my ATV2 a little more useful.

QNAP implementation of AFP is a total nightmare in anything but a home environment. For OSX Synology is king.

 

[Miabifilms]

I personally think my setup is the best solution for movie management and can use dnla or airplay but content browsing is restricted to ios devices.

I have an ATV3 a synology nas and ipad/iPhone. No paid apps or jailbreaks or laptops needed.

I use the DS download app to manage torrents, they can be opened from safari while browsing so no laptop needed. Obviously legit above board.

DS video app is the content management system, it auto finds covers, info ratings, resume position etc and you can airplay from the app, the nas itself can convert any non airplay content or you can play from dnla on almost any tv too. You can offline download for playback offline but amazingly you can play the files over the internet at other locations with good connections and smaller files even work over 3G especially if encoded for mobile which us an option in the nas too.

It avoids any need for a laptop. It's not cheap but also enables lots of other options. It can make any printer an air printer and let's you have Dropbox like service on your devices tomsync everything together. I like plex but the need for dedicated hardware is a pain and doesn't do any of the downloading parts of the equation or storage.

Peace.

Agree. This is what works best for me as well. No need to have another computer running a media server, if you have a Synology NAS, you're all set. While the DS Video app may not be as feature-rich as Plex, it's rock solid on iOS. finds all of the info/artwork, and airplay works like a charm.

Not to take away from the OP, if you don't have a Synology, PlexConnect looks like a great workaround.

 

[schlotz]

For many it becomes the WOC factor (wife on couch) 🙂 Once operational, I added control the our single AV system remote, Harmony Touch. With Plex & Plexconnect it becomes a simple task, hit Movies and select the one you want. When mommy is happy, everybody is happy...😀 YMMV

 

[Sill]

everything I get is converted to Apple TV 1080p/720p so it can be loaded onto Apple devices or streamed via Apple TV. Plex seems like a total waste of time for me as I embed all of the meta data in my media files already.

What are the benefits for me to use plex?

No one answered you, so I wanted to bump up your question. How does this PMS (great acronym, btw) offer anything better than iTunes/Airplay?

I have a current iMac, running Yosemite. I just downloaded PMS to see what the fuss is. I clicked on it... and nothing. A new tab opens in Safari, blacked out, with the Plex logo in the center. Other than that, this thing does nothing.

So what is Plex supposed to be doing now?

 

[charlien]

No one answered you, so I wanted to bump up your question. How does this PMS (great acronym, btw) offer anything better than iTunes/Airplay?

I have a current iMac, running Yosemite. I just downloaded PMS to see what the fuss is. I clicked on it... and nothing. A new tab opens in Safari, blacked out, with the Plex logo in the center. Other than that, this thing does nothing.

So what is Plex supposed to be doing now?

Did you tell PMS where your data resides?

 

[Sill]

Did you tell PMS where your data resides?

When? I clicked on it, the browser window opens, and thats it. I get a black window with the Plex logo. There's no other info on the screen. Shouldn't I have an application window open? Why is this thing bringing up a web page?

 

[swordfish5736]

When? I clicked on it, the browser window opens, and thats it. I get a black window with the Plex logo. There's no other info on the screen. Shouldn't I have an application window open? Why is this thing bringing up a web page?

The server interface runs in a webpage. It should have started a setup wizard on first startup asking you to point to your TV shows and movies

 

[orestes1984]

What are the advantages of Plex Connect, do things like Plex Channels and IceFilms and Let Me Watch work with Plex Connect, or is it simply just the Plex interface?

I've got no problems with the standard Apple TV interface, and don't see any need to complicate things any further unless there is added benefits.

 

[Mr. Zarniwoop]

PlexConnect is the standard Apple TV interface, that's the point.

Plex plays wider media types like MKV and allows more player devices. Read the first post of this thread.

 

[orestes1984]

PlexConnect is the standard Apple TV interface, that's the point.

Plex plays wider media types like MKV and allows more player devices. Read the first post of this thread.

But if you've already converted your media then what's the point?

 

[Mr. Zarniwoop]

But if you've already converted your media then what's the point?

If you have a mix of content and/or a mix of devices, Plex is great. PlexConnect is the software to get Plex content to work on an Apple TV using a pure Apple TV experience.

If you only have Apple content and you only watch on Apple devices, Plex isn't nearly as compelling. There are a few nifty Plex features you might find useful, such as sharing media over the Internet, auto-tagging DVD/Blu-ray content you ripped yourself, or perhaps some extra channels, but really the main benefit of Plex is any content on any device anywhere.

 

[Harry Muff]

Just to let people know, today's 7.0.2 update for the Apple TV 3rd Gen. doesn't break Plex. I've just installed it and reconnected Plex and it runs perfectly.


I know someone will ask, so there you have it.


Enjoy!

 

[Sill]

The server interface runs in a webpage. It should have started a setup wizard on first startup asking you to point to your TV shows and movies

I think I remember it asking that, but it was a dialog box not a browser page. If it did, I probably bypassed it. I generally like to do "advanced" installs for most software, preferring to control what gets installed and how. I guess thats left over from my Windows days.

Having the setup in a browser window is kind of strange. Thats something I would think is more appropriate for a router setup or ... thats about it. I can't think of any reason why a local program wanted me to use a browser to set up my prefs. Where are the prefs stored, if thats the case? In a cookie? On a remote server?

I was also a little perplexed by the setup program asking me to "sign in". To what?

 

[swordfish5736]

I think I remember it asking that, but it was a dialog box not a browser page. If it did, I probably bypassed it. I generally like to do "advanced" installs for most software, preferring to control what gets installed and how. I guess thats left over from my Windows days.

Having the setup in a browser window is kind of strange. Thats something I would think is more appropriate for a router setup or ... thats about it. I can't think of any reason why a local program wanted me to use a browser to set up my prefs. Where are the prefs stored, if thats the case? In a cookie? On a remote server?

I was also a little perplexed by the setup program asking me to "sign in". To what?

Here is how to start from scratch.

Here is a quick start guide. They've got a pretty active forum as well.


It's asking you to sign in to myplex. It's optional, but allows for remote access to your content via pretty much any device.

the web interface is just presenting an easy way to manage your content. The server app normally just sits in your toolbar as an icon. It doesn't depend on an OS specific app to run, and you can access it from another computer via a web browser. Which is nice if you are running a headless server and don't always want to remote into it.

 

[Sill]

Here is how to start from scratch.

Thanks for that link. I figured maybe there was something corrupted somewhere so I deleted the existing files, downloaded again, and started the install again.

It's asking you to sign in to myplex. It's optional, but allows for remote access to your content via pretty much any device.

Good to know I won't need it. I simply want to use a lone Mac running Yosemite with an external drive for a media source. This won't be connected to the net for any reason.

the web interface is just presenting an easy way to manage your content. The server app normally just sits in your toolbar as an icon. It doesn't depend on an OS specific app to run, and you can access it from another computer via a web browser. Which is nice if you are running a headless server and don't always want to remote into it.

Understood.

While I was responding I did the new install and I'm having even less luck than the previous one. Where I got a black screen with a static Plex logo on the last install, this one flakes out after a second. A phantom window about 3"x4" pops up in the left corner for about half a sec, but there's nothing in it.

This is bizarre.

All I really want to do is load my movie inventory on the machine and have it stream to my AppleTV over my Airport Express connection. I've been using Airplay with iTunes but most movies drop out within thirty seconds, one or two times, before the system stabilizes and I can watch the entire movie. Theres a decent sized crowd of people on the ASF with similar complaints.

I checked out XBMC but that was a confusing mess compared to iTunes. I thought maybe this Plex gimmick would be able to do it, but its not looking too good right now.

 

[swordfish5736]

Thanks for that link. I figured maybe there was something corrupted somewhere so I deleted the existing files, downloaded again, and started the install again.

Here is a quick start guide. They've got a pretty active forum as well.



Good to know I won't need it. I simply want to use a lone Mac running Yosemite with an external drive for a media source. This won't be connected to the net for any reason.



Understood.

While I was responding I did the new install and I'm having even less luck than the previous one. Where I got a black screen with a static Plex logo on the last install, this one flakes out after a second. A phantom window about 3"x4" pops up in the left corner for about half a sec, but there's nothing in it.

This is bizarre.

All I really want to do is load my movie inventory on the machine and have it stream to my AppleTV over my Airport Express connection. I've been using Airplay with iTunes but most movies drop out within thirty seconds, one or two times, before the system stabilizes and I can watch the entire movie. Theres a decent sized crowd of people on the ASF with similar complaints.

I checked out XBMC but that was a confusing mess compared to iTunes. I thought maybe this Plex gimmick would be able to do it, but its not looking too good right now.

Did you remove the files in the library folder like in the guide for starting over?

 

[Sill]

Yes, those were the existing files I mentioned deleting.

 

[swordfish5736]

Yes, those were the existing files I mentioned deleting.

odd, maybe you could launch the console(click spotlight and type console) and check out the logs. Look in the list for Plex Media Server.log. Then you could try selecting the Media Manger on the plex icon in the toolbar, and look at the results in the console for any odd error messages. You can post the output here if you'd like.

Also, do you use the built in firewall in OS X? if so did you allow plex media server when it asked about allowing connections? If you are unsure you can manually add the application. First I'd close plex media server from the Quit option in the toolbar menu.
go to System Preferences->Security & Privacy-> Firewall -> Firewall Options

Then click the + and look for the plex media server app in the applications folder. Once you've selected ok, launch plex and see if it functions at all. Even if the setup wizard did not run you should still be able to manually add whatever you like once we can get the media manger to actually run.

 

[Dameatball]

PlexConnect is worth the effort with Apple TV

I think I remember it asking that, but it was a dialog box not a browser page. If it did, I probably bypassed it. I generally like to do "advanced" installs for most software, preferring to control what gets installed and how. I guess thats left over from my Windows days.



Having the setup in a browser window is kind of strange. Thats something I would think is more appropriate for a router setup or ... thats about it. I can't think of any reason why a local program wanted me to use a browser to set up my prefs. Where are the prefs stored, if thats the case? In a cookie? On a remote server?



I was also a little perplexed by the setup program asking me to "sign in". To what?

You don't set it up in a browser unless you want to. Pms and pht is software. Signing in is so you can access your media remotely, share with friends, family etc. But not a must. The benefits Are way too many too ltoo many to list- but the Plex web site can help there. One would be not wasting all that time encoding files so iTunes will play them (fyi, Plex has an iTunes plugin so you can use both within ). For those of us with a media center, it gets no better. It's everything that iTunes isn't.

 

[Sill]

odd, maybe you could launch the console(click spotlight and type console) and check out the logs. Look in the list for Plex Media Server.log. Then you could try selecting the Media Manger on the plex icon in the toolbar, and look at the results in the console for any odd error messages. You can post the output here if you'd like.

Looking at the console I don't really see anything odd, except for the fact that the Plex software calls the machine its running on via HTTP. That is totally bizarre. Quite a few "Perfect cache hit, we don't need to start [*.agents.*] yet".
No error messages, in any case.

Also, do you use the built in firewall in OS X? if so did you allow plex media server when it asked about allowing connections? If you are unsure you can manually add the application. First I'd close plex media server from the Quit option in the toolbar menu.
go to System Preferences->Security & Privacy-> Firewall -> Firewall Options

Yes, I definitely have it blocked. Like I said earlier, I always go for advanced installs instead of default. I didn't see a need to have a local server that is supposed to run a localized media browser have access to incoming connections. Why do I need to unblock it?

Then click the + and look for the plex media server app in the applications folder. Once you've selected ok, launch plex and see if it functions at all. Even if the setup wizard did not run you should still be able to manually add whatever you like once we can get the media manger to actually run.

Not really comfortable doing that until I understand what is going on here.

 

[Sill]

You don't set it up in a browser unless you want to.

Can you point me to another way to setup this thing so I can skip the browser then?

Signing in is so you can access your media remotely, share with friends, family etc. But not a must.

I will never under any circumstances need to do that, so I'm glad to hear its not mandatory. This system is strictly for single room implementation.

The benefits Are way too many too ltoo many to list- but the Plex web site can help there.

I took a look around the Plex site and didn't see any compelling benefits that would make this a "must install". This is a side discussion and not really pertaining to my problem at hand, but if you have any particular standout reasons why you'd recommend Plex, maybe its something I can use for a case for this software.

I just need a simple media server that can stream files from a Mac to an AppleTV box without a net connection. Airplay works decently - after it stops dropping out - but its only usable for one file at a time. I have to physically go back to the server to start each new file. This isn't a great hardship, but its not very professional during a presentation.

I gave a look at Apple Homesharing, but it requires a net connection. Again, this machine is intended to be physically disconnected from the net. Personally, I have a hard time finding a reason why Apple did this. If both the AppleTV and the server are on the same side of a Wifi connection, why would they not enable local streaming or sharing using a simple PIN structure, like Bluetooth pairing on a cell phone? Why require the user to sign in on an iCloud account on both units, and then pair?

I tried XBMC - that was a hopeless mess. It lacks polish, its disorganized, and its about as sophisticated as Android - meaning "visually impenetrable, mentally draining, and resource exhausting".
Plex looks good, you guys are having some success with it, and I'm willing to give it a chance. If it does work, its going to get deployed here.

One would be not wasting all that time encoding files so iTunes will play them (fyi, Plex has an iTunes plugin so you can use both within ).

Both what?

 

[charlien]

Can you point me to another way to setup this thing so I can skip the browser then? '



I will never under any circumstances need to do that, so I'm glad to hear its not mandatory. This system is strictly for single room implementation.



I took a look around the Plex site and didn't see any compelling benefits that would make this a "must install". This is a side discussion and not really pertaining to my problem at hand, but if you have any particular standout reasons why you'd recommend Plex, maybe its something I can use for a case for this software.

I just need a simple media server that can stream files from a Mac to an AppleTV box without a net connection. Airplay works decently - after it stops dropping out - but its only usable for one file at a time. I have to physically go back to the server to start each new file. This isn't a great hardship, but its not very professional during a presentation. Personally, I have a hard time finding a reason why Apple did this. If both the AppleTV and the server are on the same side of a Wifi connection, why would they not enable local streaming or sharing using a simple PIN structure, like Bluetooth pairing on a cell phone? Why require the user to sign in on an iCloud account on both units, and then pair?

I gave a look at Apple Homesharing, but it requires a net connection. Again, this machine is intended to be physically disconnected from the net.
I tried XBMC - that was a hopeless mess. It lacks polish, its disorganized, and its about as sophisticated as Android - meaning "visually impenetrable, mentally draining, and resource exhausting".
Plex looks good, you guys are having some success with it, and I'm willing to give it a chance. If it does work, its going to get deployed here.




Both what?

Maybe you'd be better served by sticking with iTunes integration.