While I, myself am a Plex Pass user with a Roku and Android, my father is an avid Apple user and has multiple AppleTVs. More than one of them are ATV3 v7 (I know this because I looked into jailbreaking them and you can’t.)
He has a new desktop PC with the primary intent to be a media server, and my question is: why should I use Plex for his media instead of something else? One thing I love about Plex is the Netflix-ish grid interface, but from what I’ve seen on YouTube, the ATV3 apps that can be hacked to use PlexConnect don’t look anything like my Plex for Roku does.
Why then should I use PlexConnect instead of an actual app like Air Video HD? I know Plex has more supported formats, but I already know my way around Handbrake so limited formats are an inconvenience rather than a problem.
What limitations can I expect in functionality if I opt to use PlexConnect for ATV3?
I’m really looking for a beautiful, stable, easy to use solution for my parents, and I’m interested to know why hacking Plex into an ATV app would be preferable, interface-wise, to an Apple-sanctioned solution.
Air Video HD
How do you get AirVideo to show up on your aTV3? You need a third device (iPhone/iPad) to then AirPlay stuff on aTV3. Or you need to run up to your MediaServer PC to AirPlay from there… is this even possible on non-OSX machines?
PlexConnect
You get a somewhat clean, responsive interface. I don’t really know how it compares to Roku stuff myself, but I remember comments about “PlexConnect is preferred”.
If you only use your local server, put your media into iTunes and go the Apple way. If you have a Plex Environment setup, I guess there is no real solution other than to use some sort of a Plex Client… And I don’t know another one for aTV2/3.
So one answer is that you can control Plex with the ATV remote, whereas with Air Video you /have/ to cast it.
Can you then /also/ cast to an ATV with PlexConnect instead of using the remote? I love being able to cast to my Roku with my Android Plex app.
Also, believe me when I say that metadata handling for Plex is vastly superior to iTunes’ native solution. Being forced to only use ID3 tag management for metadata is annoying.
PlexConnect is not a “cast receiver”, not sure if it could, but that feature was never implemented.
iTunes and metadata - yeah I know… you asked about the advantage of Plex vs “native Apple stuff”.
@chyron8472 said:
One thing I love about Plex is the Netflix-ish grid interface, but from what I’ve seen on YouTube, the ATV3 apps that can be hacked to use PlexConnect don’t look anything like my Plex for Roku does.
I predict that if you set up your father’s ATV3 with PlexConnect you will personally fall in love with the interface and will move to replace your Roku with your own ATV3 as fast as you can!
The fact that “PlexConnect don’t look anything like my Plex for Roku does” is a great and wonderful thing.
Speaking of which, is there an advantage to hacking one ATV app over another? Why would you use the Trailers app for PlexConnect instead of iMovies? What all apps are available to use and why is one preferable?
PlexConnect destroys roku imo, I have a roku tv and I seen nothing special GUI wise. No advantage hijacking one app over another be it Trailers or iMovie. Lots of apps actually are available but you need to find the proper host to intercept per your iOS revision and setup PlexConnect to intercept it properly:
I assume you are using iOS 7.x(8.x)+ on your aTV3.
Well, it turns out that I prefer Plex for Roku over PlexConnect.
Now, granted PlexConnect has several customization options, and it looks /a lot/ better once fanart is enabled, but I don’t much care for the On Deck layout of PlexConnect.
Also, the AppleTV 3 remote has fewer buttons than my Roku 2 remote, so navigating the library requires more button clicks and navigating in and out of menus than does the Roku.
I don’t mean I dislike the idea of an On Deck menu in general. I just prefer the (new) Roku Plex’s interface layout, especially with regard to On Deck.
And I’m not saying PlexConnect sucks. It’s definitely serviceable, and (from what I’ve seen) looks better than Roku’s Plex Classic did. I guess I’m saying that, for myself, I don’t care much for Apple compared to other devices/software/ecosystems, and the Plex implementation on the ATV3 hasn’t really changed my mind.
However, what matters really in this case is my Dad’s opinion, since it’s his media server, and he says he definitely prefers the Plex interface over iTunes on his phone/Pad. Also, I just today realized that Apple has a registered device limit per account whereas Plex obviously does not. I’ll have to point that out to him as well.
Okay, I take some of that back. I notice how the Collections and Genres filters are straight up accessible from the menu bar at the top in PlexConnect, while Plex for Roku has them buried in a submenu in the top corner.
Clearly either has its advantages, and I admit I would make use of Collections and Genres more if they were as easy to get to as this on my own setup.
