AppleTV3 and Plex with no Jailbreak

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mruane

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#119380 29-May-2013 22:15

Not sure if this has been talked about on GZ yet, but the clever chaps at Plex have developed a way to leverage the AppleTV3 as a Plex Media Client without the need to jailbreak it (which is not possible at the present).

The approach leverages the Movie Trailer app on the AppleTV3 by redirecting the DNS entry to point to the Plex Media Server. A script on the Media Server then reformats the output from the Plex Media Server so that it conforms to the Movie Trailer app input XML format. Apparently there has been good feedback regarding the approach and it appears to be successful.

Google PlexConnect for more information.

Cheers Mike

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#828045 29-May-2013 22:30

Very, very clever.

Did anyone try this?

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mruane

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#828053 29-May-2013 22:50

If you check out the Plex forums and search for Plexconnect there are a number of threads from people that have tried it successfully. There is more information at the PlexConnect Wiki. Just google it...

I only have a JB'ed AppleTv2 so I have not tried it myself yet.

Cheers Mike

Handle9

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#828128 30-May-2013 08:36

I just tried it - it is awesome! So much snappier than running plexbmc on a jailbroken device.

Took about 10 minutes to get going.

CYaBro

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#828148 30-May-2013 09:28

Sweet, now just need Plex to get live TV support with EPG etc. with either MediaPortal or Argus TV Server backend.

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robjg63

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#828151 30-May-2013 09:36

Pretty cool

Its a pity that the ATV3 doesnt seem to be jailbreakable.
As cool as this is I guess that depending on your file 'collection' its going to have to transcode quite often?
I do love the ATV2 running XBMC - it plays pretty much anything you can throw at it.

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trig42

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#828152 30-May-2013 09:36

How cool! Clever peeps - I hope Apple do not break it.

I will check it out.

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geekiegeek

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#828194 30-May-2013 10:48

looks really easy and cool I must say. Anyone tried it with an ATV that users a VPN to get to Netflix and Hulu?

trig42

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#828204 30-May-2013 10:53

It just changes the DNS of the AppleTV to look at the computer where you have the PlexConnect app installed. Within that app on the computer, you can use your normal DNS entries for all other requests.

All it does is interrupt the Movie Previews App on the AppleTV, very clever. They say that UnblockUS etc will all still be fine, not sure about VPNs but I imagine they'd be fine.

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#831379 5-Jun-2013 23:30

Just a quick update. I've been running this for about a week now and IMO this is the best plex front end I've used.

I've always been a bit frustrated with Plexbmc on the ATV as it was as bit of a dog with UI performance and did often have some playback issues. Plexconnect has solved a lot of my frustration and I'm very pleased.

I've setup a ghost exe to launch the python script on boot (well 10 seconds after boot to allow plex to load first) so it's seamless and has a high WAF.

davidcole

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#831981 7-Jun-2013 08:50

geekiegeek: looks really easy and cool I must say. Anyone tried it with an ATV that users a VPN to get to Netflix and Hulu?

I don;t use a VPN, but unblock us - and the PlexConnect says if you're asking for trailers.apple.com then thanks I'll take that, otherwise what DNS would you like me to use - and in here I put the unblockus dns server.

Seems to work fine.

VPN however, will be a different story, you'd probably have to pass the DNS server for your VPN provider.

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JayTaicho

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#836163 13-Jun-2013 09:31

I bought an ATV as soon as I heard about PlexConnect! Been running it for a few weeks now. Ran into a few problems early on, but now is working perfectly.

I LOVE the way ATV displays Netflix. Was using a WDTV for Netflix, but wasn't as nice to navigate.

PlexConnect is not even in Alpha yet I believe, so will only get better!

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JayTaicho

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#836166 13-Jun-2013 09:35

geekiegeek: looks really easy and cool I must say. Anyone tried it with an ATV that users a VPN to get to Netflix and Hulu?

I'm still awaiting on my AirNZ OneSmart card to authorize so I can use it for Hulu, but Netflix works great. For me, video loads a lot faster on the ATV than my other media player.

Using Unblock US.

davidcole

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#836179 13-Jun-2013 09:54

JayTaicho: I bought an ATV as soon as I heard about PlexConnect! Been running it for a few weeks now. Ran into a few problems early on, but now is working perfectly.

I LOVE the way ATV displays Netflix. Was using a WDTV for Netflix, but wasn't as nice to navigate.

PlexConnect is not even in Alpha yet I believe, so will only get better!

yeah I thinking of going back to my Apple TV. Been using a roku3 and the quality from netflix is nowhere near as good, and it buffers a lot more. The ATV was much better at the adaptive streams.

davidcole

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#836183 13-Jun-2013 10:06

JayTaicho:
geekiegeek: looks really easy and cool I must say. Anyone tried it with an ATV that users a VPN to get to Netflix and Hulu?

I'm still awaiting on my AirNZ OneSmart card to authorize so I can use it for Hulu, but Netflix works great. For me, video loads a lot faster on the ATV than my other media player.

Using Unblock US.

Yes, using unblock us, on the machine that intercepts the trailers.apple.com requests it has a "forward other request to xyz" dns. Put the unblock us DNS in the forward to location and off it goes.

I did find on an older alpha, that after using it would kill the python web server, and therefore nothing would work until plexconnect was restarted.

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#836185 13-Jun-2013 10:12

JayTaicho:
geekiegeek: looks really easy and cool I must say. Anyone tried it with an ATV that users a VPN to get to Netflix and Hulu?

I'm still awaiting on my AirNZ OneSmart card to authorize so I can use it for Hulu, but Netflix works great. For me, video loads a lot faster on the ATV than my other media player.

Using Unblock US.

It'll probably be much easier to set up an US iTunes account, get US iTunes gift cards credited and sing up to Netflix/Hulu via this US iTunes account as subscription and you don't have to muck around with specific Netflix/Hulu accounts and billings.

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