A neat hack called PlexConnect now allows the popular Plex media server app to run on ATV2 and ATV3 boxes without the need to jailbreak them.
There’s one little box in the living room which hasn’t been as fully compatible with Plex as we’ve liked, and that’s the Apple TV. There’s been a Plex client available for a few years now, but only for Jailbroken devices, which means the more powerful v3 device can’t be used (and let’s face it, Jailbreaking can be tricky).
Enter PlexConnect. The brainchild of Baa, roidy and f00b4r, it’s a super clever little hack which allows a rich, fully-functional Plex client on un-jailbroken ATV2 and ATV3 (1080p!) devices. Essentially, you run a program on your computer which masquerades as the Trailer app. Next, change one setting on the ATV, and you’re up and running. It took me less than 2 minutes to install and get it running
The original version can be downloaded here. For those running v5.2 firmware and up, Plex has added a few tweaks of their own to the version available here.
As with any hack, there’s of course no guarantee that the method will remain working in future firmware versions, so if you do install it you may want to hold off on future firmware updates until compatibility is known.
(Thanks, Sil.)
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