PlexConnect, A Fully Functioning Plex Client On Apple TV

[PJALM]

Again see you said iTunes, I never mentioned purchased iTunes media. People want to play anything from VOB, MKV AVI or whatever they want, not just MP4 or M4V files. Also some NAS devices run a Plex Server so this is great for that.

If you don't need it fine, but no need to dis it like noone needs it, I sure do. I really don't feel like going through my entire collection and converting everything to a iTunes friendly format, adding the Thumnails and info, its way too much work that Plex does all automatically.

 

[tom.humphrey]

Glad you like our app, there are a number of improvements in the pipeline that will make it even more slick

I am a little confused as how to someone can recommend Rasplex over PlexConnect when they have not tried both. Personally I have both running as i like to see what is out there and tinker and Dale et al have done a fantastic job so far but for my money and WAF i would go for PlexConnect every time

I was more recommending a raspberry pi solution over an Apple TV. Sorry if that wasn't clear

 

[nobodynose]

View attachment 62928

A recent discovery led me to purchase an Apple TV last weekend and that reason is PlexConnect. If you run Plex and own an Apple TV, PlexConnect will make you love our Apple TV even more.

To make a long story short, my H67N-USB3-B3 was running OS X Mountain Lion next to my HDTV as a NAS/File Share/HTPC. It was connected via HDMI to my HDTV and from it I would access files such as media, as well as Server and more importantly Plex Media Server. The great thing about Plex Media Server is that not only can you view your media from the Plex app, you can also view your media in a web browser either on your home network, or somewhere else on the internet. Even though the setup worked well, I didn't like that my CustoMac was on my network via WIFI because the router was nowhere near and it just looked bulky next to my HDTV. I wanted something small and thin next to my HDTV that could almost do all of the same things at a low cost.

I use Plex alot and I recently discovered PlexConnect; an Apple TV client hack that works without the need to jailbreak your Apple TV. I didn't think much for Apple TV and quite frankly didn't see how it would fit at all into my home ecosystem. But this past weekend I purchased an Apple TV and set up PlexConnect on my CustoMac in a few simple steps. I moved my CustoMac out of site and now the Apple TV is there instead, small and barely noticeable. I can access my Plex media from Apple TV, still use my HDTV as a monitor/screen with Airplay if need be, and don't need my H67N-USB3-B3 CustoMac connected to my network via WIFI.

I highly recommend anyone using Plex and owns an Apple TV to combine them with PlexConnect. If you're like me and didn't see a reason why Apple TV would do you any good, this is a good enough reason to do so.

Check out these links for more info-
http://elan.plexapp.com/2013/06/04/introducing-plexconnect-an-appletv-client-which-thinks-different/
https://github.com/iBaa/PlexConnect/wiki
Related-
http://www.tonymacx86.com/graphics/...0-amd-nvidia-working-together.html#post505510
http://www.tonymacx86.com/hdmi-audio/100492-easy-guide-ml-uefi-hdmi-audio.html

I have a jailbroken AppleTV 2 that is running Firecore's aTVFlash software that lets me display just about any media content (in my case from a NAS device) on the AppleTV. But some content just causes problems (random rebooting, etc.) with the Firecore software. This is where PlexConnect comes in handy. I like Firecore's interface better, but if I run across a particular video or format it can't play, I can play it through PlexConnect (using it as sort of a "backup" media player). It's very simple to setup and works well.

 

[themole]

Can it stream mkvs with dts audio?

If so I may just finally buy an Apple TV!

 

[djdubz]

Plexconnect via hackintosh to atv2 or 3 5.x and up

This is a tutorial to make atv 2 tethered or untethered or non jailbroken atv3 work with plex media center via plexconnect. I was having issues with my atv2 contantly resetting during watching content on plex every few days. My apple tv is running an untethered jailbreak on 5.2 but from what I understand this should work on other firmware as well only 5.x and up since it needs the trailers app to function. This is also a tutorial for pms for mac only I do not own a pc so I personally cannot answer any questions on that topic but im sure its possible as well. I am not resposible if you brick your device, this how to is for informational purposes only. I have tested on two devices with no issues whatsoever use at your own risk! Ok now that thats over to the good stuff This has also solved the "memory leak issues that have plagued the atv 2 untethered 5.0.2 seasonpass jb" I have yet to see a warning low memory or crash since I have gone this route as stated on the main wiki page http://wiki.plexapp....Nine_Client_ATV

Delete plex client on your device or dont install it in the first place if you have atv flash black this should be a breeze for you. Otherwise google is your friend search for your answer!

Download plexconnect on your mac from here: https://github.com/i....allation-guide

Unzip, rename the folder to plexconnect and place the unzipped folder in your /users/YOURUSERNAMEHERE directory

Now to the autostarting plexconnect via launchctl

First, we need to make it quit if it manages to start before PMS, so launchctl can retry in 10s. Open up PlexGDM.py and search for the line 'No servers discovered'. Insert a line below this, at the same indentation, and add: sys.exit(1)

Next, we need to make it work without any access to the keyboard. Open up PlexConnect.py, look for the line that says 'try:', and delete this line *and every other line after it*. Don't worry, all you're removing is the ability for it to cleanly shut down if the user presses a key.

Next, create com.plex.plexconnect.plist with the following:

https://gist.github.com/chrishulbert/5772931

Edit this file, changing the *two* instances of 'Users/chris/PlexConnect' to the correct folder that you've installed PlexConnect in.

YOU WILL HAVE ERRORS IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW ALL THE ABOVE STEPS FOR LAUNCHCTL EXACTLY YOU WILL HAVE ISSUES AND I WILL HAVE NO SYMPATHY FOR YOU DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU SKIPPED ANYTHING TRUST ME!

Go into the terminal, change into your plexconnect folder, and do the following:

sudo cp com.plex.plexconnect.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.plex.plexconnect.plist
sudo launchctl start com.plex.plexconnect

Now goto your atv and change your network to manual and dont change anything but your dns to point to your pms server for example mine is 192.168.1.25 for my mac

Enable trailers on your atv if its disabled in parental controls and enjoy plex via the trailers app based on java on your apple tv!

 

[nobodynose]

This is a tutorial to make atv 2 tethered or untethered or non jailbroken atv3 work with plex media center via plexconnect. Now to the autostarting plexconnect via launchctl

First, we need to make it quit if it manages to start before PMS, so launchctl can retry in 10s. Open up PlexGDM.py and search for the line 'No servers discovered'. Insert a line below this, at the same indentation, and add: sys.exit(1)

Next, we need to make it work without any access to the keyboard. Open up PlexConnect.py, look for the line that says 'try:', and delete this line *and every other line after it*. Don't worry, all you're removing is the ability for it to cleanly shut down if the user presses a key.

Next, create com.plex.plexconnect.plist with the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
"http://www.apple.com...rtyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.plex.plexconnect</string>
<key>WorkingDirectory</key>
<string>/Users/chris/PlexConnect</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/Users/chris/PlexConnect/PlexConnect.py</string>
</array>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
<key>KeepAlive</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Edit this file, changing the *two* instances of 'Users/chris/PlexConnect' to the correct folder that you've installed PlexConnect in.

YOU WILL HAVE ERRORS IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW ALL THE ABOVE STEPS FOR LAUNCHCTL EXACTLY YOU WILL HAVE ISSUES AND I WILL HAVE NO SYMPATHY FOR YOU DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU SKIPPED ANYTHING TRUST ME!

Go into the terminal, change into your plexconnect folder, and do the following:

sudo cp com.plex.plexconnect.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.plex.plexconnect.plist
sudo launchctl start com.plex.plexconnect

Thanks so much for this guide! I had resorted to creating an AppleScript application that ran upon login because I could never figure out what was needed in the LaunchDaemon plist file to make it work.

I did notice one thing - the URL for the DTD in the DOCTYPE header in your code listing got mangled by the forum - you might want to try editing that and putting it inside

 tags.

[U]EDIT[/U]: Unfortunately, this isn't working for me. launchd is spamming the console with the following:

[code]
8/16/13 5:23:47.141 PM com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.plex.plexconnect[90543]) Exited with code: 1
8/16/13 5:23:47.141 PM com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.plex.plexconnect) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds

Which tells me it's hitting that "sys.exit(1)" line every time. I followed your instructions to the letter, so I'm not sure what could be wrong.

UPDATE: I played around with it some more -- I put the original PlexConnect.py back and didn't remove the "try:" line and everything below it; now it's working fine. I thought there was something strange about that, because it seemed to be removing essential code. Maybe I'm working with a different version of PlexConnect than you - I'm going to check and see if there's an update. Thanks for the launchctl daemon instructions though!

 

[beelzebozo]

This is a tutorial to make atv 2 tethered or untethered or non jailbroken atv3 work with plex media center via plexconnect. I was having issues with my atv2 contantly resetting during watching movies during Mashup during every movie and occasionaly while watching content on plex every few days. My apple tv is running an untethered jailbreak on 5.0.2 (9B803) but from what I understand this should work on other firmware as well only 5.x and up since it needs the trailers app to function. This is also a tutorial for pms for mac only I do not own a pc so I personally cannot answer any questions on that topic but im sure its possible as well. I am not resposible if you brick your device, this how to is for informational purposes only. I have tested on two devices with no issues whatsoever use at your own risk! Ok now that thats over to the good stuff This has also solved the "memory leak issues that have plagued the atv 2 untethered 5.0.2 seasonpass jb" I have yet to see a warning low memory or crash since I have gone this route as stated on the main wiki page http://wiki.plexapp....Nine_Client_ATV

Delete plex client on your device or dont install it in the first place if you have atv flash black this should be a breeze for you. Otherwise google is your friend search for your answer!

Download plexconnect on your mac from here: https://github.com/i....allation-guide

Unzip, rename the folder to plexconnect and place the unzipped folder in your /users/YOURUSERNAMEHERE directory

Now to the autostarting plexconnect via launchctl

First, we need to make it quit if it manages to start before PMS, so launchctl can retry in 10s. Open up PlexGDM.py and search for the line 'No servers discovered'. Insert a line below this, at the same indentation, and add: sys.exit(1)

Next, we need to make it work without any access to the keyboard. Open up PlexConnect.py, look for the line that says 'try:', and delete this line *and every other line after it*. Don't worry, all you're removing is the ability for it to cleanly shut down if the user presses a key.

Next, create com.plex.plexconnect.plist with the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
"http://www.apple.com...rtyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.plex.plexconnect</string>
<key>WorkingDirectory</key>
<string>/Users/chris/PlexConnect</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/Users/chris/PlexConnect/PlexConnect.py</string>
</array>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
<key>KeepAlive</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Edit this file, changing the *two* instances of 'Users/chris/PlexConnect' to the correct folder that you've installed PlexConnect in.

YOU WILL HAVE ERRORS IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW ALL THE ABOVE STEPS FOR LAUNCHCTL EXACTLY YOU WILL HAVE ISSUES AND I WILL HAVE NO SYMPATHY FOR YOU DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU SKIPPED ANYTHING TRUST ME!

Go into the terminal, change into your plexconnect folder, and do the following:

sudo cp com.plex.plexconnect.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.plex.plexconnect.plist
sudo launchctl start com.plex.plexconnect

Now goto your atv and change your network to manual and dont change anything but your dns to point to your pms server for example mine is 192.168.1.25 for my mac

Enable trailers on your atv if its disabled in parental controls and enjoy plex via the trailers app based on java on your apple tv!

Please give credit to original source-
http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php...on-to-launch-plexconnect-at-startup/?p=445857

 

[djdubz]

Please give credit to original source-
http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php...on-to-launch-plexconnect-at-startup/?p=445857

Whalman.j=djdubz I am the original source just different user name.

 

[beelzebozo]

So apparently the recent update to Apple TV that includes a few extra channels broke PlexConnect. I managed to stay connected to the Apple Trailers channel and it didn't break PlexConnect, however I didn't validate whether or not my Apple TV got those updates and I rather not exit the Apple Trailers channel to check at the moment.

However, if you have been affected by the update, here is a link that shows how to restore functionality if your PlexConnect broke- http://langui.sh/2013/08/27/appletv-ssl-plexconnect/

 

[Stork]

djdubz/Whalman.j,
Good to know that have you have been here on the Forum for a while. I, too, am a long time Plex user. Cave Man, on the Plex & handbrake forums, convinced me to build a hack three years ago and the rest is history. http://www.tonymacx86.com/golden-bu...ol-p55m-ud2-but-cool-htpc.html?highlight=HTPC

I have two AppleTV 1gen's hacked and mod'd with 1TB external HDDs via the thread on the handbrake forum. eSata AppleTV Mod

However, I'm following this thread as I think Beelz and you have hit upon a great way to integrate the current AppleTV to our hacks. I just might replace my old ATVs with a newer one now.