AppleTV won't play HEVC/H265

Hi all,

Mac Mini (mid-2011)

AppleTV (4th Gen - NOT 4K - running tvOS 11.1

MacOS High Sierra (10.13.1)

After using Subler to convert some H265/HVEC video, I can finally watch that content on iTunes. Quite the welcome development after upgrading to High Sierra. Naturally, I thought playback on iTunes meant that AppleTV 4 would understand and play back the file, too.

Nope. One step forward and two steps back, it would seem.

Whenever I try to play those particular files, I get this error message: "This content cannot be played because its format is not compatible with AppleTV."

Reading around, I'm finding that support for HEVC on AppleTV is spotty. Others tell me it's possible -- but that I need Handbrake. So, right now, I'm wondering if I should just bite the bullet and encode in Handbrake to H264 which will take days and small parts of my sanity and cut the life of my Mac short or should I just get Plex or a Roku at this point since, after being an Apple user my entire life (and this being 2017), proprietary video is a ridiculous idea.

I don't know what the truth is. I would just like to play these files on AppleTV. Am I missing something?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!