I have installed Plex server on my Mac mini and also purchased a plex pass. I also have installed plex media players on my phone, and my tablet and my laptop and my apple TV. I also have an Apple TV 4K. I can’t see any of the movies or any other content on the Apple TV on any of the devices and cannot figure out how to stream say a movie from my apple TV to my tablet. I can see the music and photo content that is on the mini but nothing else. Is there no help out here that gives step by step instructions on how to set up each device so you can do this? What if I wanted to stream content to another TV? How do I do that? I can’t find any simple help out here on any topics like this. I’m not stupid but this has me totally confused. I thought Plex would make it easy but it doesn’t.
You have a AppleTV. And there are movies available to play on there, but they are not supplied by the plex media server but by some other app on the Apple TV?
Then you cannot send them around to other plex clients.
All media files you want to use within the Plex eco system have to be on the plex server (or at least available to it via network file shares, like e.g. on a NAS device).
You cannot simply take some video stream that is available somewhere and funnel it through Plex. That is not possible.
see https://support.plex.tv/articles/categories/getting-started/quick-start-guide/
Thanks for the reply.
Sorry for these really stupid questions,
I cannot figure out how to get the plex server to access the Apple TV so that I can stream the content on the Apple TV , such as purchased movies, to another device. I would think it would show up under “devices” so then the content could be added to the plex server but it doesn’t seem to. Im sure its me doing something wrong.
The Apple TV doesn’t have any content stored on it.
It is a ‘streaming device’ that streams all media from somewhere else.
Plex server cannot reach out to client devices and gobble up the media that might be available on these (by means of other apps, like Netflix or Apple Music). That’s just not possible.
Ok, so what does the plex client software for the apple TV do? It appears then that Plex is good for streaming pictures and music and maybe movies that I ripped using handbrake but other than that it’s pretty useless. I thought I couple use Plex to share content among my five TV’s but apparently only music and pictures and ripped movies nothing else?
I read where people are streaming content from their apple tv and your web site seems to make a case for it. Why can’t I do it?
You must have misunderstood what they are doing.
You can request a refund if you think Plex is not for you https://www.plex.tv/contact/?option=plex-pass-billing
I must be an idiot or something. There Is literally a picture on your web page that shows an Apple TV connected to the Plex server along with iOS devices and other devices. Why would you do that if you cannot access any of the content on the Apple TV???
The Plex app on the Apple TV can stream content from the plex server, just like all the other plex clients.
It cannot stream content from the ATV towards the plex server or towards other Plex clients.
Ok so if I fire up the Plex app on the Apple TV then I can stream the content to other devices such as a tablet or my iPhone or another TV?
Im really sorry for being so stupid.
No, that is eactly what is not possible.
So I am really confused. So what you are saying is that I can take content from Plex server and stream it to the Apple TV to watch on the TV the ATV is connected to and that is all? Why would you do that? That is completely useless.
All content must come from a Plex server.
The Apple TV is not a Plex server. It is only a plex client.
Because I happen to have content on my computer that I want to watch on my TV. And if I stop playing it on the tv I can pick up my mobile phone and continue watching it there.
It might be useless to you, but not to me and many other Plex users out there.
As I said, apply for a refund if it is useless to you.
OK, I get it. I Im really not trying to be stupid here I am just trying to figure out things.
I DO appreciate your patience and help. : )
plex streams only media files that YOU RIPPED or otherwise downloaded to a hard drive or network storage, that the server then scans those files, then can stream to the various clients.
plex does not stream your apple tv library or any icloud library videos or music or pictures. nor can it stream any files protected by DRM (like downloaded itunes videos).
it can only stream files that you already have on your computers, and only from where you configured the server to scan them.
I get it now.I think I was hoping that it would work more like a Dish TV hopper and Joey, which is of course proprietary to their system. I do understand about the DRM issues and the Apple TV.
I did rip a DVD and it worked just fine on my main TV and my tablet and my phone steamed through the Plex server and my music plays through my Amazon Echo which is cool! I have not tried accessing the DVD media I ripped through the Apple TV client yet.
I’ll figure it out. It’s all new to me. Thanks for the additional clarification.
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