Setting up home network - stream content from Mac to TV - best way - I am a mac user

[thelordofdarkness]

 

Hi guys, I am a pure Mac user. 

iMac / Macbook Pro and of course iPhone.

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We have a TV and before I used to use a WDTV I connected to the TV, with a USB attached to it - to watch downloaded material of my own on the TV. I want to upgrade the home system to watch downloaded material but do not know what to do.

It is a Smart TV - Samsung.

I was going to Purchase a NAS drive and stream content from NAS to the TV.

The other option was to buy the new APPLE TV model and I guess I can mirror from my Macbook Pro to my TV if I did that.

Or I was also looking at the Airport Extreme but do not know what that will actually do in allowing this.

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So the idea is basically, content on my iMac - like videos mainly and pics too, I want to get it onto the TV as easily as possible.

Any suggestions how to do this as Mac user?

 

Forgot to add, as an alternative to Apple TV - I was thinking of getting a ROKU 2 as I read a lot of good reviews and it has the USB port to it.

I just wanted to know if people here recommend a better investment like a NAS drive.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

To be honest, recently I've found the easiest way for me to do this is to just connect a HDMI cable from my laptop to my TV. 

 

But it looks like you want to go down the streaming route. I will say this - in my experience Samsung's Smart TV does not play nice with Macbooks. There doesn't seem to be an in-built screen share/mirror ability for the Macbook (or at least, with the one I was using.) After doing some looking around I basically came to the conclusion that if I wanted that kind of functionality I was basically being forced to get Apple TV.

 

I could be wrong, but I think that Plex is available for Mac. If it is, I would suggest downloading that and trying it out. Your Smart TV should recognise the Plex software and allow you access to your library (I have a Samsung Smart TV that does this automatically.)

[Nick H. Supervisor]

15 minutes ago, thelordofdarkness said:

 

Hi guys, I am a pure Mac user.

<Moved to Apple Support forum>

[thelordofdarkness]

I downloaded and installed Plex on my Mac.

 

It made a Plex library from the folder I chose and shows up on my Mac browser window.

 

How do I get this to the TV now?

[Nick H. Supervisor]

14 hours ago, thelordofdarkness said:

How do I get this to the TV now?

With Plex downloaded, it should be just a matter of making sure that your Mac and the TV are connected to the same network. From there, make sure Plex is turned on on the Mac (I've genuinely forgotten if Macs have a System Tray of sorts like Windows, where you can see an icon for Plex being active) and then on your Smart TV it should be a matter of selecting the Plex source (as if you were switching the channel on the TV, or selecting a USB key.)

[thelordofdarkness]

Yes I got it sorted out - thanks so much  Awesome discover, I didn't know about Plex.

 

But when I Stream it, sometimes it is not that smooth - it stops in the middle, but then I guess that is my network issue in my home

[+BudMan MVC]

it could also be a transcoding problem, what format/codex is your video?  what is the bitrate.. I recently upgraded from my old popcorn hour a110 that was like 7 years old.  Got a roku 4 since my tv is not smart and has no apps.  And it plays pretty much everything direct without having to transcode.  My plex server is just running on a VM on an old n40l that is also starting to show its age..

 

I have not had any issues at - I had a home video that is 1080p with very high bit rate, and when it tried to transcode it couldn't handle it - but switched to original bit rate and it then did direct play without any hiccups at all.

 

Are you over wire or wifi?  And what is the bit rate video and streaming at?