ScenarioTV

What is ScenarioTV?

If you’re a cable-cutter or a binge-watcher, ScenarioTV is your personal TV network. It allows you to stream your own video collection, ad-free, from your iTunes library to your iPhone, iPad and Apple TV — all without requiring Apple’s Home Sharing feature. In fact, iTunes doesn’t even have to be running.

What else can I do with ScenarioTV?

  • Browse your Movies, TV Shows, Music Videos and Home Videos elegantly in a list or on a grid
  • Use AirPlay to turn your iPhone or iPad into a superior Apple TV remote
  • Binge-watch TV Shows by queuing up as many episodes as you want
  • Browse, delete or change the order of queued videos without interrupting playback
  • Search and filter videos by Title, Newest, Oldest, Rating, Relevance, Genre or Shuffled order
  • Discover related videos by Cast members, Directors, Producers, Screenwriters and Studios

What are the requirements?

You must have a Macintosh computer, plus at least one iPhone, iPad or Apple TV device. (Windows and Android devices are not supported.) Just keep your Mac turned on and make sure any remote volumes are mounted. All of your devices must be on the same local network (Wi-Fi and/or Ethernet).

ScenarioTV is for collectors who have a lot of unprotected videos in their iTunes library. These videos are typically backed up from discs you own by using video ripping software like HandBrake. ScenarioTV is not for viewing content from the iTunes Store or from Apple’s own TV app.

How does ScenarioTV work?

First, run the ScenarioTV macOS app on the Mac that hosts your iTunes library. ScenarioTV will enable your Mac’s built-in Personal Web Sharing service and establish a few important links. It will also allow access to any Volumes you may be using to store large video files on external drives including NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices. If iTunes can access your stored videos, so can ScenarioTV.

When you click the “Export from iTunes” button, ScenarioTV will scan your iTunes library and generate a database of its own, including optimized artwork. This takes some time, but it enables you to browse large video libraries very smoothly from any device. Whenever you add videos or update your video library in iTunes, simply run the ScenarioTV macOS app again. You can do that in the background.

The first time you open the ScenarioTV app on your iPhone, iPad or Apple TV, go to the Source screen and enter your Mac’s network name and your short user account name on that Mac. This will allow your device to access the aforementioned database created by ScenarioTV on your Mac.

Now select the Refresh button in the Source screen and ScenarioTV will import the database. When this process completes in a minute or so, the app will quit. When you reopen it, you’ll see all your videos ready to browse and play.