Apple TV anyone?
- Thread starter John
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Anthony Parsons
Well-known member
I have to say its pretty impressive with that Samsung chip storing 8Gb on the chipset for streaming purposes, pause, rewind, fast forward, etc... 5 watts total power is just awesome as well. This is another reason I am loving the shift to Apple... all their devices are such low impact with power its fantastic on the power bill for an office environment where all systems are running such long hours each day.
I'm still learning to have a few seconds of patience with the Time Machine for it to startup each time when its been left for a few minutes doing nothing and the drive hibernates.
Robert F Schmitz
Well-known member
I am trying to decide between ROKU, Chromecast and Apple TV. I have several Apple devices so I am leaning that way. Thoughts?
Don't bother with the ATV. I've got one and my Raspberry Pi with XBian installed is WAY more useful.
Think of the Apple TV as an extremely expensive Blockbuster card - it's so locked down and poorly planned out.
If it had an app store it'd be awesome but right now it really is a useless black box. A Raspberry Pi with XBMC lets you get access to Air Play, Plex servers, plus there's a ton of addons for streaming and downloading media - all free.
Think of the Apple TV as an extremely expensive Blockbuster card - it's so locked down and poorly planned out.
If it had an app store it'd be awesome but right now it really is a useless black box. A Raspberry Pi with XBMC lets you get access to Air Play, Plex servers, plus there's a ton of addons for streaming and downloading media - all free.
DRE
Well-known member
You need to be connected to the internet to use Chromecast.
You don't have to be connected to the internet to use AppleTV due to the latest update.
It uses something called handoff now. http://www.idownloadblog.com/2014/06/03/peer-to-peer-airplay/
DRE
Well-known member
Ran some tests at my cuz house to use his S5.
Appletv mirroring can work with no internet/no wifi network as long as you have both wifi and blutooth turned on your device. On the apple tv itself, airplay should be on by default. I think Bluetooth is on by default too, can't remember.
But yeah on your iphone, you don't actually have to be connected to a wifi network for it to let you mirror to your appletv.
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The next test was with a samsung galaxy 5. The free version of the allcast app lets you show your music, gallery photos, vids, and video app files. It also lets you show your google plus, google drive and dropbox stuff. You can also use it for DNLA server with it's media server option (good if you use kodi, plex, nas, etc)
It does not mirror though. I wish they had a mega.co.nz option.
Appletv mirroring can work with no internet/no wifi network as long as you have both wifi and blutooth turned on your device. On the apple tv itself, airplay should be on by default. I think Bluetooth is on by default too, can't remember.
But yeah on your iphone, you don't actually have to be connected to a wifi network for it to let you mirror to your appletv.
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The next test was with a samsung galaxy 5. The free version of the allcast app lets you show your music, gallery photos, vids, and video app files. It also lets you show your google plus, google drive and dropbox stuff. You can also use it for DNLA server with it's media server option (good if you use kodi, plex, nas, etc)
It does not mirror though. I wish they had a mega.co.nz option.
Robert F Schmitz
Well-known member
Thanks DRE for all your efforts. I finally decided on the AppleTV after finding one for sale locally. After running the upgrade, I was happy with how it works. More importantly, since I don't watch much TV, the family enjoys it.
Lucas
Well-known member
I actually use my Apple TV to stream movies from the laptop, stream music, watch Netflix and that's about it. I really like it though. I can also connect and use my iphone screen directly on the TV to show stuff real quick. I'm sure there are much more open solutions though.
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