Looking for iMovie Theater Alternative

[BJMRamage]

I’d like to have my Home Videos available to watch on my AppleTV without needing my computer running.


As a preface: I make photo/video slideshows for each child at their birthday of the previous year. Eventually burning to DVDs for grandparents. We have a copy of the DVD for ourselves but that looks bad compared to the 1080p video I start with on the Mac. And so, I will just use my laptop as a “Computer” for the AppleTV to see, and this is fine but sometimes the kids want to watch these while I am at work and my computer isn’t on the same network.

I was looking into ways to get these onto some cloud storage so I can have them readily available for viewing anytime. I looked into iMovie Theater briefly but figure I wouldn’t have enough space right away without buying more iCloud storage so looked elsewhere. Tried looking into Google Drive or DropBox but didn’t see anything there that seemed to work. And Plex sounded good but either needed a computer on (no different than now) or had a subscription payment…however, I’d still need to find cloud storage as well.


So, iMovie Theater sounded like it could work, I’d just buy more iCloud storage. That was until I saw the 15 minute & 50 file LIMITATIONS. These movies average 30 minutes, some less, some more. And I have 12 videos currently…adding 2 each year.


Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions. Of course, free is great, but it looks like I will need to pay, and if reasonable, not out of the questions as I understand someone will need a computer running for “the cloud”



Thanks for reading and any help

 

[Madmic23]

I've struggled with the exact same thing. Creating a yearly family video to be shared with grandparents, aunts and uncles living in different places.

The best solution I've found so far: YouTube.

I know, not my first instinct either. These are my family videos, and I don't want them out there for the world to see, just the family. After some digging in the privacy settings, I decided to put them on there under Private, which means you need to have a YouTube account and be signed in in order to view the videos. You control who can see the videos, and you need to invite them.

The best part is, it's available on everything. You can sign-in to your Apple TV, your phone, your iPad, your TV, everything has a YouTube client.

The unexpected bonus was making playlists. My videos typically follow the events of an entire year. Kid 1 birthday, summer holidays, kid 2 birthday, Halloween, Christmas, etc. Instead of making one video following all of these scenes, I made shorter videos which were just these scenes. Then I made a playlist called "2016 Family Video." When you play that playlist, it plays as if it's one continuous video. But, if I want to watch just all of the Christmas portions of the videos, I can create a "Christmas" playlist, and then watch the videos from 2014, 215, 2016, etc all in order as one video. It's kind of neat.
[doublepost=1500312772][/doublepost]Oh, the other solution would be Plex. If you're dead set against using YouTube, you could install Plex on your computer and have that be your media server. Everyone else would need to install Plex as well, and you would have to pay for one of their memberships in order to stream your media over the internet to your other family members. I haven't fully researched this solution yet, but it was my number two choice if I decided to stop using YouTube.
https://www.plex.tv/

 

[BJMRamage]

I've struggled with the exact same thing. Creating a yearly family video to be shared with grandparents, aunts and uncles living in different places.

The best solution I've found so far: YouTube.

The unexpected bonus was making playlists. My videos typically follow the events of an entire year. Kid 1 birthday, summer holidays, kid 2 birthday, Halloween, Christmas, etc. Instead of making one video following all of these scenes, I made shorter videos which were just these scenes. Then I made a playlist called "2016 Family Video." When you play that playlist, it plays as if it's one continuous video. But, if I want to watch just all of the Christmas portions of the videos, I can create a "Christmas" playlist, and then watch the videos from 2014, 215, 2016, etc all in order as one video. It's kind of neat.

oh wow, that is a neat idea, doing the playlists or like video collections based on events.

ok, the kicker...I use music I have either purchased from iTunes, or imported from CD...which is fine for iMovie but I think they are denied when i try to upload to YouTube. Even as a Private video they get denied. Well, they used to. although I am not sure how complete soundtracks can get uploaded timer and time again, unless it is an Ad thing.

I can try and look into that now.

 

[spice weasel]

Same boat here. YouTube is the solution. I was super hesitant to upload videos to YouTube for the same reasons - I didn't want them to be public. However, you can choose to make your uploads either private or have the URL unlisted. The latter is also great for being able to share the URL with family and friends who don't have YouTube accounts but not have the videos show up in search results. Also, there is no longer an issue with using copyrighted music for your videos so long as you do not try to monetize them.

 

[BJMRamage]

Thanks.

all these videos are Purely personal. Not trying to make money, just trying to get streaming usage.

 

[d21mike]

When you take a picture or a video they are stored in your iCloud Account if you have it turned on. I would think this would be a natural place unless cost is simply prohibited. Not sure you know that you can get 1tb of Family Sharable storage for $10 per month starting with iOS 11. I have 200gb for I think $2.99/month. And starting with iOS 11 it can be shared with my wife on our family plan. She currently has 200gb for $2.99/month as well. And you can use it for a lot of other things as well. And of course you can Share with the Grandparents if they are on iOS and tvOS.

 

[Madmic23]

Same boat here. YouTube is the solution. I was super hesitant to upload videos to YouTube for the same reasons - I didn't want them to be public. However, you can choose to make your uploads either private or have the URL unlisted. The latter is also great for being able to share the URL with family and friends who don't have YouTube accounts but not have the videos show up in search results. Also, there is no longer an issue with using copyrighted music for your videos so long as you do not try to monetize them.

Yep, that's the same thing with me. I add licensed music to the videos because it just makes them so much better. It just means I can't make money off my family watching videos of my kids

 

[BJMRamage]

Yep, that's the same thing with me. I add licensed music to the videos because it just makes them so much better. It just means I can't make money off my family watching videos of my kids

that is great. I remember years back trying to upload clips or a mini version and having the "nope sorry this has a copy-written song in it. we removed the video"

Thanks everyone for commenting.
I need to look into the Plex too, though the issue is not keeping a personal computer on...the kids or cats have clicked keys on the iMac in the basement and renamed stuff or randomly moved things.
[doublepost=1500315570][/doublepost]

When you take a picture or a video they are stored in your iCloud Account if you have it turned on. I would think this would be a natural place unless cost is simply prohibited. Not sure you know that you can get 1tb of Family Sharable storage for $10 per month starting with iOS 11. I have 200gb for I think $2.99/month. And starting with iOS 11 it can be shared with my wife on our family plan. She currently has 200gb for $2.99/month as well. And you can use it for a lot of other things as well. And of course you can Share with the Grandparents if they are on iOS and tvOS.

yes, thanks. I think the iCloud iMovie has a 15min limitation. I know the new sharable plans are coming and i thought about that but wasn't sure how that would play with the Apple TV I guess showing in the Photos App? or would there be an iCloud Drive app?

 

[whoiare]

To add to this. The grandparents all either have ipads or iphones. So i created an icloud shared library that me and my wife use to upload pics and videos and all the grandparents get the media instantly. Its quite brilliant to share. Plus i set all my apple tv screen savers to the same shared library so every tv in my house shows all the kids pics.

 

[BJMRamage]

one grandparent has a Mac Mini...no smart phones. the other has no Mac/Apple device. or even computer

but a nice tip, thanks

 

[d21mike]

that is great. I remember years back trying to upload clips or a mini version and having the "nope sorry this has a copy-written song in it. we removed the video"

Thanks everyone for commenting.
I need to look into the Plex too, though the issue is not keeping a personal computer on...the kids or cats have clicked keys on the iMac in the basement and renamed stuff or randomly moved things.
[doublepost=1500315570][/doublepost]


yes, thanks. I think the iCloud iMovie has a 15min limitation. I know the new sharable plans are coming and i thought about that but wasn't sure how that would play with the Apple TV I guess showing in the Photos App? or would there be an iCloud Drive app?

Yes. It is the Photos App. Where you have all photos/videos with the most recent first. Or you can see Memories (I think is the name) and Albums. Maybe put your special videos in albums. And you can share albums. I do not really do it much but very easy to test. And since you get 5gb for free pretty easy to test. And for only $3 you get 200gb.
[doublepost=1500326340][/doublepost]

I need to look into the Plex too, though the issue is not keeping a personal computer on...the kids or cats have clicked keys on the iMac in the basement and renamed stuff or randomly moved things.

I use PLEX heavily but not for Photos or Home Video but I could. I mainly use it for Movies and TV Shows. I run it on a headless mac mini but I could run it on a small NAS Device if only for Photos and Home Video. As you get into higher demands you might need a bit more power. But, I love PLEX (I have the PLEX Pass) where I can easily share with family just by adding them as users with access rights.

 

[BJMRamage]

I just uploaded a video to YouTube set to Unlisted. I think that could be good. then my parents and in-laws can view it (they have no Google Account)

I'll have to check out how i can view it (maybe I need to create a playlist) on the AppleTV 4. I have the YouTube app.

 

[Surf Boy from Barcelona]

The YouTube idea is BRILLIANT plus it compresses it to a decent size and your relatives can indeed download the video using say, iSkysoft to keep in their iTunes library

BRILLIANT!

 

[BJMRamage]

ok, so the Video is up...it is showing under my YouTube Account on the ATV4...I made a playlist called family to make it easier to find it. at first it was showing at only 300-400 ppi quality but then it ramped up to full 1080.

I am looking around now and it looks like there is no limit to the amount of videos I add. So, I could add each year's Video up there. That is good to know. I may do that so we can have them all up there. Too bad I can't get them into a base Apple App but then again, what's the difference between going into something like Computers app, compared to the YouTube app, or even a PLEX app, etc. Unless YouTube gets tired of my movies with professional music on it and starts to deny me or remove movies, this is a great start to getting these up there.

Thanks everyone for your help.
I almost want to post the video link here in case anyone was wondering what all my hassle was about, but not sure if anyone really cares to see it.

 

[Surf Boy from Barcelona]

ok, so the Video is up...it is showing under my YouTube Account on the ATV4...I made a playlist called family to make it easier to find it. at first it was showing at only 300-400 ppi quality but then it ramped up to full 1080.

I am looking around now and it looks like there is no limit to the amount of videos I add. So, I could add each year's Video up there. That is good to know. I may do that so we can have them all up there. Too bad I can't get them into a base Apple App but then again, what's the difference between going into something like Computers app, compared to the YouTube app, or even a PLEX app, etc. Unless YouTube gets tired of my movies with professional music on it and starts to deny me or remove movies, this is a great start to getting these up there.

Thanks everyone for your help.
I almost want to post the video link here in case anyone was wondering what all my hassle was about, but not sure if anyone really cares to see it.

Absolutely no limit for videos added to playlists now. A few year back, it was 200 per playlist but I believe that changed in 2015. I have a playlist with 600+ videos in it! No problem with copyrighted music unless you intend to make a living from YouTube views etc! A few of mine is a vlogger and travels the world. He has 500K subscribers and all of his music is iTunes bought etc but he decided not to earn money from his channel, so no copyright issues with YouTube.

 

[BJMRamage]

Well....

It seems my unlisted movie was spider-searched and the first song by The Beatles was struck down and a copyright violation was given and the video is "blocked worldwide"


and now I see a Soundtrack playlist I had (not my videos but saved to my playlist) have been removed from YouTube and some are blocked. looks like a music crackdown.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Other Options:

• Used Windows or Mac computer capable of running iTunes. It's how TV is designed to work with home video.
• NAS storage solution + Plex (or similar) app? Some NAS options would offer a way to share with distant family too (and you'll be cutting the likes of Youtube and spiders out of the relationship). Effectively, this is creating & managing your own "cloud" instead of trying to make this work with other "clouds" controlled by strangers.
• Chase down a first generation TV, max the hard drive or jailbreak it and attach a larger external drive. Sync your home videos to that device and it will play them without a computer needing to be on. Native hardware can't handle 1080p (only 720p) but there is always the broadcom card hack to make it go 1080 (about $60 on Amazon right now)
• Choose an alternative to TV that works the way you want it to work.
• If you have a USB port on your TV, you might be able to put all of your home movies on a hard drive and plug it into that USB port. Your TV might then have easy access to all of the videos.
• Alternatives to Youtube like Vimeo, which also has a private mode (though I wouldn't be surprised if the outcome ends up being the same).

 

[Surf Boy from Barcelona]

Vimeo is truly wonderful to deal with BUT they do charge a monthly fee to upload (if not, I believe it's only 1 HD upload allowed a week with a max of 3GB). Actually, you could upload it to YouTube 1. Then download it from there in 1080p - it'll be a small file as it's VP9 compressed and then put that file on Vimeo under your private setting and it'll come in at less than 3GB. I did a vice versa for a client and although YouTube menu warned that the file was already too compressed, I went ahead with it and it still looked truly brilliant when viewed on my Apple TV on a 40" TV and on my MacBook Retina! So worth a try See what happens.
Maybe YouTube have strict copyright laws on certain old bands like The Beatles - weirdly, Chris Rea's music is not sold on iTunes in the UK!!! (I was looking for a particular track last week).

 

[Bazooka-joe]

Am i missing the point here? Can you not just put your home videos in to Photos in the Cloud and watch them from there? Thats what i did with movies and home videos and I can watch them on nay device (Ipad, iPhone, MacBook and ATV 4)

 

[BJMRamage]

Am i missing the point here? Can you not just put your home videos in to Photos in the Cloud and watch them from there? Thats what i did with movies and home videos and I can watch them on nay device (Ipad, iPhone, MacBook and ATV 4)

So there is no size limit?
Or movie limit?

With iMovie Theater there is a 50 movie limit and not longer than 15minutes.

Curious as I don't know.

 

[Mr. Zarniwoop]

Infuse works on iOS and tvOS and the Pro (paid) version can play videos hosted on Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive along with streaming from FTP, NFS, SFTP, SMB/CIFS, and WebDAV.

 

[Bazooka-joe]

So there is no size limit?
Or movie limit?

With iMovie Theater there is a 50 movie limit and not longer than 15minutes.

Curious as I don't know.

No size limit as far as I know and I've been playing two hour movies without a hitch.
All I do is copy MP4 files to the photos folder in the cloud and they appear on Apple TV and I play them without a problem. I have 55 movies in the folder and they will play without an issue from start to end