Plex on aTV questions...

[neo179neo]

Hey im wondering if someone can clear something up for me...

I currently have a new mac mini downstairs connected with a drobo, i have nearly 8TB of media, my movies are mainly in 1080p MKV's and my TV Shows are all 720p MKV's and i watch all these through PLEX which i LOVE!!!

I want to know if i buy a apple tv 2 and hack it and put plex on it, will i be able to watch my media on my tv upstairs?

Can it stream files off the network even if there from a drobo?

And i know it cant play 1080p stuff but will it just output at 720p and play just as well?

Any advice welcome...

Thanks

 

[waw74]

this is a question probably better asked in the plex forums.

but to answer your question...

plex on appleTV connects to the server running on your mac, so as long as the mac can see your files, you're good.
This also means your mac must be on for it to work.

also, the media server converts the files on the fly to a format the appleTV can handle, so it will play all your files even the 1080. (there have been problems playing straight DVD ISOs, but that may have been fixed, i'm not sure)

the only problem you may run into is with jailbreaking, the newest version of the AppleTV OS (4.4 on the appleTV, or iOS 5) is only a tethered jailbreak, and it doesn't currently support plex. so if you get an old unit you'll be ok, but if it comes with the new software, you'll have to wait a while to get it to work.

 

[neo179neo]

So can I buy an apple tv new and downgrade to the older software? Or buy a 2nd hand one instead? What software does it need to be running on? 4.3?

 

[ajsnow6234]

Dont mean to hijack...BUT...just got an ATV2 today and installed plex. I'm extremely happy with it. I like the smooth, fast interface of it as opposed to the XBMC for ATV. Enjoy!

 

[jmcgeejr]

Dont mean to hijack...BUT...just got an ATV2 today and installed plex. I'm extremely happy with it. I like the smooth, fast interface of it as opposed to the XBMC for ATV. Enjoy!

Plex is incredible, it's backend is just as amazing, I love the syncing of my playlists, play count and metadata amongst all my products, my mini, air, atv2, iPad and iPhone. No matter what I am using all my shows are there. I use ted to get them weekly.