Buy an Apple TV or a Competing Product?

[rosenstar]

Looking at a third party TV box. I have an iPad, iPhone and PC. These are the things I want to be able to do:

1. Mirror both my iPad and PC wirelessly
2. Access my remote server - I have set up my own server (a disk station ds209 from synology; I can access it on my iPad using DS Video from the app store)
3. Access Dropbox
4. HBOGO
5. ShowTime Watch now
6. WatchESPN
7. YouTube

Can I do all these things on an Apple TV? Or would a Roku or some other device be a better option? What advantages does each have? What if I jailbroke my Apple TV? What additional content would that get me?

Thanks for the help!!!

 

[kch50428]

Re: 1) - iPad mirrors just fine... PC... as in a Windows device or Mac? A Mac would be flawless with an AppleTV... PC/Windows device? Not so much...
2) - If you've an app for it on the iPad... an iPad will display mirror, or - if the app supports AirPlay on its own - you're good to go.
3) - Directly on an AppleTV... no, via apps & AirPlay or mirroring... yes.
4) - AppleTV has an app for that as long as your cable company will validate you via the on-screen log-in process.
5) - Is that an iPad app? Or web app? -- AirPlay or display mirror...
6) - ESPN has an app on the AppleTV -- same cable company validation applies as HBOgo
7) - YouTube is supported on the AppleTV with an app.

AppleTV 3rd generation - current latest available - can not be jailbroken...

 

[rosenstar]

Also, I currently have a Seagate Freeagent thearter that is essentially a USB in and HMDI out, allowing me to navigate and watch videos from an external harddrive. Does Apple TV offer this capability? What about it's competitors?

 

[jclisenby]

Also, I currently have a Seagate Freeagent thearter that is essentially a USB in and HMDI out, allowing me to navigate and watch videos from an external harddrive. Does Apple TV offer this capability? What about it's competitors?

The simplest answer to your question, is that an Apple TV is not what you want. If you are planning to use all Apple products, the AppleTV is perfect. Bringing in different products like PCs and hard drives, means you're not all Apple and the AppleTV will not be the best solution for you.


Tappin and Talkin from my iPhone 5

 

[rosenstar]

The simplest answer to your question, is that an Apple TV is not what you want. If you are planning to use all Apple products, the AppleTV is perfect. Bringing in different products like PCs and hard drives, means you're not all Apple and the AppleTV will not be the best solution for you.


Tappin and Talkin from my iPhone 5

Hmm can you recommend any alternatives?

 

[jclisenby]

Hmm can you recommend any alternatives?

I know if you're interested in networking with a PC and hard drives, getting an older or just a cheap, new desktop PC would be the best route. You can hook that into your television and add a wireless keyboard and mouse. That'll give you full access to anything and everything you want.


Tappin and Talkin from my iPhone 5

 

[natasftw]

The Roku requires some hoops to get a YouTube alternative working.

The AppleTV isn't exactly friendly with non-apple products. You'll be looking for fixes that way as well.

You're best off spending a bit of time and doing the research. I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say dropping the cash on a comp + wireless keyboard + wireless mouse is the "best" fix. It's one way, but you might consider if the cost vs benefit is there for you.

You apparently already have a computer you'd like to stream. There's always the ability to just get the cables necessary to send that monitor out to your TV rather than get a box of any kind.

 

[rosenstar]

I know if you're interested in networking with a PC and hard drives, getting an older or just a cheap, new desktop PC would be the best route. You can hook that into your television and add a wireless keyboard and mouse. That'll give you full access to anything and everything you want.

The Roku requires some hoops to get a YouTube alternative working.

The AppleTV isn't exactly friendly with non-apple products. You'll be looking for fixes that way as well.

You're best off spending a bit of time and doing the research. I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say dropping the cash on a comp + wireless keyboard + wireless mouse is the "best" fix. It's one way, but you might consider if the cost vs benefit is there for you.

You apparently already have a computer you'd like to stream. There's always the ability to just get the cables necessary to send that monitor out to your TV rather than get a box of any kind.

Hmm the more I think about it an apple Tv might be the way to go. Ideally I'd like to have an app for everything directly on the AppleTV, but if I can stream anything I want from my iPad, I guess it doesn't matter?

 

[Peligro911]

Hmm the more I think about it an apple Tv might be the way to go. Ideally I'd like to have an app for everything directly on the AppleTV, but if I can stream anything I want from my iPad, I guess it doesn't matter?

You can mirror your display to a Apple TV so best bet if you can do it on a ipad you can do it on Apple TV by mirroring .. As far as accessing hard drives and things your other option is to setup a media center pc ..


Brought to you from my iPad 4 LTE routed and bouncing across the globe on multiple servers from Tapatalk !

 

[rosenstar]

You can mirror your display to a Apple TV so best bet if you can do it on a ipad you can do it on Apple TV by mirroring .. As far as accessing hard drives and things your other option is to setup a media center pc ..

Anybody try this before: AirParrot - AirPlay your Mac or PC's screen to Apple TV

can it really mirror your PC? Any personal reviews?

 

[natasftw]

Doesn't Apple include a 14 day money back guarantee?
Doesn't Air Parrot have a trial?

Their support even states they're unsure which cards conflict with their software. Your best bet is to take advantage of both trial offers and see how it works for you. If you don't like it, take it back. No harm, no foul.

 

[Mr.Willie]

I have an iPad, iMac, and an ATV. iTunes is on an external drive, and is shared. No extra apps are required to play media on the iPad, ATV works flawlessly. HDMI from ATV to receiver, optical out to a optical to RCA decoder, then to a RocketFish. Everything plays nice. I am out of town and won't be back home for almost two weeks, but when I get home, I will share iTunes on a Winders laptop and see how nicely that plays with the ATV and iPads.

Some Synology products have iTunes, servers built in, but it appears that yours does not. You would have to have iTunes on your Windows machine open and mapped to your NAS, however, personally I do not know how well that works.

 

[thatotherdude24]

I have an AppleTV and have learned unless you are full blown Apple it won't be much benefit to you. I have an Apple TV and an Xbox 360 hooked up to the same TV and I find myself using the Xbox 360 much more for apps than I do the Apple TV.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

 

[geekyalice]

Trying to jailbreak your Apple TV can get really tedious. It's good to know that there are other options out there like this Android TV I stumbled upon online. I got to save some cash because I had cut my cable subscription after getting the device. You can check it out here: No More Cable

 

[Massie]

One note about display mirroring: not all apps will work with it. I was just trying to do this with the Xfinity app (since it doesn't support AirPlay) and got an error message saying the content was not available for viewing that way.

 

[kch50428]

One note about display mirroring: not all apps will work with it. I was just trying to do this with the Xfinity app (since it doesn't support AirPlay) and got an error message saying the content was not available for viewing that way.

Looks like the developers of Xfinity are dictating how people use their devices through a capricious limitation in their code preventing a desirable functionality...

 

[Massie]

Looks like the developers of Xfinity are dictating how people use their devices through a capricious limitation in their code preventing a desirable functionality...

Yep!! Sadly, I can't say I was at all surprised.