What are /r/appletv's favorite Products & Services?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

MoKo Silicone Case Compatible with Apple TV 4K/4th Gen Remote, Lightweight Shockproof Protective Cover with Non-Slip Silicone Fit Apple TV 4K Siri Remote Controller - Orange https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GXLPTZW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_8bwMDbADRNDEE

Plex (Free) - This is one of the most popular apps to stream media from your PC to your aTV4. You set up a Plex Media Server on your PC (any OS) and add folders for your movies, tv shows, music, etc. and it will automatically organize your media based on the file names. Then you can simply download Plex on whatever device you want to stream the media to (iOS apps are also available) and browse your library.

I got a gummy case on mine, but it wasn’t protection I was looking for. The case really helps the usability of the remote. You can pick it up blindly without accidentally using the touchpad, it’s easier to hold with a little more grip and weight, and it’s no longer symmetrical so I easily know by feel which end is witch. I highly recommend.

https://www.amazon.com/elago-Intelli-Technology-Absorption-Included/dp/B01B5RF470

i bought a simple silicone cover for mine. i got a color so that it's easier to find, and makes it obvious which way is up. it also makes it easier to hold, and prevents accidental swipes. working pretty great so far

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077SBTC4D

I'll give you points for originality and frugality, but I went with the elago R1 Intelli Case, Nightglow Blue, Magnet Technology, Anti-Slip, Lanyard Included, Heavy Shock Absorption for Apple TV Siri Remote 4K / 4th Generation. It costs a bit more; however, it also glows in the dark and provides some protection for the remove.

This thing has saved me more than I'd like to admit.

https://www.amazon.com/Fintie-Protective-Case-Apple-Remote/dp/B01K6OFCU2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1550278149&sr=8-4&keywords=red+apple+tv+remote

Infuse (Free) or Infuse Pro ($9.99: Pro adds dts-HD and Dolby Digital Plus, Trakt service, and more).

Infuse is a wonderful swiss-army knife of a media player, able to play most media formats directly off of network-connected drives or a NAS, UPnP & DNLA servers (flex, Kodi/XBMC, Servilo, PS3 media server, WMC), PC, Mac, or Http link. It adds cover art and metadata automatically from TheMovieDB and TVDB, can grab subtitles from OpenSubtitles, play histories and social ratings with Trakt, and a bunch more.

A nice bonus is the app plays on your iOS device, so you pay once for all platforms - there you can add drag-and-drop transfers, import from Dropbox, GoogleDrive, Box, etc and play from them to AirPlay and GoogleCast devices. Also, if your network disk is available outside your network, you can stream or download directly on iOS.

Zeskit Maya 8K 48Gbps Certified Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable 6.5ft, 4K120 8K60 144Hz eARC HDR HDCP 2.2 2.3 Compatible with Dolby Vision Apple TV 4K Roku Sony LG Samsung Xbox Series X RTX 3080 PS4 PS5 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S1CGQ9Z/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_CZX6JSHHB8EF1Q0PYXSA

This is the Apple TV recommended cable.

I have this and it passes the HDMI test.

Disclaimer: I'm a Channels dev

This isn't Channels, as you can see that the UI is a bit different.

It looks like it's a new version of the open source app Antenna that you can find on GitHub: https://github.com/lucasharding/antenna. Looks cool.

There is a known issue with Apple TV 4K not being able to turn the TV off via CEC anymore with Sony TVs with the X1 Extreme processor after updating to Android 9. The firmware broke the connection. CEC will turn the TV on but when you attempt to turn it off, the TV turns itself back on after about 1 or 2 seconds.

From what I understand, Sony engineering does know about this but I don’t think they’d be in a hurry to write a patch for it. Unfortunately you can’t uninstall firmware once it’s installed.

I have an A8G also and in an attempt to still use the Siri remote while not having to go to the Sony remote to power everything down, I just bought a SideClick remote and programmed so Sony remote buttons to it.

Sideclick Remotes Universal Remote Attachment for Apple TV https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CLNKYQM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_0qd3FbFT72DPR

I’d give Noizio a shot. I’ve used it on both my laptop and phone. You’ll get a decent level of customisation of the ambience with either cafe noise, ambient nature, waves or fire etc... you can even create a mix of them all!

https://noiz.io

Instead of Airparrot, I use a program called Beamer.

Instead of mirroring your entire screen, it just sends the video file over (with audio) and it works much, much better.

I have been using it for about a year now on a 2009 MacBook Pro and it never lags.

I don't believe there is a single streaming platform that covers everything -- it's common to have more than one. I started with only the ATV4 and didn't mind AirPlay casting from my iPhone to my ATV for the occasional Amazon Video uses, that is unless I wanted to use my iPhone without losing the AirPlay session. I also find the bluetooth audio lacking on the ATV4, frequent skipping and often drops connectivity to my JayBird X2's.

I eventually purchased the 2016 Roku Streaming Stick primarily to have an app for Amazon Prime Video. While my smart-TV has an Amazon app, wireless listening isn't available, with the Stick it is. As I installed other Roku apps, I found Sling works much better than the tvOS version. I also have the option of PSVue, which in many respects is better than Sling. Roku's Plex app is a lot nicer. Also, wireless audio performs much better with the Roku stick. Top it off with a more ergonomic remote ;-) Comparatively the Roku has a clunkier UI, but it just works -- surprising given how much less expensive it is.

I have a MacBook Pro that I sometimes use to AirPlay Mirror web video. It works OK, but there's a noticeable drop in frame rate. I also have a Surface Pro 2, and a DLNA stream to the Roku Stick mirrors a lot better than AirPlay -- web video is smoother, as if it's being accessed from a Roku app.

Thought I'd only be using the 2016 Roku Stick occasionally, but as it turns out I use it far more often than my ATV4.

I believe when I did it, I just used TunnelBear, set my location to India, and then when to the YouTube premium signup page.. and the amounts were in Indian currency and that's it.

Some people report that YouTube/Google music "top 100 songs" were from India, but that's the only issue, mind you, i haven't ran into that issue once

I think I used it to skirt MLB blackouts and it was extremely reliable. Set it once at the beginning of the season and took it off at the end.

I'm not sure if it was Unlocator or UnBlock-us. I may have used both. With one of them though I sometimes had to take it off for ESPN and some other apps.

I got these cases with little magnets in them. Not only are they a different color and usually in the same place I leave them, the stop me trying to use it up-side-down!

Alto's Adventure (currently $0.99 instead of $2.99) - A gorgeous and very simple snowboarding game which is even more stunning on a large TV than on an iDevice. Buy one one device and get it for all!

Get a certified ultra high speed HDMI cable. Something with 48 Gbps bandwidth. Zeskit is a good cable. https://smile.amazon.com/Zeskit-48Gbps-Certified-Compatible-Samsung/dp/B08TRCQHWZ

The limitation is still on Apple. I don’t think it’s even utilizing the full 2.1 spec yet and there isn’t anything to run 120hz. The cable with be good for future proofing and to make sure Dolby vision/atmos run smoothly.

Check out AmazonBasics Premium 48Gbps High-Speed 8K HDMI Cable.

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Premium-High-Speed-HDMI-Cable/dp/B08BS26741/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=AmazonBasics+Premium+48Gbps+High-Speed+8K+HDMI+Cable%2C+Dark+Gray+-+3+Feet&qid=1621543552&sr=8-1

I have had much better success not losing the remotes since adding the remote loops. Others have said try the silicon case route and I tried that as well. I bought one off of Amazon to stop the remote from clanging against our headboard when we hang it there using the remote loop.

Here's the silicon case I bought:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01K6LO5SK/

One of the reasons I gave a $10 case from amazon on it. Never pick it up the wrong way. Plus bright red means it doesn’t get lost as easy, and adds a little bulk to make it easier to hold

elago R1 Intelli Case [Red]-[Magnet Technology][Anti-Slip][Lanyard Included][Heavy Shock Absorption] for Apple TV Siri Remote 4K / 4th Generation https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ESXK5PO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_qSXcDbR5V5JEM

They are taken from National Geographic which there are thousands of free wallpapers available. There is also Unsplash if you want another great resource for free.

> How does it compare to Beamer?

I think there are some differences. Most significant ones being that Airflow works on Windows too, supports both Apple TV and Chromecast and can do hardware accelerated transcoding. And is free.

>The current AppleTV has a YouTube App. > >Apple, to my knowledge, has never, for any product, developed new software for old hardware. (And I have been a developer for the Apple universe since the Apple ][) > >I wouldn't hold my breath.

I'm talking about YouTube TV, not standard YouTube. Two different things.

https://tv.youtube.com/

And what are you taking about with old hardware? Apple doesn't write the third party apps. I think you need to go back to your Apple II.

You guys are doing it wrong. Use a DNS service with built-in ad blocking -- allowing you to use the YouTube app and other apps without any ads. Totally transparent and undetectable. Here's a couple:

• Alternate DNS
• AdGuard DNS

You can optionally configure them to also block "adult" material, although you'd have to pry my remote out of my cold dead left hand before that happens.

I use these Govee lights:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LVPWQQP/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_KRN6G1K4506JWN652SFD

If I had a better skill set and a larger budget though this looks like it would be a fun thing to do

Yep, that's correct. Need to do it on a router/switch. It's kind of a pain in the butt if you use the Apple TV remote app on your iPhone/iPad, because you'll lose that functionality if you put the Apple TV behind a VPN.

Smart DNS services (e.g. Unlocator depending on what you're trying to do.

The iFlicks App does a good job of converting and adding to iTunes. Metadata is also populated providing it can find a match based on the file name. You can select the metadata manually for files it doesn't match, but if you've a bunch of files to convert I'm guessing you just want to drag them all in and click start.

You can also use iFlicks to update the metadata once it's in iTunes so it's not a big deal to tidy anything up after the convert.

The major architectural difference between Plex and Kodi is still the same.

• Plex is server-based, whereas the Plex Media Server does all the heavy lifting, including the serving up of the media to any of the Plex clients out there on various platforms (Web, iOS, Android and so on). Each client needs only have access to the Plex server (intermediated via https://plex.tv for the most part).

• With Kodi, the client is also the server, and you have to set up each client to point to the media (meaning each client needs to have direct access to the media files). Quality depends on the strength of the device you're playing on, as it does all the work.

Each has its strengths and weaknesses (Kodi is immensely configurable, with tons of plugins, but also fiddly. Plex has a one-way-or-the-highway setup, with very few toggles and tweaks) and you have to look at what you want out of it.

I'm a die-hard Plex user (I love tweaking and building, but when I want to show a movie or the latest short to friends/family, I have little patience with fiddling around any longer) but I yearn for the great potential Kodi has (PseudoTV is amazing).

Look on Amazon there are lots of options for doing this

Apple TV Mount is Compatible with Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD. The Apple TV Wall Mount Can Be Used to Connect Apple TV to The Back of The TV https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092V3M7QL/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_5VWY2FBE3G0DJZKQ1PRM

No VPN for Apple TV.

I wanted to explore IPTV but my ISP throttles when it's detected. My router doesn't support running a VPN for outgoing connections. So I bought a Chromecast with Google TV. It supports many VPN apps (I use the VyprVPN app on it, as I have an account for my computers when I travel). No issues with throttling!

If you don't mind the $50 (my cost in the US), it's a nice companion to the Apple TV.

You are covering up the air vents. Also, have to deal with heat generated by tv.

We use HideIt Mount behind tv and flip vents on open side. Been using since 2018. No issue with remote.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076DL3QQZ/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_vWYNFb1J0FA46?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Turns out its my DNS Service thats the issue I currently use Getflix which is usually great, I just tried a trial of Unlocator and apple channels worked great. I have emailed Getflix to see if they can sort it out

Upvote for jailbreaking it - it's the only device I've done this with. Added the Firecore software and and 3TB network drive on my Airport Extreme and I've got the dead-easiest HD media box…

Also you can use FilmOn Live on an iPad/iPhone to stream all the British channels to your aTV, or just use TunnelBear and the iPlayer app.

I use the product below to airplay to my PC and it works perfectly. They have a product for some smart TVs and fire devices if it’s available on your tv you can try it. There is a 7 day trial or look into getting an AppleTV 3 you can find them pretty cheap and is probably your best option.

https://www.airsquirrels.com/reflector/features/android-and-fire-tv

Mirroring actually sends the image of the whole screen, this is very taxing for your (WiFi?) bandwidth. If you want to stream videos, might I suggest something like http://beamer-app.com which only sends a specially encoded, compressed stream of the video to your Apple TV.

Instead of using Airplay Mirroring you should use a program called Beamer. I use it every day and have no problems. You simply drag and drop the movie on Beamer and it streams it to the AppleTV. There is a free trial available, just try it.
If you like to stream youtube videos to the AppleTV I advise you to install the ClickToFlash extension in Safari.

i do something similar to /u/sixpicas.

convert everything to .mp4 and import into iTunes. plays everything natively from the TV "computers" app.

otherwise, look into Beamer to stream individual movies to any AirPlay device. This involves some user interaction on the computer when it's movie time, as opposed to having everything pre-loaded and browsable on the TV

Yes. You log in with your Xfinity login. You’ll receive all of the channels they support via TV Everywhere. Those channels you can log in with apps.

Don’t fear wasting any money. It’s free for the first 30 days. That way you can try it and see if it works for your situation. Everyone has different needs and requirements, we understand that.

https://getchannels.com/plus/

I use their aTV Flash Black and heartily recommend it, but do know they currently don't support anything higher than appleTV 5.3 (iOS 6.1.3, I think). Still, it integrates perfectly, works smoothly over my local network (hard disk attached to old Airport Extreme as a mount point) and it's dead easy to use, update and back up.

That said, if you have a newer iPad (Air, Mini or newer) then you should look at Firecore's player app for iPad, Infuse3, and use Airplay instead of jailbreaking the device. All the media-player benefits of a jailbroken iPad, but moved to an app and it works just as well if not better.

If you have a Mac, take a look at Plex - very nice for organization and management of your files (without you having to do all the work) - and OpenPlex. Between the two you can use a whole lot of different formats without having to convert.

However, like -webkit, I finally picked up a FireTV Stick (was only $20 for Prime members) and my Apple TV 3 is hardly used now. FireTV supports the Plex app without having to use OpenPlex. And it does a really nice job of streaming content IMO.

I'm just going by Apple's support doc, which says:

> Use peer-to-peer AirPlay >
>With peer-to-peer AirPlay, your iOS device and Apple TV don't have to be on the same Wi-Fi network. To use peer-to-peer AirPlay, you need one of these devices with iOS 8 or later:
[snip]
>Make sure that both devices have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on. If you want to stream iTunes Store content, you also need an Internet connection.

Sure, they probably use Bluetooth to negotiate the WiFi connection, but enough people have trouble getting peer-to-peer working, it's worth sticking to the docs.

As far as 802.11ac, agreed, penetration can be an issue in general, but presumably OP's MacBook is in the same room as his Apple TV, so that's not likely concern here.

I'm from Canada. We've been cable-less for 2 and a half years. I recently added an add-blocker to our home network. https://pi-hole.net/ It blocks 90% of all ads and makes streaming content a lot more interesting.

Best way to do this is to use a router that itself can run a VPN client. This is becoming quite common. I use a Firewalla Gold for this purpose and it works great. Connect it to your NordVPN account and place your AppleTV under that in your router setup. The AppleTV will act and be able to play content as if it is placed where the VPN endpoint node is. There are all kinds of issues with airplaying georestricted content including that often instead of forwarding the video itself, the airplay button just forwards the address to the stream and in that case the AppleTV won't be able to connect to the stream as it is not going through the VPN itself. You might be able to put the phone in airplay mirror mode first (where you see the actual phone screen on your TV) and if you start the stream on the phone this way it reencodes the video and sends it. You would see the video on both screens at all time. Last time I tried that it recognized and forwarded the stream so whether that works might depend on the streaming app.

Old HDMI cable perhaps? Have you tried upgrading?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07S1CGQ9Z/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I too have a Sony 4K TV and when I first got my ATV4K, I quickly realized a standard HDMI wasn't going to cut it. Once I received the one in this link, everything worked perfectly! The one that comes with a PS5 is a POS.

OP could be using something like this

Super handy, but only gives you a single plug at the cable "entry point" behind the TV.

The Anker one is one of the few certified 48 Gb cables that doesn’t cost a stupid amount. if you buy anything else make sure to check that it’s actually certified because many people have bought cables and found out that they’re not actually 48 GB/a cables.

You're right in that ATV does not natively support VPN. Technically ExpressVPN on ATV is not a VPN, you just reroute the DNS. Suppose it works but it's a little more effort and limited than just dling the ExpressVPN app from the store

I highly recommend this one instead because if you don't have an open case on the sides then it hampers certain functions like clicking to go forward or back 10 seconds or swiping side-to-side.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019D65QN2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This it the cleverest solution I’ve seen to not lose your remote. Or do what I do. Always put it down in the same place. Never fails. Oh and don’t have kids.

https://www.amazon.com/StreamerTails-Apple-Remote-Case-Generation/dp/B07QKD8WSY

Take a look at the Sikai case on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0181RA0OE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I bought one for every Apple TV in the house I liked it so much. Cheap, and comfortable. It's contoured, so the tile might go right between the remote and case with no problem.

We went through the same thing and after trying several universal remotes and so called great replacement remotes for the AppleTV remote I finally just for the heck of it took out an Panasonic remote I had from a Blu-Ray player I bought probably 8 years ago and sure enough it worked great. So I ordered 2 more online (it took a while to find them) and they also work perfectly. The model number is N2QAKB000076. Stay with this one. I tired a couple of other old Panasonic remotes I had and they were not workable. For some reason this one is. Here is a link at Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-N2QAKB000076-Remote/dp/B003XNA4QQ . They only h

You'll notice there is a place for TV Volume and power on top in red ( not the big round red power button but the smaller one) also but then under the open close button on the upper right there is a receiver volume button.

Anyway I use the smaller red button on top for turning the TV on and off and the volume button under receiver for my volume. Otherwise you can set the other buttons like play, pause, stop etc to the corresponding button on the AppleTV remote.

There are a couple of things you have to be creative with when initially setting it up. As an example when it comes to the AppleTV menu button, this remote does not have a menu button so when I was setting this up in the AppleTV settings I selected the function menu to be my menu button because it is big and easy to hit with my right hand finger. You can choose something else but honestly this has worked great for over 6 months. It makes it so much easier to use AppleTV. You can't use siri with any replacement remote but it is worth the trade off to me.

Hope this helps.

Seems like you need a small device to split off the sound so it can go to the sound bar and the video to the TV. Something possibly like this item.

https://www.amazon.com/J-Tech-Digital-Extractor-Converter-Support/dp/B00YHS5E6Q/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=hdmi+split+sound+toslink&qid=1602801558&sr=8-8

The projector doesn't have audio out that you can run to the sound system? The picture in the link is fuzzy, but it looks like your ACER has it on the right.

If not, I'd try something like this https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Audio-Stereo-Extractor-Converter/dp/B07KRWYN4R/

Found these instructions on ozbargain

Downloaded ExpressVPN. Only required an email address for the 30 day trial Set location to India Went to which re-directed me to the YouTube app Signed up for the trial and INR 129/month afterwards Entered Card details Googled India hotels Typed in "1 Janpath" and it gave me an autosuggestion and then auto-filled the details of wherever the hell it is Submit

I get this constantly on wifi. The rest of my devices connect perfectly, my connection is fast, but tvOS just gives up. A restart fixes it but sometimes I need to restart 2-3 times a day.

On the DNS topic, I use Unlocator. But a restart fixes the issue each time, so I'm not sure DNS is a good excuse.

Unlocator was having issues opening day and yesterday. I couldn’t get access for a while trying to watch the Dodgers game (considering the 6 hours the game took only to result in the loss, I should’ve just taken the hint ��) . Eventually, it just started working (I have the DNS changed on the wireless router level, I use three hard-wired Airport Extremes through the House). Nonetheless, here’s the email support sent me to fix it, just in case it may help you:

Hello,

We have some changes with MLB TV.

Also, please follow these steps:

• Log into your Unlocator account
• Click on the "Region Settings" tab
• Scroll down to "MLB / ESPN+"
• Select the "MLB" option from the dropdown menu, then click on the "Update Location" button, even if it was already set to MLB.

When done, please restart your devices, and try again.

Thank you for your patience.

I use the DNS from ExpressVPN and it works great, with my 15 mbs of download speed (Costa Rica speeds). Probably with your Germany download speeds you will get an even greater experience.

I have access to Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime and also with a direct tv account from a cousin I have access to all the different US Networks like ABC, NBC and CBS.

I highly recommend it, they have 1 month free and if you are not satisfied money is returned. Check it out, you will not be disappointed!

There is no ExpressVPN client for Apple TV. You can only use their DNS. It's a bit of a pain to setup and may or may not actually help you do what you are trying to do. ATV is also tied to your Apple ID, so you will need a US and Europe Apple ID.

A Fire stick (which is very cheap) might do what you want. I have ExpressVPN running on that no problem.

SmartDNS changes your DNS address not your public IP address that can be traced back to you, and if you are trying to access channels you can easily be detected and might get a warrant canary from your ISP. VPN on the other hand protects your real IP address as well so the pain in the butt might save it after all. I'm on PureVPN and it works fine, bought it at competitive price of $1.92 a month for 3 years subscription on their 11th anniversary deal.

You will need another router that you can install custom firmware on. If you aren't very technical... You may want to find someone local that can help you set this up.

Terms to read about: DD-wrt firmware OpenWRT firmware Tomato firmware Linux-based routers for custom firmware

I have a Linksys router new-in-the-box that I could set up for your type of connection, and it will run DD-WRT firmware quite easily (I've already done it) but for my personal connection type (cellular), this unit doesn't want to play nice. It will work great with any standard cable or DSL provider.

As far as a VPN, that is a separate service that you pay for (prices vary) I use Private Internet Access which is very high speed and offers many connection options around the world. Getting this set up on the router isn't too difficult if you are familiar with the router and can follow a how-to (they have instructions on the PIA website). The real reason for doing this is if you have a geo-block on your content... And IF you can make your device work without "location services" active, then it will localize based on the IP, which changes when you use the VPN because the VPN becomes the exit point instead of your local internet service.

I use but just tried it out and it's not working, although it is supported according to their troubleshooter, I'll send a support ticket to see if I can get it to work. Another option would be Unlocator.

I’ll second this. I bought the lifetime membership. GetFlix is great. I use their VPN service too.

Looks like it’s still on sale here:

Edit: nope, sold out ��

AdFreeTime (referral try to determine your location. It only changes your DNS, so it doesn't route all of your traffic through their servers, meaning that it won't slow down your internet speed like a VPN can potentially do. When the apps that need to know your location ping the Apple TV, the DNS will show that you are in a different country so you get around all blackouts. It works with MLB At Bat and NHL Game Center, NBA League Pass is slightly more complicated.

For MLB and NHL, you just input the numbers it tells you to, fire up the app you want to watch, and pick the game. No games are blacked out, local, playoffs, World Series, Stanley Cup. You only have to set it once and forget it. It's amazing.

NBA, like I mentioned is more complicated, but I use this method to watch my local team. You first need to sign up for INTERNATIONAL League Pass (It's important that you get the international version). Use a VPN on your computer to change your browsing location (I used CyberGhost, and I believe I used Romania as my location). Next, in your Apple TV, switch your iTunes Store location to Belgium (or any country that has International League Pass, that's just the one I use). Exit back to the home screen, log in to NBA, and enjoy blackout-free games. You'll have to switch your country back and forth to watch other apps since they aren't all available internationally, but it's a minor inconvenience to get to watch my home team.

Bonus - AdFreeTime lets you change your Netflix region, so you can get just a ton more content than currently available in your country. Use to search for a show/movie to find out what country has it streaming, switch your Netflix region on their website or app, and watch what you want.

I've said this in a few other forums: you can get all the US streaming content.

I use Blockless DNS. It's been working consistently for two years.

You can use your Canadian credit card to pay for US-only subscription services. I've been using this successfully to get Hulu, but it works with HBO Now and everything else too (and it's not really below-board - the credit card companies have actually tweeted about dying this method to pay-at-the-pump when you're travelling in the US. You can google it for more info.

I don't think a VPN can cause any trouble for AirPlay. However, if you're not comfy with AirPlaying stuff to your AppleTV, you can also setup SmartDNS on your Apple TV or VPN on your router. I use PureVPN and there are detailed tutorials on how to set up both. It will free up your iPad 2 and you wouldn't have to use 2 devices to watch your fav stuff.

There are numerous DNS spoofing services that will emulate a us IP address. I'm in Canada and I use Blockless. The trick is paying for it from Europe.

With a Canadian credit card, you can make it think you're on the U.S. quite easily - not sure it's so simple for a European card.

If you ever travel to the U.S. I believe you can buy a gift card for a year of Hulu subscription, but there has to be a simpler way than that.

unless you care about 4K @ 120hz (or 8K) or an obscene length, which you wouldn't in this use case, it really doesn't matter. no need to pay more than $3 for a 6-foot cable for something like an Apple TV

Check this site it’ll show if you have any accounts that have been compromised and if you use the same password for other sites that could be how someone got Into your Hulu account if that’s what happened.

First you need to set up If This Then That to link to your Harmony.

I have it linked to sms. If I send an sms to IfTTT with a specific phrase, it will trigger the Harmony activity.

So I made a very simple Shortcut that will send the sms to trigger the action. Easy peasy.

Let me know if you need any help along the way.

Do you actually have a TrackR?

That thing is generating lots and lots of complaints. I'd rather the battery not be user replaceable if it means I have to constantly replace it. (Folks are saying it has terrible battery life.) Or that the thing just doesn't work. Or that the company's jerking them around with broken promises.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trackr-saga-shows-pains-of-crowd-funding-for-consumers-and-companies-2016-01-14

Read the user comments on nearly every post: https://www.facebook.com/TrackRBravo/

I agree the Tile's "subscription" plan feels greedy. I hope a better competitor comes along. But for now, the Tile is working very well, and IMO, is worth the price they're asking. And their software keeps getting better and better.

Nope. There is rumor however that you will have the ability, in the next version update, to reorganize icons in much the same way you do on iOS http://gizmodo.com/5921725/its-safe-to-assume-apple-tv-is-getting-apps

I wonder if trakt.tv would work for you. A lot of people use it to manage their streaming watching habits, but I don’t use it personally. I have two things going on: I keep abreast (lol breast) of upcoming streaming shows by reading and researching about them online, and occasionally when I want live tv, I actually have access to a family member’s DirecTV stream, which has the traditional channel guide built in. Very rare these days, however. I’ve fully embraced streaming.

You just need an app for that. This is my go to. I love it and it connects to Trakt.tv. I know the pic says I don’t have it installed, but that’s because I’m beta testing it.

DTS to AC3 should work. I'm guessing there is a problem with AC3/DTS decoding.

Easiest way to resolve this would be to install VLC 2.2 (32bit VLC for 32bit Airflow, 64bit VLC for 64bit Airflow). VLC decoders take priority over directshow in Airflow. However this is a bug so I'd like to know why it doesn't work. It would be helpful if you could upload logs from Airflow (Show Activity -> Create Archive) here. Thanks.

In my experience it's not common to stream bluetooth audio to multiple devices at the same time. I think the bandwidth and quality would suffer too much. You could work around by getting a headphone splitter and something like this http://www.dx.com/p/bluetooth-2-0-a2dp-avrcp-stereo-music-receiver-and-handsfree-black-8422#.VgQEjOnsfE4. Not ideal, but not much of a pain if you're just sitting on a couch.

https://plex.tv/users/profile is this setting in your profile been set to always show them? i had to enable it to always show subtitles.. or disable it when i decided i got tired of seeing them nonstop..

Regarding the photo albums, you don't have to create them in iCloud. You can just share the albums you want to see through iTunes Home Sharing. Forgot how that worked, was a while since I used anything else than my iPhone to beam pictures to the TV.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-view-an-iphoto-slideshow-on-your-apple-tv/

Sure thing - it is OpenSSH that comes bundled with OSX 10.10. Will email you the exact details.

EDIT:

OpenSSH_6.2p2, OSSLShim 0.9.8r 8 Dec 2011

EDIT 2:

So I figured out how to enabled logging for sftpd:

http://serverfault.com/questions/73319/sftp-logging-is-there-a-way

Once I enabled logging, I did a tail -f /var/log/system.log and watched as I attempted to open a video file. This happens every single time:

Nov 3 14:12:04 ood com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.openssh.sshd.14A1349B-E310-4D45-B36D-BC4A2BCBB405): Service instances do not support events yet. Nov 3 14:12:04 ood.local sshd[77715]: Connection closed by 172.16.30.57 [preauth] Nov 3 14:12:04 ood com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.openssh.sshd.14A1349B-E310-4D45-B36D-BC4A2BCBB405[77715]): Service exited with abnormal code: 255

Researching it.

EDIT 3:

Looks like you're trying to send tunneled, clear-text passwords from your application. Here's the relevant portion of my /etc/sshd_config on my mac:

# To disable tunneled clear text passwords both PasswordAuthentication and # ChallengeResponseAuthentication must be set to "no". #PasswordAuthentication no #PermitEmptyPasswords no

I can temporarily work around this by uncommenting and setting both of these to "yes" and doing:

sudo launchctl stop com.openssh.sshd
sudo launchctl start com.openssh.sshd

Better option of course is to use a more secure method of sending the password. I don't know what the answer to that is in Swift, but I can try to help you find it. For the moment though, this works. Really, really wanting to get a base-path option in here to so I don't have to keep navigating from the filesystem's root!

If you're not aware, fast.com was made by Netflix to kind of be a canary in the coal mine to see if ISPs are throttling customers. If it's showing less than Speedtest, then you're probably getting throttled by your ISP.

ISPs were definitely throttling at one point, pre-covid (and maybe still are). It was part of the whole net neutrality thing, and why Netflix made fast.com (a speedtest that works against Netflix to see if you're getting throttled).

Replying to this in hopes for a good recommendation as well. I'm currently looking at the SteelSeries Nimbus and the Xiaomi Controller. I'm guessing the Nimbus is worth the extra bucks in the long run, right?

Handbrake and home sharing are your best bet. Just set up a queue and go to bed, Handbrake will plow through it. I then use MetaZ to add in the metadata. It might take a while if you have a lot of stuff, but MetaZ automatically adds the finished files to iTunes and it's really worth it, IMO.

If money is limited (which it sounds like it), Chromecast is a good way to go. If you are good with the list of iOS apps for Chromecast (new stuff is always coming out) vs the apple tv apps and won't miss the mirroring... the ~$65 you would save can go into getting a better tv. But without a doubt, don't waste money on smart tv... regular tv + atv/cc/roku/etc... much better/cheaper option.

FYI, I have both appletv and chromecast and enjoy them both for their given purposes. My dad has a Roku and it's a good option for a non-apple device person.

edit: beware of all the people on this board... they are all fanboys and downvote anything that doesn't make Apple sound like they walk on water....

Plex and Infuse are apps that allow you to stream your movies, tv shows or videos from a local NAS or PC. Plex requires more stress on the computer by transcoding the video to make it compatible with the Apple TV. Infuse has the ability to stream the computer. Alex required it's server app to be running, it's personal preference to be honest but i'm using Squire allows you to stream from torrent's Mac only and required a Server app running & Infuse both are great but if you're running a large library i heard Plex is better. Any other questions i'm sure the we can help out.

Not unless you get some kind of remote control infrared relaying system. I haven't used one and I don't know what they're called but I've seen them in various tech shop catalogues. It's basically an infrared sensor that sends the signals wirelessly to a secondary device that simply replicates the same infrared signals.

However, there are other ways to do similar things "natively". For image slideshows, you can create albums in iCloud and browse those images directly on the Apple TV. You can create these albums either on an iOS device or in iPhoto on a Mac.

You can also stream any video from your Mac to your AppleTV using one of these Mac apps (perhaps others as well):

• Beamer
• Airparrot 2

This way you can pause, fast forward, and rewind using your remote on your AppleTV while the video is actually being served from your Mac.

I use Beamer but Airparrot 2 seems to have a few more features. They're both $15 but they have trial versions so you can test them.

Beamer for your Mac will stream any video file to your Apple TV. But if you already have the functionality it's redundant.

No, for Europeans the Apple TV is really lack lustre. Here in Sweden we got Netflix at least, but Swedish Netflix is pretty poor compared to American from what I hear.

I like to watch youtube, and subscribe to a heap of channels that I watch daily. Unfortunately the Youtube app is quite poor so I prefer the player on my Samsung TV.

The Swedish Public Service channel has a pretty good app that I use quite a lot but that's not gonna help you ;)

Does the quality improve when taking the videos off the external HD?

If you are streaming through iTunes, keep in mind that iTunes needs to constantly access the file while streaming it.

Other suggestions:

• Plug the Apple TV in via Ethernet (if possible)
• Use an app like beamer to stream it instead

The big hurdle, by the by, is that Apple hasn't freely licensed the ability to implement AirPlay. Someone reverse engineered or otherwise acquired the keys to do so, in the past year, so now we have products like AirServer which turns a Mac into a destination for AirPlay videos.

That doesn't fix your problem, of course, and if you DO discover a method of projecting videos to your AppleTV from a Win PC using AirPlay, PLEASE share it here.

For the time being, Stingray88 is right, that your best bet is to Jailbreak your ATV2 and then map a source from your PC.

I use PS3 Media Server to make uPNP shares of my local files on my PC and then I can dig 'em up in ATV2's XBMC installation. This is easier and cleaner (for me) than troubleshooting SMB permissions on my desktop, or opening up windows filesharing. Plex Server & Plex Jailbroken ATV2 would also work well.

Apple's not alone with these decisions, FWIW. The new Roku 4 (that supports 4K video) also only has 10/100 ethernet. https://www.roku.com/products/roku-4

Only the most recent new Amazon FireTV supports gigabit, all the previous ones were 10/100 as well.

There may be more to this than mere cost-savings, I've read there may be some technical overhead reasons too.

You mentioned sports. For $25/month, you can get Sling TV with its Sports package - you'll have access to these channels. On top of that, you can get MLB Premium at a discounted price for the rest of the season. To watch the postseason MLB games, you can invest in a VPN service and stream anything you want over a Canadian/overseas server. If you get Sling TV, it covers a good variety of NBA games thru its channel bundle and ESPN networks. As far as NFL goes, some of the newer Direct TV subscribers have access to NFL Sunday Ticket - you might want to try your luck with those friends of yours. Also, you may take advantage of your existing TV subscription (as well as your friends') - drop it to the lowest tier - get some more channels unlocked on the Apple TV if you'd like. EDIT: You can use your Sling TV credentials for any of the supported apps as well as the Watch ESPN app on your Apple TV to have access to all of the sub-channels of the app.

I'd add CBC News to the list. The app selection is slowly getting better in Canada. Still abysmal compared to the US though.

If you want to bring your OTA TV stations onto your AppleTV and iOS devices get an HDHomeRun and the Channels App (https://getchannels.com). Kind of frivolous but it truly is nice to bring all of your content into the same app.

Third-party apps are the biggest feature you're getting when upgrading to the 4th gen Apple TV. If you're a cord-cutter or thinking about ditching cable, third-party apps make the Apple TV a much more viable device to replace cable subscriptions. Here's a few to check out:

• Channels - Best app for playing OTA/Antenna content on your Apple TV. It requires an HDHomerun device on your network to convert the OTA signal to mpeg2 stream.
• Sling - A (cheaper) replacement for basic-cable packages. Offers live TV viewing for various cable channels (ESPN, AMC, etc). Also includes on-demand viewing, but it's rather limited. The $20/mo packages are a pretty good value.
• Per-network apps (CBS/ABC/NBC/Fox/etc) are good but generally require that you have an existing cable package / pay some monthly subscription to use them. If you have a cable subscription these will become easier to use once Apple releases their upcoming single sign on feature.

Can you stream files stored on a networked hard drive like Infuse? I'm looking forward to Infuse coming to Apple TV but I don't mind trying other apps that can do the same thing.

Nevermind, I just read that it requires a server to be running. Ugh.

Infuse 2 works. It's not perfect, but the best I've found.

http://firecore.com/infuse

As far as a wireless solution goes, the best i've found still requires a computer. I now mostly use my MacBook Pro to play movies off my NAS using Beamer to AirPlay to my Apple TV.

It’s definitely misleading, but not a surprising business decision. Uncompressed audio isn’t going to work for streaming for most people, so the only way you’d have that use case would be to either burn your own Blu-Ray videos or download them, neither of which adds any revenue for Apple or their app partners. I have read that there may be licensing fees to even pass through Dolby TrueHD and/or DTS-HD MA, so it would make sense that Apple doesn’t want to pay those fees to provide a minority of its users the ability to enjoy content for which it receives no revenue.

I just resigned myself to that fact and bought a Vero 4K+ and set it up with PlexKodiConnect for my TrueHD and DTS-HD MA content. It sucks to have to purchase and switch between two boxes, but it is what it is. I am not sure exactly how OSMC gets around any licensing fees, but it might just boil down to them being distributed, open source, and small enough not to end up on anyone’s legal radar (yet).

Ideally, a solution will emerge that permits transcoding TrueHD/Atmos and DTS-HD MA/DTS:X to EAC-3, which should not only permit object-based audio Blu-Ray rips to play on Apple TV, but also greatly reduce the size of the files.

No HD without opening it to replace the Wi-Fi card with a crystal hd video decoder: https://osmc.tv/wiki/apple-tv/how-to-install-the-crystalhd-video-decoder/

Probably not worth the effort today but it was fun to mess around with over a decade ago.

Sonarr is basically a program that downloads tv shows automatically. You tell it the quality you want, and it'll download new episodes as soon as they're available, will rename them, then place them into a folder where plex can scan them.

You can read more here.

It's weird you're still using PS3 media server. The project is now called http://www.universalmediaserver.com so I'd upgrade to that and see if it helps. Also, in my experience Plex is really the best option for your setup. I used to dislike Plex but it kept getting better and now it's really the way to go.