Play H.265 4K video on Apple TV 4 via Plex
"I'm able to play movies that are encoded in H265 (HVEC) just fine. Can you help me understand how this works? This codec isn't part of the supported ones for Apple TV 4, are you transcoding it? I'm using a Mac Mini for the Plex Server and Apple TV 4 app. P.S. DTS seems to work also. I have movies that only contain a DTS stream and they play just fine. Another question on "How is this working. Thx."
From plex's official web page, we get the information that 4K/UHD content matches the following can be direct played on supported devices via Plex Media Server.
Container: MP4
Resolution: 3840x2160 or smaller
Video Encoding: HEVC(H.265)
Video Frame Rate: 30fps
Video Bit Depth: 8
Although you have no problems to add H.265/HEVC 4K videos to Plex Media Server, however, you will run into obstacle when you try to play them on Apple TV 4 via Plex Media Server. As it is well know that Apple TV 4 does not have the capability to handle 4K H.265/HEVC files and the best playable formats for Apple TV 4 is 1080p H.264 video with 30fps or standard definition MPEG-4 video in MP4, MOV, M4V formats.
To fix this issue, the basic solution is transcoding H.265/HEVC 4K video to Apple TV 4 recognizable file formats. There's a solution in hand called Pavtube iMedia Converter for Mac (support Mac OS X El Capitan), which can do you a great favor to convert H.265/HEVC video to Apple TV 4 preset profile format for direct playback. Besides that, since your Apple TV 4 lacks the ability to process 4K video, you can also use our program to compress 4K video to 1080p or smaller videos or smooth playback on Apple TV 4.
How to stream H.265/HEVC 4K video to Apple TV via Plex Media Server on Mac?
Step 1. Load H.265/HEVC 4K video with the program.
Launch the program, click "File" > "Add Video/Audio" to import H.265/HEVC 4K video the program.
Step 2: Choose Apple TV 4 compatible file format.
From "Format" drop-down options, scroll down to "Apple TV" main category, since Apple TV 4 has the same format standards as its previous model Apple TV 3, therefore, you can choose to output "Apple TV 3 1080P Dobly Digital Pass-though(*.m4v)" as the best playable format for Apple TV 4.
Step 3: Start conversion process.
Go back to the main interface, hit right-bottom "Convert" button to start H.265/HEVC 4K video to Apple TV 4 conversion process. When the conversion is completed, you will be able to add converted videos to Plex Media Server, and then watch on Apple TV 4 with Plex with ease.
For more Apple TV related topics such as Apple TV supported file formats, Apple TV related hot issues, Apple TV video/audio playback solution, please visit our Apple TV page.
