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Apple TV Gen 4


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Hi all

Wife bought these for the kids rooms,  checked houselogix saw the ELan (can't remember the exact name)  driver.  Seems very cool,  a few questions.  It seems like it has a lot of Plex intergragtion is it pulling that info from the Plex client on the Apple TV or the Plex server on your network? 

Also any other Apple TV driver I should be considering before I buy a few for the house? 

 

Thanks as usual!! 

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That driver is for an Elan system and I'm assuming you have C4?  If I'm understanding right, that driver won't work for you.  There is a free C4 apple tv itunes driver that would make your itunes library video and audio library available to your C4 database but it won't play any video unless you had a supported media player.  From the C4 navigator, it can airplay the audio to other airplay devices but not the video.   The ATV could be used as a video source but then you would use your C4 remote to navigate through the menu's to get to the plex ap.  A plex server could run on a mac, pc, and a few other options.  There's other devices that work with a plex server but one of the more popular media players these days are the ones that run on Kodi accompanied by @alanchow 's Kodi Full or Kodi Lite driver for C4.  There's a lot of android boxes out there that would work.  The newer raspberry pi's are very popular and low budget.  Your video database would show up in the MYMOVIES and you can select what to play from there.

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On 7/26/2017 at 7:43 AM, dcovach said:

That driver is for an Elan system and I'm assuming you have C4?  If I'm understanding right, that driver won't work for you.

Yeah so I was being a complete idiot - Sorry about that! 

 

On 7/26/2017 at 7:43 AM, dcovach said:

There is a free C4 apple tv itunes driver that would make your itunes library video and audio library available to your C4 database but it won't play any video unless you had a supported media player.

Yeah I don't know why the C4 controllers one day when they big don't end up being able to support playing video I mean a cheap device can do this now...

 

On 7/26/2017 at 7:43 AM, dcovach said:

The ATV could be used as a video source but then you would use your C4 remote to navigate through the menu's to get to the plex ap.

You see this is the exact issue I have. The Plex app on the A TV is actually awesome. The problem is I can't simply have a Scene or button mapped to OPEN PLEX. I have to teach my wife how to do it or 2 year old (imagine that ...)

I have Alexa everywhere in the house (the new Show is actually quite cool) but again cant create a scene for that cause you never know which position the menu on the A TV was left - so you can't even use key strokes to get you back to Plex app (even if its first on the list).

 

On 7/26/2017 at 7:43 AM, dcovach said:

 The newer raspberry pi's are very popular and low budget.

As much as I hate admiting this - I might have to go get one to do this. The Apple TV is just so much better man (in terms of everything else)

 

On 7/26/2017 at 7:53 AM, alanchow said:

Note our Plex Full driver for Control4 does not work with Apple TV's (since we can't launch Plex programatically).

I am sure Plex writes this for A TV, surely this can't be complex to implement in the client for Plex or do you think this is Apple that doesn't allow it? It's like Plex on the Smart TVs don't allow it either, there has to be more of a reason than just oh we don't implement it

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Do your research on devices that have the capability that you're looking for.

LG and Sony both have ways to auto-launch to certain apps on the TV through the IP control.

Apple doesn't integrate with anything but Apple.  Blame them for the poor API of the ATV, it's their problem.  You could always get a Roku to do what you want.  Other than Airplay to the ATV, I find the Roku to be a much better device.

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10 minutes ago, lippavisual said:

Apple doesn't integrate with anything but Apple.  Blame them for the poor API of the ATV, it's their problem.  You could always get a Roku to do what you want.  Other than Airplay to the ATV, I find the Roku to be a much better device.

I actually have a Roku sitting on my desk :) the stick HDMI one. I bought it for that reason now its sitting here as a big USB stick :)

What put me off was some of the integration issues with the available drivers that I read on the forum. Not sure if they have been addressed @alanchow 

These were ability to launch the Plex client remotely, the ability to download the Movies, series etc into C4. This stick connects to my Plex server (My gaming machine :)) on my home network.

I have the Roku streaming stick 3600x - Stick details

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I don't like the sticks, not enough horsepower built into them and I believe they are wifi only.

Using a Plex driver, it will populate all your media into C4 media database for selection using app, on screen nav or touchscreens.  As long as you have a recommended device that allows for direct launching of apps (Roku), this integration is seamless and very simple to use.

 

Edit:  My advice would be to spend the extra $50 and get the box version.

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I got a 4k Roku and you can directly launch apps on it. However, it is a lot more buggy than the AppleTV.  Netflix crashes, or will not start at all. Same with Hulu. I like the one button launch but what good is it if the app fails? I like the 4k capability, but it is never used. The wife and adults kids will pick ATV every time.

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11 hours ago, Elvis said:

I got a 4k Roku and you can directly launch apps on it. However, it is a lot more buggy than the AppleTV.  Netflix crashes, or will not start at all. Same with Hulu. I like the one button launch but what good is it if the app fails? I like the 4k capability, but it is never used. The wife and adults kids will pick ATV every time

And that is the reason I picked thr ATV

 

1. It always works doesnt have some random cr@p fail

2. My music videos etc all live on Apple,  stuff I don't have lives on Plex. 

I got the stick as Roku is Roku is Roku.  4K well I dont see much 4K video to stream to be honest so its still a novelty.  The interface of Roku is just shocking compared to Apple.  

 

I wonder how ELAN does the integration with ATV they seemed to have got it right. 

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