Let’s Install Plex Connect on a Jailbroken Apple TV 3
The content summary has been created in order to easily navigate this article
Feel free to follow along with my video
Content Summary
Pre-requisites
What is Plex Connect?
Prepare for the Plex Connect Install
Install Python
Install Plex Connect
Install Required Certificates
Log in and Configure Plex
Install and Setup IPTV Plex Plugin
Final step over on Plex Connect
Pre-requisites
Now this process is quick and should take around 10 minutes to configure before you start there are some pre-requisites
- A Jailbroken Apple TV 3
- You are already running Plex server
- Putty or Terminal (SSH into Apple TV)
If you haven’t jailbroken your Apple TV 3 already follow my guide here
Don’t have Plex and are interested in setting it up now head over to Plex.tv
To get Putty you can get if from here
What is Plex Connect?
Just so you understand Plex Connect before you install and configure it, Plex Connect was made for the Apple TV 3 and is also compatible with the Apple TV 2.
Since Apple TV 2 and 3 do not have an app store to download apps like Plex, the best option was to reuse a native Apple TV app like the Trailers or iMovie app
Plex Connect is a DNS proxy that tricks the Apple TV into thinking the Trailers or iMovie app is Plex, so when you set it up and configure it, and once you click the iMovie app the Apple TV re-routs the request to Plex and displays your Plex content, now this can work with a non jailbroken Apple TV and jailbroken, but in this how-to guide we go step by step through how to do this on a Jailbroken Apple TV 3
Prepare for the Plex Connect Install
The first thing we need so we can SSH into the Apple TV is the IP address go to Settings, General and Network or About and take note of your device’s IP address
Once you have the IP address launch your terminal or putty depending on if you are on Mac Linux or PC, I’m on Windows so I will be using Putty
Login is: root
Password is: alpine
Since we used the Trailers app to jailbreak the Apple TV we will need to use the iMovie Theater app instead just so there is no conflict with Plex Connect and the jailbreak
Install Python
Python is required, as it was used to develop this great little piece of software
copy and paste the following commands to install Python:
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get install python
apt-get install git
reboot
Install Plex Connect
Log back in to install Plex Connect and copy the following commands:
cd /Applications/
git clone git://github.com/iBaa/PlexConnect.git
cd PlexConnect/support/aTV_jailbreak/
./inst_atv3.sh
reboot
Install Required Certificates
In order for all of this to work, we need to download and install required certificates
- Got to the Apple TV settings
- Select General, scroll down to Send Data to Apple but just highlight this option and set it to NO
- With Send Data To Apple highlighted, double click the Play button on your remote
- Enter:
localhost/iMovie.cer
Hit Submit and return to the Home screen
Log in and Configure Plex
The final step to get Plex on your Apple TV is to log in with your Plex.tv account credentials
Launch Plex, Navigate to Settings, all the way to the right, go down and select Plex account sign in
Head into General Appearance, under Main Navigation Bar, feel free to Hide Playlists, Shared Libraries and Shared Channels
At this point, your Plex Connect application is set up and ready to be used however if you would like to take advantage of the IPTV bundle for Plex, please keep reading
Install and Setup IPTV Plex Plugin
To download the latest version of IPTV bundle for Plex click hereÂ
If you would like a sample M3U list just for testing you can use a free list I found on GitHub Thank you to LiuYi0526 for your lists!
Go to your Plex server and launch the Plex dashboard, you can double click the Plex icon on your system tray
or paste the following URL in your browser:
http://127.0.0.1:32400/web/index.html
Navigate into the Plex Plug-ins folder:
C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Plug-ins
Open the Zip file you downloaded earlier with IPTV bundle, and drag the folder into the Plug-ins folder
Make sure to rename the IPTV bundle to:
IPTV.bundle
At this point the IPTV bundle is installed we just need to configure the M3U list, so let’s head back into the Plex dashboard, click the little wrench top right corner to get into the Settings menu, then at the bottom right corner of the screen click Plugins
Highlight the IPTV plugin, and click the little gear on the icon, this will bring up the IPTV configuration settings
The top option is to place the remote location of your M3U file, the other below that is for XMLTV EPG data file, ance you have pasted your links, scroll down and click save
Final step over on Plex Connect
Select Channels, select the IPTV channel, click Reload playlist and reload program guide in order to load the full EPG data correctly
Once this is done your Apple TV 3 is good to watch your IPTV
Hello there I have installed the python and git file but while installing flex connect on the second step after cd/application its showing “Cloning into ‘PlexConnect’…
fatal: remote error:
Repository not found.
help me out
Thanks!
Thanks for commenting as I messed up the command after cd/applications
git clone git://github.com/iPaa/PlexConnect.git it’s iBaa not iPaa I have amended the article thanks again
Hi i have problem to find right softwear to downgrade to 7.4 os apple tv 3rd gen., can you pleas help me with that?
Unfortunately, I cannot assist as Apple no long has signed versions of the required iOS, meaning you will be unable to install it even if I gave you the ipsw files unless you know a way to install unsigned IPSW iOS!…
Thanks.
Hi,
After having install plexconnect and reboot, when i want to install certificate, i can’t.
I can’t set “Send Data to Apple” to “no” and, i can’t add the profile “localhost/iMovie.cer”, the apple TV don’t validate it.
What can i do.
The only thing i can do it’s like before with plexconnect on another machine and set the profile as “http://trailers.apple.com/trailers.cer”.
Hey Aurelien,
The “send data to Apple” option is presented to you when you first setup your Apple TV I’m unsure if it is possible to change afterwards.
You cannot use “http://trailers.apple.com/trailes.cer” as this was used for the jailbreak and therefore the iMovie app can be used for this exploit, “localhost/iMovie.cer”
I would recommend performing a system reset just like outlined in my article, but use it to start fresh and make sure you select no to “send data to Apple”
Thanks.
Is your apple tv3 jailbroken, if not I have another article for Plex connect for non jailbroken apple tv 3
Hello Admin, I need your help. I have a jailbroken Apple TV3,2 A1469. I followed all the above steps to install Plex on it, and only after I’ve completed the steps did I realise that I do not have the iMovie.app in my jailbroken Apple TV. What should I do?