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Quick Apple TV Question (Streaming To TV?)

I

InfernoUk

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Hey guys

I have a macbook pro and a load of video files, avi and mp4, im wondering if an apple TV will let me stream my video up onto my TV from my laptop without lag etc?

I didnt know if it was locked down to itunes or apple services or if i can just stream a file off my desktop to the TV with it?

Appreciate any clarity on this or how to go about achieving this.

Cheers for any tips
 
InfernoUk said:
I have a macbook pro and a load of video files, avi and mp4, im wondering if an apple TV will let me stream my video up onto my TV from my laptop without lag etc?

I didnt know if it was locked down to itunes or apple services or if i can just stream a file off my desktop to the TV with it?

Appreciate any clarity on this or how to go about achieving this.
Click to expand...
I use Plex for managing and playing movies, videos and TV shows. Plex will handle more file types than iTunes and yes, you can stream to Apple TV without lag.
 
GGJstudios said:
I use Plex for managing and playing movies, videos and TV shows. Plex will handle more file types than iTunes and yes, you can stream to Apple TV without lag.
Click to expand...

Thanks, so i can just use Plex and throw up any file onto the TV via apple TV perfectly? I assumed being apple it wouldnt play nice with files outside of itunes! One of my friends mentioned needing XBMC or something on the apple TV
 
yosemite lag on apple tv

Hello,

MBP15 late 2011 with apple tv 3, all with the latest software (yosemite, etc). I see video mirror lag. I use VLC player to stream mp4s. Any suggestions?
 
If I understand what you're asking, what you want isn't Plex or any of that stuff.

You want Beamer.
http://beamer-app.com/

It's basically VLC for Apple TV. 0 configuration. You open it, it sees the apple tv, and you drop a video on to it to steam thru Airplay.

I've yet to find a video format it can't handle.

(I'm not sure how Plex even works to appletv without some weird hacks)
 
VideoBeagle said:
If I understand what you're asking, what you want isn't Plex or any of that stuff.

You want Beamer.
http://beamer-app.com/

It's basically VLC for Apple TV. 0 configuration. You open it, it sees the apple tv, and you drop a video on to it to steam.

I've yet to find a video format it can't handle.
Click to expand...

Sounds ideal, so for example, i just check in the video file of a tv series and it appears on my tv that has the apple tv connected?

Hows latency / quality?
 
InfernoUk said:
Sounds ideal, so for example, i just check in the video file of a tv series and it appears on my tv that has the apple tv connected?

Hows latency / quality?
Click to expand...

Quality is as good as the video file's quality.
No latency. You can stop and jump to video locations thru the app on your screen. It works with the ATV remote the way it should.

They have a free trial to download. I say get it and try it. It was an easy $15 purchase for me.
 
VideoBeagle said:
Quality is as good as the video file's quality.
No latency. You can stop and jump to video locations thru the app on your screen. It works with the ATV remote the way it should.

They have a free trial to download. I say get it and try it. It was an easy $15 purchase for me.
Click to expand...

Thanks ive got it working fine, just wondered, how taxing is it on the laptop? (2014 Retina MBP) wondered if i could send the video to my TV and continue using my laptop without it being too weighed down with the encoding / streaming process
 
VideoBeagle said:
If I understand what you're asking, what you want isn't Plex or any of that stuff.

You want Beamer.
http://beamer-app.com/

It's basically VLC for Apple TV. 0 configuration. You open it, it sees the apple tv, and you drop a video on to it to steam thru Airplay.

I've yet to find a video format it can't handle.

(I'm not sure how Plex even works to appletv without some weird hacks)
Click to expand...
Plex works perfectly well with a wide variety of formats, with no hacks required. Perhaps you should do a little research before discounting a solution that you haven't tried. Plex is also free.
 
GGJstudios said:
Plex works perfectly well with a wide variety of formats, with no hacks required. Perhaps you should do a little research before discounting a solution that you haven't tried. Plex is also free.
Click to expand...

I did try it, but beamer is exactly what i wanted so im happy with that!
 
InfernoUk said:
Thanks ive got it working fine, just wondered, how taxing is it on the laptop? (2014 Retina MBP) wondered if i could send the video to my TV and continue using my laptop without it being too weighed down with the encoding / streaming process
Click to expand...

Generaly, I've not run into any issues, like using Beamer while also running Photoshop, or doing 3d Rendering, or running handbrake..

Plex works perfectly well with a wide variety of formats, with no hacks required. Perhaps you should do a little research before discounting a solution that you haven't tried.
Click to expand...

Does it work now by some other way than tricking the Trailer App? Sounds pretty much like a hack to me. shurg.
 
VideoBeagle said:
Does it work now by some other way than tricking the Trailer App? Sounds pretty much like a hack to me. shurg.
Click to expand...
The "hack" to the Trailers app is only required if you want to run Plex directly on the Apple TV, without having the Plex Home Theater app running on another device. That's not what the OP asked about. You can stream from a Mac, iPhone or iPad to the Apple TV without touching the Trailers app or any other modification to the Apple TV.
 
So Plex now supports Airplay?
Everything I've googled says either Plex-Connect thru Trailers, or bouncing Plex from your mac to an ios device to Apple TV.

There's another way?
 
VideoBeagle said:
So Plex now supports Airplay?
Everything I've googled says either Plex-Connect thru Trailers, or bouncing Plex from your mac to an ios device to Apple TV.

There's another way?
Click to expand...
I have my movie library on an external drive attached to my Mac mini, which runs Plex Media Server, making the Plex library available to any device running Plex on my network. I have Plex Home Theater running on my MBP, streaming via AirPlay to my Apple TV, which is attached via HDMI to my HDTV. I don't need to touch the Apple TV menu, much less Trailers, and I don't have PlexConnect installed on my Apple TV. It works flawlessly. I just finished watching a movie using this arrangement.
 
VideoBeagle said:
So Plex now supports Airplay?

Everything I've googled says either Plex-Connect thru Trailers, or bouncing Plex from your mac to an ios device to Apple TV.



There's another way?
Click to expand...


Plex app on an iOS device can AirPlay to an ATV. That's what I use, along with a VM running plex media server on my network.

Honestly a direct stream app as mentioned above would be easiest. Plex offers more options though and requires a system to run the server side of it.
 
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