Airplay Plugin for Plex

[PascalW]

Two questions, one related:
[list=1]
[*]Is it possible for AirPlayer to launch the proper client (Plex, XBMC, Boxee) on receiving an AirPlay request? Seems like it should be doable, and would be much more seamless on the iOS side.
[*]Is there any reason that the user should have to specify the media center port? Seems like AirPlayer should just see which one is selected and configure the port based on that. If a port selection is needed for some people with custom setups, could an "Auto" option be added as the default?
[/list]

Both points are doable. Point 2 I'll certainly implement and I'll consider point 1.

[diamondsw]

Both points are doable. Point 2 I'll certainly implement and I'll consider point 1.

That's all I can ask. :) I understand that sub-launching a program can be tricky when supporting Mac, Windows, and Linux.

[PascalW]

That's all I can ask. :) I understand that sub-launching a program can be tricky when supporting Mac, Windows, and Linux.

That's not really a problem. It's more that I'm not sure if this belongs in Airplayer.

[diamondsw]

That's not really a problem. It's more that I'm not sure if this belongs in Airplayer.

For me it makes sense from a consistency standpoint - otherwise AirPlayer is advertising that it can accept content when it actually cannot (since the media player in question isn't actually open to display it). Another solution would be to not advertise via Bonjour when the client is closed - but it would certainly be more *convenient* to be able to hit the button on the iPhone/iPod/iPad and have it play - even if the media center wasn't running at the time.

[tripey]

Hey diamondsw I used your script it makes things so much easier. I had already manually installed it the first time. Thought I’d try yours out to see how it works. I understand that even tho the log says it’s not connected it’s still fine. But shouldn’t Plex show in the upper right corner that Airplayer has been activated?

[Ryder]

Yes I want Airplay too... here's why:

So I went to my parents home for the holidays, I have my Plex back at my apt setup for remote access. I get home and I'm watching content on my plex app using wifi... it's looks great but I'd love to watch it on a larger TV. It would be AMAZING to be able to sling it to an apple TV at my parents home. Sling my content that's located half way across the country to my parents apple TV via the plex app. WOW.

Yes!

[Ryder]

I’m a little confused about your script.

Does it just install Airplayer?

Do I need to download Pascal’s files or Erica Sadun’s files first?

How do I have Airplayer open at login and hide in the background?

[Ryder]

I finally decided to try this out today, and my only complaint is I wish I had sooner! It's kind of magical to see video and photos on my iPhone just appear on the TV, complete with iPhone-based remote control. A damn shame about [audio being encrypted](https://github.com/PascalW/Airplayer/issues/3). :(

Anyhow, after seeing all of the installation hassles folks are having, [I whipped up a script](http://www.joshuaochs.com/Misc/install_airplayer_plex.sh) to install and configure AirPlayer for the common case (local Plex installation). By default I put files in /Library, so if you want to use my script, then you may want to clean out your existing installation. Alternatively, you can change the install path at the top of the script.

Very confused.
I can't seem to install anything.
I downloaded both Pascal and Erica's files but the terminal commands return: no such file or command not found.

[diamondsw]

All you have to do is download and run my script. It downloads and configures AirPlayer, including the background startup item. It’s pretty much run it and you’re done.

[diamondsw]

But shouldn't Plex show in the upper right corner that Airplayer has been activated?

Not sure what you mean - I never saw any indication inside Plex that AirPlayer was running, but maybe I just didn't look in the right place.

[Ryder]

I thought so, but it says command not found and no such file. Am I typing something wrong? I copy and pasted both lines into terminal.

[diamondsw]

I thought so, but it says command not found and no such file. Am I typing something wrong? I copy and pasted both lines into terminal.

Honestly, for all the world it sounds like you either didn't download the file, or you're not in the same directory as where you downloaded it to. I updated the instructions to download the script as well; try running those three commands one after the other. Really should do the trick.

[Ryder]

Honestly, for all the world it sounds like you either didn't download the file, or you're not in the same directory as where you downloaded it to. I updated the instructions to download the script as well; try running those three commands one after the other. Really should do the trick.

Thanks its working now.
I dunno why it wasn't before.

Thanks again for the prompt help.

[Ryder]

Honestly, for all the world it sounds like you either didn't download the file, or you're not in the same directory as where you downloaded it to. I updated the instructions to download the script as well; try running those three commands one after the other. Really should do the trick.

Thanks its working now.
I dunno why it wasn't before.

Thanks again for the prompt help.

[tripey]

Not sure what you mean - I never saw any indication inside Plex that AirPlayer was running, but maybe I just didn't look in the right place.

When you use the manual command line of starting airplayer (while plex is running) Plex in the upper corner will say airplayer activated. Anyways the auto launch in the background isn't working for me. I just got my iPad and it's not recognizing plex as an AirPlay device. Unless maybe I need to logoff and relogin. I'll try that.


Nope. Not working. I have to manually run the start command line. Hmmmm

[tripey]

And so I thought as well. But...


Thanks for letting me know - I've updated the script to correct this. In the meantime, all you need to do to fix it is this:

sudo chmod 666 /Library/Logs/airplayer.log<br />
launchctl unload /Library/LaunchAgents/org.pwiddershoven.airplayer.plist<br />
launchctl load /Library/LaunchAgents/org.pwiddershoven.airplayer.plist

Or alternatively, just run the new version of my script which will fix the permissions and relaunch things.

What happened is the script originally had administrator privileges when it set up the launchd agent and log file. These permissions are required to set up launchd, but had the side-effect of making the log file only writable by root. On the next boot, the script was run as a standard user and found it couldn't write to the log file and died. All I did to fix it was set the permissions beforehand to allow full write access to the log file. Voila!

Wouldn't you know it - the **one** file that the script doesn't automatically clean up and recreate (it's a log - you typically don't want to reset those) is the one that causes problems. :)

Airplayer won't connect to plex unless I enter the above commands in terminal after login. I believe I'm using the newer script since I installed it after the above post.

Perhaps I should reinstall?

[tripey]

Ack! Never mind. Got it all sorted out. Since I had installed it manually before, the old launch script was still in USERNAME/Library/launchagent. Basically had to clean up the old install by deleting some things. All works great! You guys rule.

[diamondsw]

Ack! Never mind. Got it all sorted out. Since I had installed it manually before, the old launch script was still in USERNAME/Library/launchagent. Basically had to clean up the old install by deleting some things. All works great! You guys rule.

Ah, you fixed it before I could finish typing this up. Cool! :)

I'm going to leave this here though, just in case the troubleshooting steps help anyone else.

Airplayer won't connect to plex unless I enter the above commands in terminal after login. I believe I'm using the newer script since I installed it after the above post.

Perhaps I should reinstall?

You can certainly try that:

curl -O http://www.joshuaochs.com/Misc/install_airplayer_plex.sh<br />
chmod +x install_airplayer_plex.sh<br />
sudo ./install_airplayer_plex.sh --remove<br />
sudo rm -f /Library/Logs/airplayer.log<br />
sudo ./install_airplayer_plex.sh

You can also check to see what Launchd thinks of things:

sudo launchctl list | grep airplayer<br />
launchctl list | grep airplayer

You should see something along these lines (although the first number will be different):

jochs@mini ~ $ sudo launchctl list | grep airplayer<br />
jochs@mini ~ $ launchctl list | grep airplayer<br />
56749	-	org.pwiddershoven.airplayer<br />
jochs@mini ~ $

One of those should show the airplayer agent running. Old versions of the script would show it running under sudo after first install, and under the non-sudo one when it runs at login. Current versions will always show it under the regular user.

However, if you see something like this:

jochs@mini ~ $ launchctl list | grep airplayer<br />
-	1	org.pwiddershoven.airplayer

Then that's a problem we'll have to look into, because that means that launchd tried to open airplayer but something in it died. In my original script, the bad permissions on the log file tripped things up and it ended up like that, with a non-zero exit status in the second entry. At that point we have to start digging through log files, both launchd and airplayer.

I made a slight change to the script add the launchd agent as the regular user, and the "--remove" option should handle either case now. Previously, since the script was running with sudo privileges, it would add the airplayer launch agent to root's list instead of the normal user. That caused a few subtle issues - it meant the log file was created with the wrong permissions (which I already worked around), and it also meant that technically airplayer was running differently after first install than at subsequent login. It *shouldn't* cause issues, but it's always best to try and minimize the variations. Now the initial install should behave exactly like a subsequent login and expose any latent issues right off the bat.

[tripey]

^ Nice



Now this might be a stupid question but I’m new to all this github stuff. How do I upgrade to the latest version with the current fixes? Do I do a terminal command or do I just download the source and copy it over?



The photos and YouTube is working, but recorded videos on the iPad wont play and freezes plex. Im suspecting I don’t have the updated files. I’m gone check the dates on them but needed to know how to go about in updating the correct way.



Thanks

[diamondsw]

How do I upgrade to the latest version with the current fixes? Do I do a terminal command or do I just download the source and copy it over?

My script is far from official, but you can use it to update to the latest release - it pulls its files from the latest on github automatically. Keep a copy around, and it's as simple as running "sudo ./install_airplayer_plex.sh".

Given some of the changes I made today, I do encourage everyone to [grab a fresh copy](http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/20950-airplay-plugin-for-plex/page__view__findpost__p__153267) - it fixes a couple subtle user permission issues, so you'll see fewer warnings at the very least.