I would like to be able to live transcode the MPEG2 stream from my digital tuner (US broadcast) to H.264. I want this so that my Apple TV 4 (or better) can play the stream without requiring Plex to transcode it first. This is a priority for me because I run Plex on a NAS that doesn’t have enough CPU to live transcode the stream smoothly.
I know quite a few Plex users on lower-powered servers that are in the same boat. Most of us use Channels to watch Live TV on Apple TV (and paid $25 to purchase the app). For all of my recorded content, I just let Plex convert to H.264 after the recording is finished, and then I can play back the optimized version smoothly.
Even though I’m a Lifetime PlexPass member, I’d gladly pay a premium (maybe via in-app purchase?) to add this capability to the Plex client. I’d prefer to do everything through Plex, but right now I’m stuck with different solutions for live versus recorded content.
@AmazingRando24 good point. I failed to mention that HDHomeRun Extend can technically do this. I’ve seen lots of “meh” posts about its performance in this particular regard (artifacts, etc) so I’m a little hesitant to go that route. If there’s no hope of a Plex solution I would probably be willing to drop the money and give it a try.
That said, I know Plex’s transcoding already does this with acceptable quality for my taste. My only complaint is that I have to wait 90 minutes after my 60 minute show has finished recording to watch it
I haven’t tried it out yet, but based on everything I’ve read this should handle the US broadcast formats just fine and allow native playback on the ATV without transcoding (as well as native streaming of live broadcast via the Live TV).
@bstreit right now Live TV uses the old player, so it still requires transcoding. However, we really want to use the new player with Live TV and reduce transcoding to a minimum.
It’s just we found some issues while doing that and didn’t have time to solve them (hence why the new player is still in beta/experimental state). We’ll keep iterating and improving our support for the new player, please stay tuned!
@sergiou87 - Cool, thanks for clarifying! Well, it sounds like it should already eliminate my need to Convert my OTA recordings before watching on the ATV, so that’s a big step forward.
Other than sports or news, I rarely watch Live TV anyway because I prefer to watch on my schedule and let Plex remove the commercials first
Infuse can’t play Live TV either. Is it true that @getchannels Aman Gupta is the developer of MPV app and works for Plex? The @getchannels app is awesome for playing Live HDHomerun streams perfectly on Apple TV. You should ask him how he did it
