Have to say that I've spent a couple of days getting my installation fully operational.
Here is what I was trying to achieve:
1. I use Unblock-US to watch netflix, Quello and Huluplus on my ATV
2. I use PlexConnect to stream movies from my Server to the ATV
3. I use AirPlay to stream my some digital content not available on ATV as embedded app. Like History Channel, ABC and CBS.
My initial set up consisted of just simply streaming the movies from my ATV, not quite challenging at all (thanks top the quite amazing posts in this forum) despite the new HTPPS restrictions.
So in order to have Unblock-US and ATV working it was just matter of changing the Google DNS server for the Unblock-us ones. That worked seamlessly, no problems at all.
However, the challenge came when I was trying to use Airplay on My Ipad to stream content to the Apple TV. This seemed to had some issues. Erratic behaviour with failures most of the times. Taking a very long time to load a video.
After making some trial and error test, I found that the problem seemed to be the Local domain name resolution with PlexConnect. When using PlexConnect, I had huge trouble streaming from my IPAD using AirPlay. However, when switching to my router as DNS, the problem went away.
So, after doing some research, I decided to work on a solution to have my Home entertainment system fully operational.
First try was to use my Virtual Plex Machine (Running on a UBUNTU Server 12.04 LTS) as a BIND DNS server. Spent several hours trying to get a working configuration without any success (I'm a unix rookie).
Finally I discovered (Thanks god) that using my DD-WRT router with dnsmasq, could be a potential solution.
DNSMaq on the router allows you to define name servers based on the domain top name or per subdomain , so enabling the DNSMaq on my router and putting the below configuration solved my issue:
192.168.1.10 is my PlexConnect server
208.122.23.22 is Unblock-us DNS server
127.0.0.1 I use this address to block ATV updates (As is done on PlexConnect)
Additional DNSMaq options:
local=/lan/
cache-size=50000
expand-hosts
no-negcache
domain-needed
all-servers
address=/trailers.apple.com/192.168.1.10
address=/plexconnect/192.168.1.10
address=/mesu.apple.com/127.0.0.1
address=/appldnld.apple.com/127.0.0.1
address=/appldnld.apple.com.edgesuite.net/127.0.0.1
server=/apple.com/208.122.23.22
server=/mtv.com/mtvnservices.com/fwmrm.net/google-analytics.com/imrworldwide.com/demdex.net/scorecardresearch.com/quantserve.com/doubleclick.net/chartbeat.com/208.122.23.22
server=/fox.com/theplatform.com/akamaihd.net/chartbeat.com/208.122.23.22
server=/tunlr.net/208.122.23.22
server=/pandora.com/208.122.23.22
server=/hulu.com/huluedgecast.com/akamai.net/mzstatic.com/huluim.com/akamaiedge.net/edgesuite.net/edgekey.net/srip.net/208.122.23.22
server=/cbs.com/208.122.23.22
server=/netflix.com/208.122.23.22
server=/abc.com/go.com/208.122.23.22
server=/tv.com/208.122.23.22
server=/pbs.com/208.122.23.22
server=/vevo.com/fwmrm.net/208.122.23.22
server=/thewb.com/208.122.23.22
server=/cwtv.com/208.122.23.22
server=/mylifetime.com/scorecardresearch.com/doubleclick.net/rubiconproject.com/cpxinteractive.com/adnxs.com/brightcove.com/cpxadroit.com/atdmt.com/serving-sys.com/208.122.23.22
server=/crackle.com/208.122.23.22
server=/last.fm/208.122.23.22
server=/turntable.fm/208.122.23.22
server=/mog.com/208.122.23.22
server=/iheart.com/208.122.23.22
PlexConnect DNS server is still enabled, just in case I need to monitor DNS requests not working from my ATV.
No need to change DNS server configuration on any device at home! The router will do my Job.
Hope this helps someone else with the same problem.
EDIT:
I didn't want to use Unblock-us as the main DNS server for my router due to:
1. Performance
2. Security, I do not want the non Media related stuff (like Banks, email) to be controlled by a 3rd party service. Easy to Hack me with DNS spoofing. So I just want the selected Domain to be controlled by them.
