or you can get a lifetime subscription for ~$120. Quality software with regular updates and improvements costs money. Unfortunately Plex has had to layoff people due to revenue shortfalls.
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Looking for a Good Media Server
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or you can get a lifetime subscription for ~$120. Quality software with regular updates and improvements costs money. Unfortunately Plex has had to layoff people due to revenue shortfalls.
Plex as a software is great as such. It looks awesome, it mostly does what it is supposed to do. I think most peoples problem with it stems from the fact that the owners of Plex keep pushing features that only a niche minority will use, simply because it will bring in a tad of revenue. Now, this of course fine as they have to survive, but when it is done while showing it in the face of old time users who have supported the developers since the beginning, and the developers are being obnoxious about it, that is when the wall cracks. When they at the same time have a way for die hard users to pay (Plex Pass), but continue doing this and don't add any of the features the community has yelled for for years (Even such minor things as a actually useable client!), then you end up where we are now.
On top of that, the developers/owners are horrible at communicating with their users. Most often they come of as "take it or leave it". That is, if they even communicate.
I think the user interface of Infuses settings menus are a horrible example of how not to design things in a logical way. But the actual day-to-day usage interface of the app is definitely good, and the backend is absolutely amazing and blow out anything Plex has ever come close to offered. And on top, the developers of Infuse are extremely friendly and helpful. I am happy to support them.
That is definitely not true. I have used Plex for 12 years now, and have never payed them a single cent, and it still does everything I need it to do, as it did when I started.
I personally really like the client interface, and find the server interface mostly logical.
That I can understand. The client backend has been extremely lacking for years, which is also why I use Infuse instead, as a terminal for my Plex server.
Is it a smart TV with apps? If so check the TV's app store.
I have a Synology DS220J NAS with two 4TB Western Digital Red Pro HDDs. I use the VLC Media Player app on the AppleTV. Not the prettiest interface, but then I don't care about movie posters and the like to tell me about a movie I already own. Just navigate to the movie and hit play... simple and free.
Please be aware that the format that your media is in affects your options here. Proprietary formats such as those used by Apple, are far more restrictive than open source. For example, all my movies are in MKV format, so I can watch said content for free so long as I have a compatible player (VLC for example). Other formats require a fee to play because the codecs in use are being licensed by the app maker. DSVideo for example used to offer support for certain audio formats but later removed them because of a licensing restriction imposed by the author. They didn't want to pay the fee, so they removed the support for that specific codec in their app. Previously support was available through DSVideo.
Music and photos and videos all have their own quirks to resolve. Which is why there really isn't a one serves all sort of answer in a third party sense. If everything you have is purely in Apple codecs, you're better off staying within that ecosystem unless you want to pay additional fees to watch or listen to what you already had purchased.
jeff051177 said:
I really don't get all the hate for Plex - I know it's not perfect, but it's more perfect that the alternatives, and it's undeniably a great solution for serving and playing your own media, particularly if you upgrade to Plex pass. If you want simple, then infuse is great - but I don't really get on with the interface, and it doesn't do music. I haven't tried Emby, but its supposed to be good.
I am a big fan of PLEX. I used XBMC on the original XBOX and started using PLEX as soon as it was available to the public on Mac. I run a server on a Mac Mini and could not be happier with it. I use a Drobo for redundant storage. I guess I will eventually need a replacement since they went out of business.
I really don't get all the hate for Plex - I know it's not perfect, but it's more perfect that the alternatives, and it's undeniably a great solution for serving and playing your own media, particularly if you upgrade to Plex pass. If you want simple, then infuse is great - but I don't really get on with the interface, and it doesn't do music. I haven't tried Emby, but its supposed to be good.
I am a big fan of PLEX. I used XBMC on the original XBOX and started using PLEX as soon as it was available to the public on Mac. I run a server on a Mac Mini and could not be happier with it. I use a Drobo for redundant storage. I guess I will eventually need a replacement since they went out of business.
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I use plex and enjoy it, but if you're looking for simplicity I discovered a solution for the old man the other day; Simply plugged in a ~5yr old spinning 4tb WD drive (MyBook) directly into his ~2yr old LG OLED. Using the TV's 'file manager' had no issues playing any of my .mkv encoded 1080/4k/dolby digital rips. I was surprised that it worked, actually. No pretty interface and all the other plex niceties (metadata/subtitle fetching, etc), but for bare bones and just works it's a possible solution. Have fun!
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
OP, if you want a simple way to get movies, videos & photos to your TV, you can do all of that only using the AppleTV (the hardware). You don't need PLEX or these other options. AppleTV does those things just fine with the stock "Computers" app. It's all very simple.
PLEX is great and all but overkill if your needs are those objectives and keeping it all very simple. PLEX takes advantage of alternative setups and brings select options NOT in the stock AppleTV UI. There's lots of good information in this thread but it reflects poster's wants/setups far beyond what you shared in your original post.
Here's the ultra-simple path to what you shared you want to accomplish...
- Put movies & videos in the TV (or iTunes) app on your Mac.
- Put photos in the Photos (or iPhoto) app on your Mac.
- Turn on "Home Sharing" so those apps can share that media to an AppleTV.
- Connect AppleTV (the hardware) to your TV.
- Open Computers App on AppleTV for easy access to all of that in that one app.
Bonus: if you have good speakers hooked to your TV setup, you can enjoy music playback on the best speakers in the house too... through that same app. For a good range of media- including all 3 you desire- it is one simple app to rule them all.
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
OP didn’t reference .mkv. In fact, if you look at the posts by OP in full, they seem more concerned with the HDD vs. SSD (reliability) question than media apps or hardware.
And if OP happened to have any mkv but wanted to keep it all as simple as possible, they could run it through the free Handbrake to yield a copy that plays fine native on AppleTV. Since there's no reference at all to what they have beyond generic words like videos, photos, etc, it is equally likely that their videos are all purchased from the iTunes Store and/or shot on an iPhone or iPad.
This thread is full of people jumping to conclusions about what may be very simple wants. I too am jumping to a conclusion- that OP is looking for an EASY way to get 3 media types onto their TV screen. I see the concern about HDD reliability and a question about using an app on their TV to infer they want reliability and simplicity. Since they are asking in a very Apple-centric forum, I also assume they are probably an Apple hardware person, else we could probably add another few hundred posts of how to deliver those forms of media with fire sticks, ROKU, DLNA hardware, chrome, raspberry pi, Nvidia shield, game consoles, a variety of HDD-based products set up for this, and/or repurposing an old Mac or PC too, etc.
There are prob 8 or 10 AppleTV apps capable of fulfilling OPs want, along with about 15-20 hardware ways, and then prob several apps on OPs smart TV capable too. But rather than cover all possible options in what could be 300 posts, I reread post #1 and believe OP is looking for a simple, Apple hardware way to do it. For those 3 media types, it can be as simple as using one stock app- Computers- in AppleTV. Besides "for dummies" simple, the latest AppleTV is also pretty cheap (cost) to fulfill OPs wishes... and "just works" with their (presumably) other Apple hardware.
OPs worry about HDD vs. SSD can gain much clarity by OP sharing how much storage is needed for all of their movies, videos and photos. They may need massive storage like you & me or they might hold a whole "collection" on as little as a single USB stick of modest size. On assumption of very big storage, cases can be made in support of HDD due to relative cost. But strip away that assumption and OP may be able to make it all fit on as little as a cheap camera card (storage).
OP should chime in if their wants are more complicated than the stock AppleTV solution can cover. Then all these other apps and/or hardware options can better fit more complex wants. If OP needs more on HDD vs. SSD, they should tally up the size of "movies + videos + photos" so that we can offer better input on HDD vs. SSD vs. USB stick vs. camera card vs. built-in drive on whatever computer(s) they may already have vs. RAID vs. NAS.
And if OP happened to have any mkv but wanted to keep it all as simple as possible, they could run it through the free Handbrake to yield a copy that plays fine native on AppleTV. Since there's no reference at all to what they have beyond generic words like videos, photos, etc, it is equally likely that their videos are all purchased from the iTunes Store and/or shot on an iPhone or iPad.
This thread is full of people jumping to conclusions about what may be very simple wants. I too am jumping to a conclusion- that OP is looking for an EASY way to get 3 media types onto their TV screen. I see the concern about HDD reliability and a question about using an app on their TV to infer they want reliability and simplicity. Since they are asking in a very Apple-centric forum, I also assume they are probably an Apple hardware person, else we could probably add another few hundred posts of how to deliver those forms of media with fire sticks, ROKU, DLNA hardware, chrome, raspberry pi, Nvidia shield, game consoles, a variety of HDD-based products set up for this, and/or repurposing an old Mac or PC too, etc.
There are prob 8 or 10 AppleTV apps capable of fulfilling OPs want, along with about 15-20 hardware ways, and then prob several apps on OPs smart TV capable too. But rather than cover all possible options in what could be 300 posts, I reread post #1 and believe OP is looking for a simple, Apple hardware way to do it. For those 3 media types, it can be as simple as using one stock app- Computers- in AppleTV. Besides "for dummies" simple, the latest AppleTV is also pretty cheap (cost) to fulfill OPs wishes... and "just works" with their (presumably) other Apple hardware.
OPs worry about HDD vs. SSD can gain much clarity by OP sharing how much storage is needed for all of their movies, videos and photos. They may need massive storage like you & me or they might hold a whole "collection" on as little as a single USB stick of modest size. On assumption of very big storage, cases can be made in support of HDD due to relative cost. But strip away that assumption and OP may be able to make it all fit on as little as a cheap camera card (storage).
OP should chime in if their wants are more complicated than the stock AppleTV solution can cover. Then all these other apps and/or hardware options can better fit more complex wants. If OP needs more on HDD vs. SSD, they should tally up the size of "movies + videos + photos" so that we can offer better input on HDD vs. SSD vs. USB stick vs. camera card vs. built-in drive on whatever computer(s) they may already have vs. RAID vs. NAS.
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thats one solution but im also looking for something that will act as just a regular HD that holds all of my photos etc, more than just a media server. Many oif my video files will have a weird codec so apple tv will not be the best solution.
Hi. I've been using FireStream (UPnP/DLNA server - App Store) on my Mac for years. Love it. It serves to VLC on both my Apple TVs, and I've just started using 8PLayer on Apple TV, which I like so far (for some reason VLC blasts through slideshows in seconds).
FireStream also serves to my oppo disk player, which is useful because Apple TV plays everything at 48 kHz, which is great if what you're listening to is 48 kHz or below. Unfortunately everything above 48 kHz gets downsampled. The oppo plays everything at full resolution.
Hopefully Apple will fix that in the next Apple TV model.
FireStream also serves to my oppo disk player, which is useful because Apple TV plays everything at 48 kHz, which is great if what you're listening to is 48 kHz or below. Unfortunately everything above 48 kHz gets downsampled. The oppo plays everything at full resolution.
Hopefully Apple will fix that in the next Apple TV model.
I run Plex from my Synology DS 1621+ using SHR-2 (2 disk fault tolerance), and backup my media to an offline external drive at least once a month (only if I obtain new media).
Plex is like the Spotify of streaming for personal servers, in the sense that it's available on damn near all smart TV, streaming boxes, and devices. I like the UI the best vs the competitors, and it's easy to use/setup. The free version is basically all you need. I do have a lifetime Plex Pass, mainly for dashboard. But the average user doesn't need it.
Performance depends on your hardware. But even though my DS 1621+ is AMD and not Intel. Transcoding has never been an issue for me. I also never had an issues with multiple codecs, from mkv, mp4, mov, avi, and etc.
Plex is like the Spotify of streaming for personal servers, in the sense that it's available on damn near all smart TV, streaming boxes, and devices. I like the UI the best vs the competitors, and it's easy to use/setup. The free version is basically all you need. I do have a lifetime Plex Pass, mainly for dashboard. But the average user doesn't need it.
Performance depends on your hardware. But even though my DS 1621+ is AMD and not Intel. Transcoding has never been an issue for me. I also never had an issues with multiple codecs, from mkv, mp4, mov, avi, and etc.
For the original poster - lots of options out there and each has advantages and cons.
I'll simply give you idea and you can check them out on line and perhaps Youtube
NAS - solid-state - Asustor Flashstor 6 (houses 6 NVMe SSD) or the larger version with 12.
NAS - traditional - depending on what you want your NAS to do it can just store files or go up to transcoding
Player for movies - Though an ugly menu system, Nvidia Shield Pro does extremely well for most people with being able to handle streaming from typical services (except Apple of course) and your own files. You can put Plex on it or go with the original that Plex came from - Kodi (formerly XBMC). You can access files through network or hook up an external drive directly via USB.
If you plan to "Archive" your physical discs, go to Youtube and check out MakeMKV.
Backups - so many options and yes you can backup technically to a NAS but it does have risk. If you must, then perhaps only mirrored drives or RAID 10 rather than RAID 5/6. I think you would do well to simply attached external drives to your Mac if possible instead.
I'll simply give you idea and you can check them out on line and perhaps Youtube
NAS - solid-state - Asustor Flashstor 6 (houses 6 NVMe SSD) or the larger version with 12.
NAS - traditional - depending on what you want your NAS to do it can just store files or go up to transcoding
Player for movies - Though an ugly menu system, Nvidia Shield Pro does extremely well for most people with being able to handle streaming from typical services (except Apple of course) and your own files. You can put Plex on it or go with the original that Plex came from - Kodi (formerly XBMC). You can access files through network or hook up an external drive directly via USB.
If you plan to "Archive" your physical discs, go to Youtube and check out MakeMKV.
Backups - so many options and yes you can backup technically to a NAS but it does have risk. If you must, then perhaps only mirrored drives or RAID 10 rather than RAID 5/6. I think you would do well to simply attached external drives to your Mac if possible instead.
Is there any good Plex client for AppleTV? I was thinking about getting one to replace an old, non-supported Android box running Kodi (v15 or older).
im happy with plex and ive never paid for it. in saying that a few times i look and think i should, more of a thanks for the good software rather than the extra features. i think the only extra feature id use is the downloading, that can be done with other apps mind you.
until recently i ran it from my imac, but with problems with that, i have a new macbook air, and a little HDD plugged into the side when i want to use plex. it streams to various devices, ps5, built in app on tv, firestick, ipad.
until recently i ran it from my imac, but with problems with that, i have a new macbook air, and a little HDD plugged into the side when i want to use plex. it streams to various devices, ps5, built in app on tv, firestick, ipad.
and it also supports lossless audio. As compared to the Apple TV it has lossless audio but inferior video quality and more bugs as compared to the Apple TV.
Yes. Only drawback is the lossless audio isn't supported.
typically no.
Apple TV has HDMI 2.x while Nvidia has HDMI 2.0 this translates that later Apple may support 4k/120 and that is really all it has to offer. Apple does only traditional upscaling where Nvidia Shield uses advanced AI which does a far far better job than Apple. In short if you have 1080p (blue ray) and want to play it on a 4k TV monitor, the Nvidia will do a superior job as compared to Apple TV. My guess is the next incarnation of Nvidia Shield (if they continue) will up the ante on port connectivity and WiFi.
As for bugs, could you elucidate please. Apple TV is a great device for certain types of users but if media playback is important, then Nvidia edges it out.
Since it is just a container,
ffmpeg -i filename.mkv -c copy filename.mp4.If you can hear above 24 kHz with consumer hardware that barely plays anything above 16 kHz, I salute you, Batman.
BTW Jellyfin + Infuse Pro beats everything.
Not my experience. When I don't care about audio quality then I find the Apple TV video to be better - sharper, brighter on my OLED.
Shield is now running video promotions on the app selection page. Very annoying. Apps in the Google app store don't seem to have the same quality as those on the Apple TV.
I didn't keep a list of the problems. If you don't mind waiting I will update them when they occur. Its not that their frequency makes it unusable, it is just there are more than I experience on my Apple TVs.
Thanks. Interesting. However don't see as a viable general option:
1. Installation/running requires using terminal. Most users probably don't want to, and Unix syntax is so fussy that getting a filename in there can be difficult if you don't know how to get it with the path when needed, which quotes to use, etc.
2. The installation itself requires some effort. You have to find it, download it, expand it, and get around the unidentified developer problem. For some reason the archive expanded to "ffmpeg 2" which would be a problem for non-unix users.
3. Flat out didn't work on the 4K I tried to extract:
[out#0/mp4 @ 0x7fa72670a680] Could not write header (incorrect codec parameters)
So much easier to just use Plex where you don't have to worry about all these things. Certainly useful for some folks, if the extract works.
I’ve never really liked plex as I found it clunky. I think the best solution is the computers app on Apple TV. Although I don’t understand people who go to the effort of ripping blu ray to digital. You might as well just buy it digitally and then it’s stored in the cloud on your purchases to be streamed whenever you want. This is what I do and then for my home videos and photos I just stream from photos app on Apple TV.