My 2 Cents:  It’s so amazing how fast apps are being developed for the new AppleTV 2G and now there is a new one to add to the list, Plex Media Server.  This app is still in beta but it still works pretty damn well but I would suggest the optional higher quality with experimental ffmeg.

As long as you have a decent MAC it should run great.  Been running it for the past day and it looks pretty good.  Right now if still in beta so you only get video playback with no controls (i.e. fast-forward, rewind) but hopefully it will be updated shortly so that you can get some more of the many add-ins that are currently available with Plex.

I would to see XBMC make it on there so that we can get some PC (Windows) loving

Via: Plex App

Prepare the Media Server
Before you install the actual plugin you need to prepare the Plex Media Server (it needed some tweaks before it would talk to the ATV). Since those changes are considered ‘beta’, you need to tell your PMS to download beta plug-ins, by enetering the following URL in a Safari running on the same machine as the media server: http://localhost:324…s/set?AS_BETA=1

Enable a higher Quality (optional)

This part is optional, but if you feel like experimenting a lot, you might want to install a testing built of ffmpeg, that enables higher bitrates for the (currently) highest available quality (which is the only quality your ATV will use). This will also increase the image quality on other iOS devices, however you will need a potent Mac for the encoding! So If you still feel like installing use the following two commands in a Terminal on the Mac running your Media Server:

curl http://ambertation.de/downloads/PLEX/ffmpeg > ~/Downloads/ffmpeg
cp ~/Downloads/ffmpeg ~/Library/Application\ Support/Plex/Plex\ Media\ Server.app/Contents/Resources/

If you not use this, the plugin will still work, but the image-quality might not be on par with what you expect.

Install the Plugin

First off: you need to Jailbreak your Apple TV. A nice little instruction can be found on awkwardtv.org. I suggest you use the Pawnage method. For the sake of the following instruction I assume thet the IP-Address of your ATV is 169.10.11.12, and that you can log in using ssh.

• Start your ATV and log in to your ATV using ssh

  ssh root@169.10.11.12

  It will ask you for your password, which (if you did not change the default) is alpine. (I strongly suggest you change the password using the passwd command!!!)

• In that ssh session, you need to add new cydia sources using

  echo "deb http://apt.awkwardtv.org ./" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/awkwardtv.list
  echo "deb http://www.ambertation.de ./downloads/PLEX/" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/plex.list

• Now update your cydia database using

  apt-get update

• Install the plugins (and its dependencies like beigelist by DHowett) with

  apt-get install plex-client-plugin

• Restart the GUI and hope that it comes back

  killall Lowtide

  If the UI does not come up again, you probably have to restore your ATV!

That is it. You should see the PLEX menu item now. If you experience any problems (which you almost certainly will ) just report back here. But remember the ATV is just a hobby

Updating the Plugin

Once in a while I might release an updated version for the plugin, so once in a while you might want to check for updates and install them. Here is how that will work:

• Start your ATV and log in to your ATV using ssh

  ssh root@169.10.11.12

• In that ssh session enter

  apt-get update
  apt-get upgrade