Not quite the easiest and cleanest work around, but a fun and usable one none the less. I haven’t found a clean way to do do this all from scratch with the current Apple TV 5.3 build so I figured I would do quick how-to. Credit to iBaa for creating PlexConnect and Paul Kehrer for developing the workaround with the new workaround for firmware 5.3. They are the brains behind all of the development.
List of materials:
- Apple TV 3 (Firmware 5.3)
- Plex
- Plexconnect
- OpenSSL for Windows
- Python 2.7
- Apple Configuration Utility
- MicroUSB Cable
I know this looks like a lot of software, but this install is actually pretty straight forward. If there is a request for images I’ll post them, but I didn’t find them necessary.
Note: You’re essentially creating a server on a computer for your AppleTV to point to. You’ll be running PlexConnect on the same machine your Plex media server is running on.
1. Install and extract all of the software/files on the above list.
2. Open a command prompt with administrator privileges (right click, select run as administrator)
3. Enter the following commands:
C:OpenSSL-Win32binopenssl.exe req -new -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -out C:trailers.pem -keyout C:trailers.key -x509 -days 7300 -subj "/C=US/CN=trailers.apple.com" -config C:OpenSSL-Win32binopenssl.cfg |
C:OpenSSL-Win32binopenssl.exe x509 -in C:trailers.pem -outform der -out C:trailers.der type C:trailers.key >> C:trailers.pem
4. Go to C: and double click on trailers.der, when prompted to install the certificate, click install.
5. Open iPhone Configuration Utility, click on configuration profiles, then new. Enter any name and identifier you want, scroll down on the middle pane and click credentials. Click on the configure button in the center pane and look for the credential titles trailers.apple.com
6. Plug your appleTV into a power outlet and then connect your appleTV to your computer with a microusb cable.
7. Once the iPhone configuration utility sees your appleTV select it from the left, click on the configuration profiles tab, find the profile name you created and click install.
8. Plug your appleTV into your TV manually configure your AppleTV’s DNS to the computer your going to be running PlexConnect to.
9. Find the folder where you extracted PlexConnect to and double click “Plexconnect.py”, and the window should remain open with one of the last lines saying PlexGDM: servers discovered: 1
10. On your AppleTV navigate to your Trailers app, and you should see all of your Plex media!
Troubleshooting:
If for some reason you get errors stating web servers cannot be started on ports 80 or 443 open a command prompt and enter “netstat -ao”. From the list look for anything using ports 443 or 80 and write down their PID. In the task manager click view, select columns and check PID (Process Identifier). Close any programs that match the PID’s with the ports that are in use. (Usually Skype).
That’s the short dirty run-down. If anyone has any questions or needs pictures post a comment and let me know. I’ll throw some images up if they will be of help. Enjoy!
