"I'm about to purchase the new apple TV 4, i have quite a few 3D Movies in MVC format, are these supported in the new apple TV. Thnx in advanced."
MVC stands for Multiview Video Coding. It is an Stereoscopic Video Coding standard for video compression that allows for the efficient encoding of video sequence captured simultaneously from multiple camera angles in a single video camera. MVC streams are backward compatbile with H.264/AVC, which allows older video player devices and software decoders to decode MVC video streams while ignoring additional information for the second view, meaning that the stereoscopic image will not be available.
3D MVC's compatibility with Plex and Apple TV 4
From Plex's and Apple TV 4's official site, we know that the Plex Media Server direct video play support is MP4 container with H.264 (level 4.0 or lower) video encoding and AAC audio, while Apple TV 4 supported formats are:
H.264 video up to 1080p, 60 frames per second, High or Main Profile level 4.2 or lower
H.264 Baseline Profile level 3.0 or lower with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
From above lists, we can see that both Plex Media Server and Apple TV has strong limitations for the videos that streamed to it. If the 3D MVC movies do not comply with the standard listed above, you will definitely fail to play 3D MVC movies on Apple TV 4 via Plex. To fix this issue, the best solution is to transcode 3D MVC to Apple TV 4 best compatible file format.
There are many apps on the market enables you do this work, Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate for Windows/Mac (best Video Converter Ultimate Review) outflanks all its competitors with the great capability to directly convert 3D MVC to Apple TV preset file format with all the suitable profile settings, so that you don't need to do any extra complicated settings on your own.
Besides 3D MVC, the program also benefits you a lot to convert other file formats such as Blu-ray/DVD disc, H.265/HEVC codec, etc for streaming to Apple TV 4 via Plex Media Server.
How to Stream 3D MVC Movies to Apple TV 4 Via Plex Media Server?
Step 1: Load 3D MVC movie files to the program.
Launch the program, click the "Folder" or "Video" icon to load source video movies from your local computer to the program.
Step 2: Define output file format.
Tap on the "Format" bar, as Apple TV 4 has the same format supports standard as Apple TV 3. Therefore, here you can choose the output format as "Apple TV" > "Apple TV 3 1080P Dobly Digital Pass-through(*.m4v)."
Step 3: Start video conversion process.
Click the "Convert" button to start the conversion from 3D MVC to Apple TV 4 customized format conversion process.
When the conversion is completed, feel free to add converted files to Plex Media Server and stream to Apple TV 4.
