Glossary

A plain-language reference for every term you might run into when using Bunny Ears TV, setting up Plex, or reading about streaming and media servers. No jargon left unexplained.

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A B C D E G H I K L M P R S T V

Apple TV

Apple's streaming media player hardware. Bunny Ears TV runs on Apple TV HD (4th generation) and all Apple TV 4K models. Not to be confused with the Apple TV+ subscription service, which is Apple's streaming content platform. The hardware runs tvOS and installs apps from the App Store.

Basic Package

The free tier of Bunny Ears TV. Includes 13 broadcast-style channels covering general entertainment, comedy, drama, family, news, reality, and more. Basic channels remain free forever after the trial period ends. No credit card required.

Call Sign

A short abbreviation displayed alongside each channel name in the program guide. For example, the Horror Movies channel uses the call sign HORRM, and the Jazz FM station uses JAZZF. These are modeled after real broadcast call signs and help identify channels at a glance.

Channel Package

A group of related channels bundled together. Bunny Ears TV organizes its 200+ channels into packages like Kids & Family, Comedy & Fun, Horror & Dark, and Documentary. The Basic package is free. All other packages are unlocked with any paid subscription.

Channel Surfing

The act of flipping between channels to see what is on. Bunny Ears TV recreates this experience with a retro static transition effect between channels, mimicking the look and feel of switching channels on an old TV set. This is core to the app's design philosophy of making your library feel like live television.

Content Rating

The age-appropriateness rating assigned to a movie or TV show in your Plex library. Movies use MPAA ratings (G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17) and TV shows use TV Parental Guidelines (TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-G, TV-PG, TV-14, TV-MA). Bunny Ears TV uses these ratings as filters to keep channels on-theme. For example, Kids Zone only includes content rated G, PG, TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-G, and TV-PG.

Deterministic Schedule

The method Bunny Ears TV uses to generate its program guide. Instead of randomly shuffling content each time, the schedule is generated from a seed value so it stays consistent. If you check the guide at 8pm and see a specific movie on Channel 80, it will still be there if you check again later. This is what makes the guide reliable and browseable rather than chaotic.

Direct Play

When your Plex server sends a media file to a client without converting it. This happens when the client device natively supports the file's video codec, audio codec, and container format. Direct play uses almost no server CPU because nothing is being converted. Whether Bunny Ears TV direct plays or transcodes depends on the format of each file and your Apple TV's capabilities.

Docker

A software platform for running applications in isolated containers. Tools like ErsatzTV, DizqueTV, and Tunarr require Docker to run on your server. Bunny Ears TV does not use Docker at all. There is nothing to install or configure on your server. The app runs entirely on your Apple TV.

Electronic Program Guide (EPG)

The on-screen grid that shows what is currently playing and what is coming up across all channels. Bunny Ears TV generates a broadcast-style EPG from your library metadata, displaying channel names, program titles, time slots, and metadata like ratings, genres, and release years. The guide covers a rolling 28-hour window.

Genre Filter

The primary method Bunny Ears TV uses to sort content into channels. Each channel has a list of included genres and excluded genres. For example, the Comedy Movies channel includes the Comedy genre but excludes Horror, War, Documentary, and several others to keep the channel focused. Genre data comes from your Plex library's metadata.

HLS (HTTP Live Streaming)

A streaming protocol developed by Apple that breaks video into small chunks and delivers them over HTTP. Plex uses HLS for transcoded streams. Bunny Ears TV uses Plex's HLS transcode endpoint to receive video, which is why playback works reliably across local and remote connections.

IPTV

Internet Protocol Television. A method of delivering TV content over IP networks, typically using M3U playlists and MPEG-TS streams. Tools like ErsatzTV and DizqueTV generate IPTV streams that you watch in a compatible player. Bunny Ears TV is not an IPTV solution. It does not generate M3U playlists or MPEG-TS streams. It is a native app that talks directly to your Plex server's API.

Keyword Filter

A filter that matches content by searching for specific words in titles and/or plot summaries. Bunny Ears TV uses keyword filters for channels that cannot rely on genre alone. For example, the Workplace Comedy channel uses keywords like "the office," "parks and rec," and "brooklyn nine-nine" to find relevant shows that might only be tagged as Comedy in Plex.

Library

A collection of media in Plex organized by type. Most Plex servers have separate libraries for Movies, TV Shows, and Music. Bunny Ears TV scans all available libraries on your server to populate its channels. The more libraries and content you have, the more channels will be active.

Lifetime Purchase

A one-time payment of $29.99 that unlocks all Bunny Ears TV channel packages permanently. No recurring charges, no expiration. You pay once and the full channel lineup is yours. This is processed through the App Store like any other in-app purchase.

Metadata

Information about your media that Plex collects from sources like TMDB, TVDB, and MusicBrainz. This includes titles, genres, content ratings, release years, runtime, audience ratings, plot summaries, studio names, and artwork. Bunny Ears TV relies entirely on this metadata to build channels. If your metadata is incomplete or incorrect in Plex, it will affect which channels your content appears on.

Minimum Rating

A filter some channels use to set a quality floor. For example, the Primetime channel requires a minimum audience rating of 7.0, the Critics Choice channel requires 8.5, and the Award Winners channel requires 8.0. Ratings come from Plex's metadata, which typically sources from TMDB or IMDB.

Music Station

A radio-style channel that plays audio from your Plex music library. Bunny Ears TV includes 50+ music stations covering genres like rock, jazz, hip-hop, classical, electronic, and more. Stations can filter by genre, sub-style, decade, and keyword. They work identically to TV channels but pull from your music collection instead of your video libraries.

Plex

A media server platform that organizes and streams your personal media collection. Plex consists of a server application (installed on a computer, NAS, or cloud server) and client applications (on phones, TVs, game consoles, etc.). Bunny Ears TV is a third-party Plex client that presents your library in a broadcast TV format.

Plex Media Server

The server software that manages your media library and handles streaming to client devices. It runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, NAS devices, and cloud servers. Your Plex Media Server is what Bunny Ears TV connects to. The app does not require any plugins, scripts, or modifications to your server.

Plex Pass

Plex's premium subscription tier that unlocks features like hardware-accelerated transcoding, mobile sync, and live TV with a tuner. Bunny Ears TV does not require a Plex Pass. It works with free Plex accounts.

Remote Access

The ability to stream from your Plex server over the internet, not just your local network. Most Plex servers have remote access enabled by default. When remote access is active, Bunny Ears TV works from anywhere, not just your home. Family members and friends with shared Plex access can also watch from their own locations.

The authentication method Bunny Ears TV uses. Instead of creating a separate account, you sign in with your existing Plex credentials using Plex's official PIN-based OAuth flow. This is the same method other third-party Plex apps use. Your password is never shared with Bunny Ears TV.

Static Effect

The visual transition that plays when you switch channels in Bunny Ears TV. It mimics the analog static you would see on an old CRT television between channels. This is a deliberate design choice to make channel surfing feel tactile and nostalgic.

Transcoding

The process of converting a media file from one format to another in real time. Your Plex server transcodes when the client device cannot play the original file format natively. This uses server CPU (or GPU if hardware transcoding is enabled). Bunny Ears TV does not transcode anything itself. All transcoding happens on your Plex server, the same as any other Plex client.

tvOS

Apple's operating system for the Apple TV. Bunny Ears TV is a native tvOS application, which means it is built specifically for the Apple TV using Apple's development frameworks (SwiftUI and AVPlayer). It is not a web wrapper or a ported mobile app.

Virtual Channel

A simulated TV channel that plays content from your own media library on a schedule, as if it were a real broadcast network. Unlike traditional TV, virtual channels do not have a fixed broadcast schedule set by a network. Bunny Ears TV generates a deterministic schedule from your library metadata so each channel feels consistent and browseable.