I got super excited when I heard about the new tvOS playing native MPEG2 format, but sadly this is not the case for live tv…?
I have an absolutely perfect setup using my Raspberry Pi 3 B+ which essentially direct streams my movies to Apple TV’s around the house.
I decided to buy a tuner and planned to get a Plex lifetime subscription so that I use my Apple tv’s to stream live television and a DVR.
However, little did I know that tv format is in MPEG2 and Plex tries to transcodes to mp4 so that my Apple TV can play.
As you can imagine - my Raspberry Pi is unable to transcode live tv. So, adding MPEG2 to the player for livetv would solve all my needs, please? Please? Please?
I’m not sure where you read that mpeg2 was supported? mpeg (meaning mpeg1) is supported.
I read it here
What are those supported formats?
Right now, the new player can direct play the following formats:
- Supported containers: mkv, mov, mp4, mpegts, mpeg, mpegvideo, avi, flv, ogg
- Supported audio codecs: aac, aac_latm, ac3, alac, flac, dca, vorbis, opus, eac3, mp1, mp2, mp3
- Supported video codecs: h264, hevc, vp8, vp9, h263, mpeg1video, mpeg2video, mpeg4, vc1 (in iPhone 7 and newer, iPad Pro from 2017 and newer, and in Apple TV 4K)
- Supported subtitle codecs: ass, dvb_subtitle, vobsub, eia_608, pgs, microdvd, movtext, ssa, srt
Then I went back and re-read and further down it says live tv is not supported.
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You’re right, I missed it (I wasn’t scanning for mpeg2video 
)
The problem is not mpeg2video codec support, but most probably interlaced video stream (frequent for live TV) which is currently not supported by the new video player.
Do you mean interlaced? Like 1080i?
Damn autocorrector, sure I mean interlaced 
Once this gets supported by the new video player, a big step will be made towards liveTV support then
I’ve noticed, using a HDHR Prime that the network channels are received as MPEG2 and PMS stops playing them after a few minutes producing “weak signal” error. All other channels play fine. Is there a way to get PMS to play live channels that arrive as MPEG2??
fyi I’m running PMS on Qnap TS251+ and watching on Roku on TLC TV
You need to start a new thread and tag it with “roku” – this is specifically about the apple tv and a new video player on that platform that Plex is developing.
FYI we’re actively working on both proper deinterlacing AND proper LiveTV support. It’s not a simple task, but those are high in our priorities.
Thanks for your patience!
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Not sure if this is what you mean, but when I’m using the Plex app on my Roku, in stream settings, I can select a box that says MPEG2 for a direct stream. Live TV was literally unwatchable before (would buffer every 10 seconds, then after 3 attempts, it would say there was an issue, likely with my antenna, which is wasn’t), but now it works great! Running Plex Server off an old netbook. I do with that there were separate options for live TV quality vs the quality of everything else streaming over the network.
That’s great, although there is no tick box that I can select on the Apple TVos application to make this play in mpeg2, mp4 or something remotely watchable - unfortunately.
Sorry, I should’ve clarified. I’m using the Plex Preview app on my Roku. You need a paid membership to use it. Do you have one, and is it available on Apple TV? Not sure if they have a Plex Preview app or not. If not, hopefully it’ll come soon for you!
Yes, there is a Apple tvOS preview app and I have Plex pass. Currently not MPEG2 streams currently not operational without transcoding.
I’m not 100% certain but I believe that live mpeg2 streams is in the list of future features to be implemented with the new enhanced player for tvOS.
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Ohhh, fantastic! Where did you hear that?
Well I certainly now need glasses. But this is awesome news!!
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I also want to say we’re making progress. Again: it’s a complex and slow task but we’re getting there!
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hahahahaha!