Playback

#Players

Aether has more than one way to play a file and picks the best for each title, starting with Apple's own player:

1. Apple's player (AVPlayer) — for files Apple's playback supports directly.
2. PrismCore — Aether's own open-source engine. It repackages formats Apple cannot open (MKV, AVI, MPEG-TS and more) on the device and hands them to Apple's player: the picture is never re-encoded and compatible sound is copied unchanged; only soundtracks Apple's player cannot take (TrueHD, DTS and similar) are converted, to E-AC-3 or AAC. That keeps hardware decoding, Picture in Picture, AirPlay, Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. How PrismCore works.
3. Prism — a player based on mpv for whatever is left. It plays almost anything, but Picture in Picture, AirPlay and Dolby Atmos passthrough are not available with it, and Dolby Vision is shown as HDR.

On the Mac, Aether uses Apple's player (with PrismCore getting the first chance at files Apple cannot open) and Prism. If a file needs a format PrismCore declines, Aether moves to the next player by itself. Aether plays the original file rather than asking your server to transcode it, unless you choose a lower quality.

Choose the player in Settings ▸ Playback ▸ Video Player:

On the Mac the choices are Automatic and Prism. Two more switches sit in Settings ▸ Playback:

• PrismCore (on by default) — turn it off to use Prism for the formats PrismCore would otherwise repackage.
• PrismCore Software Path (off by default; not on the Mac) — lets PrismCore draw formats Apple cannot decode at all — VP9, MPEG-2, VC-1 and interlaced video — itself. Picture in Picture and AirPlay are not available on this path.

The player choice and quality are per device and do not sync. Cinema on Vision Pro always uses Apple's player.

#HDR, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

• Dolby Vision plays as Dolby Vision through Apple's player and PrismCore (profiles 5 and 8, with profile 7 converted to 8.1). If Dolby Vision looks too dark or tinted on your television, turn off Settings ▸ Playback ▸ Dolby Vision and those titles play as regular HDR instead (titles with no HDR version inside them, such as Dolby Vision Profile 5, are unaffected). Prism shows Dolby Vision titles as tone-mapped HDR.
• HDR10 and HLG play in HDR on displays that support it.
• Dolby Atmos in E-AC-3 passes through to your receiver with Apple's player and PrismCore. Prism outputs multichannel PCM, without Atmos.
• TrueHD and DTS soundtracks are converted where needed so they play, in surround; Atmos or DTS:X objects inside them do not survive that conversion.

#Match Content on Apple TV

Aether follows the Apple TV's own Match Content setting (Settings ▸ Video and Audio ▸ Match Content in tvOS) on every player: with Match Dynamic Range and Match Frame Rate on, the TV switches to the title's range and frame rate before playback starts.

#Resume and progress

• Titles resume where you stopped: choose Resume or Play from beginning. A title counts as watched at about 90%.
• Sync Progress Across Servers (on by default) reports your progress to every server that has the title, and Aether resumes from the furthest point.
• Show End Time (on by default) shows when the title will finish.

#Skipping intros, recaps and credits

In Settings ▸ Playback ▸ Episodes, Skip Intro, Skip Recaps & Previews and Skip Credits can each be Show Button (default), Automatically or Off. Markers come from your server (Plex markers, Jellyfin media segments, Nexus chapter names); Community Intro Data (IntroDB, on by default) fills in where the server has none. Aether never analyses the video or audio itself. Skip data is saved with downloads, so skipping works offline. A Stay Tuned badge flags films with a scene during or after the credits.

#Seeking, previews and chapters

• Scrubbing shows preview thumbnails: from your server where it provides them (Jellyfin trickplay, Plex, Nexus), and generated on the device for SMB, WebDAV and local files.
• Chapters appear as ticks on the seek bar and as a list (or images) in the player's settings.
• Everywhere except Apple TV, Player Gestures add swipe-to-seek, brightness and volume swipes, hold for 2× speed and double-tap to skip 10 seconds (Settings ▸ Playback ▸ Player Gestures).
• On Apple TV, swipe down during playback for a panel with Info, Chapters, Audio, Subtitles, Speed, Video and Playback Stats.

#Speed and quality

• Playback Speed: 0.5×, 0.75×, 1×, 1.25×, 1.5× and 2× (Live TV stays at 1×).
• Default Quality (Settings ▸ Playback): Original (default), Convert Automatically, or a fixed bitrate from 20 Mbps 1080p down to 720 kbps, which your media server converts the title to. The player's Quality menu changes it for the current title and restarts at the same position.
• If a server can't send fast enough, Aether offers Download and Play, Choose a Smaller Version or Keep Waiting.

#Up Next

#Picture in Picture and AirPlay

Picture in Picture and AirPlay are available whenever Apple's player is playing — which includes everything PrismCore repackages. They are not available with Prism or the PrismCore software path. On iPhone and iPad, Play on Apple TV hands the title to an Apple TV running Aether.

#Cinema on Apple Vision Pro

Aether's Cinema puts the screen in a Dark Theater:

• Screen sizes: Medium, Large, IMAX (default), IMAX 70 and Wall. Seats: Front, Middle (default) and Back.
• 3D: side-by-side and over-under (half and full) frame-packed files, and MV-HEVC spatial video (labelled 3D Spatial). 3D Viewing switches between 3D and 2D and can swap the eyes. Blu-ray 3D (MVC) plays in 2D.
• Turn the Digital Crown to bring the real room back in.
• Auto-Enter and Remember Last Setup live in Settings ▸ Playback ▸ Cinema.