Best Media solution on macOS ?

[dmvdberg]

Hai, the eternal lurker here writing from the shadows. Hive mind, pls help?

 

As eluded by many, including LTT... plex is broken. And it isn't even remotely funny anymore. Jellyfin has only mac / tvOS clients and not own homebrew server side to run on my Mac Studio (base model M1max). 

So? why now? I have a 10Tb drive for professional work and archive, a 1Tb drive that only serves as a temp point for photography projects and a 2nd 10tb drive for all things "media". And that last one I need to be able to acces from the AppleTV HD downstairs. Both the MacStudio and AppleTV are wired. 

 

• I hate subscription solutions.
• no plex, just dont try to rope me in. After 14years of screaming i've had enough.
• Jellyfin is a no go, I wont buy a windows machine just as a server
• No server or docker solutions. There is no NAS.
• Its old tv shows and movies that I ripped from the collection years ago and I no longer have or wish to have a disc solution in my house.
• The Apple TV runs the VLC app and I'm happy with that and is does see the plex server etc. Only plex is broken.

Many thanks in advice nerd herd, looking forward to suggestions and talking to you about this project. 

[mr cheese]

So if I'm correct, you're wanting to run some kind of media server on the M1 Mac Studio to stream content from that computer to your Apple TV?

[Bad5ector]

9 minutes ago, dmvdberg said:

No server or docker solutions. There is no NAS.

You know you can run Docker's in MacOS as well right? I believe it will require Rosetta, but it can be done. If you wanted to give Jellyfin a try in a docker that is.

Install on Mac | Docker Documentation

 

But if you don't want to go down that road, you could always try Emby:

 

Emby Server for Mac - Emby

[johnno23]

no idea if it is a solution but i have an apple tv etc but I also had a ton of DVDs that I ripped over several months to condense two drawers filled to over flowing down onto several hard drives. my router has a USB port and i have one of thoseHDD docks where I just slot in a drive then hit the power button. So I labelled my drives for SCiFI movies Action Movies etc etc. 

My tv the apple tv the hifi systems etc all have network to a single hub and a cable from my hub to my router, the router is the poormans solution and the HDD dock plugs into that and I can access anything I want over the network from that drive.....does it impact performace on my network ??? maybe but if i am enjoying a movie who cares. lol

[dmvdberg]

50 minutes ago, johnno23 said:

no idea if it is a solution but i have an apple tv etc but I also had a ton of DVDs that I ripped over several months to condense two drawers filled to over flowing down onto several hard drives. my router has a USB port and i have one of thoseHDD docks where I just slot in a drive then hit the power button. So I labelled my drives for SCiFI movies Action Movies etc etc. 

My tv the apple tv the hifi systems etc all have network to a single hub and a cable from my hub to my router, the router is the poormans solution and the HDD dock plugs into that and I can access anything I want over the network from that drive.....does it impact performace on my network ??? maybe but if i am enjoying a movie who cares. lol

My router does have an USB port and while the idea of having a 10Tb media drives spinning nonstop tucked away in a hallway sounds nice..... its NOT my idea of very stable nor do I trust ASUS enough to keep that working long term. Good idea just not the solution for me .

[dmvdberg]

11 minutes ago, Bad5ector said:

You know you can run Docker's in MacOS as well right? I believe it will require Rosetta, but it can be done. If you wanted to give Jellyfin a try in a docker that is.

Install on Mac | Docker Documentation

 

But if you don't want to go down that road, you could always try Emby:

 

Emby Server for Mac - Emby

Rosetta I try to stay away from, If the docker solution could be done native of if Jellyfin could run macOS..... yes.

 

Emby though, now that looks mighty promising! Thank you!

[dmvdberg]

15 minutes ago, mr cheese said:

So if I'm correct, you're wanting to run some kind of media server on the M1 Mac Studio to stream content from that computer to your Apple TV?

Yes. And I hate plex. With a passion.

[johnno23]

understood...I am curious though do you have a network hub that is easy to access? if you do an easy quick and dirty option is simply place the 10TB disk you have into an external drive case that has a netork connector. simply connect to the hub and access over network? not perfect but would work for the short term.

[dmvdberg]

Update. The Emby solution does not show up in VLC. Wife approval rating of 0. Sooooooo that's out the window. It might be that I need to config more. I however am not looking for a new hobby or extra job. This stuff should work. I'm not lazy nor try to cheat my way out of spending money. A paid solution is fine..... if it works..

 

Came across Serviio. So far, both promising AND showing up in VLC

[dmvdberg]

24 minutes ago, johnno23 said:

understood...I am curious though do you have a network hub that is easy to access? if you do an easy quick and dirty option is simply place the 10TB disk you have into an external drive case that has a netork connector. simply connect to the hub and access over network? not perfect but would work for the short term.

All drives are USB external.... I have a MAC Studio.... >___>; 

[maplepants]

Infuse + SMB. It's extremely easy, and the clients on Apple TV, iPad, and Mac are all excellent.

 

I use Plex as my backend but it has a lot of options.

[HeroRareheart]

Under these specific circumstances the answer, IMO, is just no. There just isn't a solution for this specific circumstance at this time.

 

I'd buy a crapbox off Craigslist and make it a NAS then deploy Jellyfin on it and ditch the Apple TV for something running Linux, but I doubt that's the solution you want. I use a HTPC at home with Linux but it's NOTHING compared to an Apple TV.

[Umberto]

Why not use home sharing?

 

https://support.apple.com/guide/tv/stream-content-to-apple-tv-atvbc876df1e/tvos

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202190

[Ripred]

36 minutes ago, Umberto said:

Why not use home sharing?

 

https://support.apple.com/guide/tv/stream-content-to-apple-tv-atvbc876df1e/tvos

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202190

I was going to mention this also, I don't even have a Mac, Only apple tv and ipad but even my windows computer can use home sharing and I can access my computer from my apple tv

[maplepants]

On 2/7/2023 at 2:17 AM, HeroRareheart said:

Under these specific circumstances the answer, IMO, is just no. There just isn't a solution for this specific circumstance at this time.

 

I'd buy a crapbox off Craigslist and make it a NAS then deploy Jellyfin on it and ditch the Apple TV for something running Linux, but I doubt that's the solution you want. I use a HTPC at home with Linux but it's NOTHING compared to an Apple TV.

This is the worst suggestion in this thread. Trade in a working Mac and Apple TV in favour of a random NAS and a Linux HTPC? The Apple TV and Nvidia Shield are so much better for TV watching than any HTPC, especially a Linux one given how streaming services don't let you watch 4K HDR on Linux (due to DRM bullshit). Nobody running an Apple TV or Nvidia Shield should trade it for a HTPC, especially Linux, unless they want to primarily game on their TV.

 

There's native smb support on macOS. That's by far the easiest way to share media within your home and the Apple TV has about a half dozen SMB video players. I mentioned my favourite, Infuse, but it's not the only one. He can even keep using VLC if he wants to.

[HeroRareheart]

On 2/8/2023 at 7:40 AM, maplepants said:

This is the worst suggestion in this thread.

I never said it was a good suggestion, this is just what I'd do.

[DrMacintosh]

What exactly is broken about Plex? I’m genuinely curious bc I’ve been running Plex on a Raspberry Pi and now a Mac mini for close to 2 years. It has been fantastic for me. 

[The Hope]

Free and open-source media player

https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/kodi

 

Kodi is an open-source local media player that offers similar functionality to Plex, enabling you to centralize your collection of music, movies, TV shows, and photos. However, it’s better suited for use in your home theater—whether via a Raspberry Pi or media center computer that’s connected to your TV—as it doesn’t natively share your library with other devices or sync your library across multiple devices (though it is possible to set this up if you’ve got the know-how).