What is the best streaming app for Apple TV?

[budmonster]

I'll try to keep this short as possible. New Apple user here, just bought an Air for mainly my son but I'll be using it as well, mostly for videos. I also bought a Lightning Digital AV Adapter and an Apple TV, I wanted to find the easiest way to stream videos from my PC or iPad to my TV. My videos are mainly MKV files (2-20GB) with DTS audio, etc. nothing that the Air can play on its own.

I tried the adapter first. At first I tried around 3-4 apps like AVPlayerHD, PlayerXtreme & Infuse to play my videos but I would sometimes get picture but no sound when playing a video or vice versa, a hit or miss really. They all said they could handle every codec, etc. I had to remux them into AC-3 audio or make it a mp4 file instead. I really didnt want to mess with all that. I just wanted to be able to put the movies on my PC and be able to watch them quickly on my TV. I've had bad experiences trying to stream videos from my PC to TV using my PS3 with Plex and so on. I could never get the video to play with out lagging.

I then tried the Apple TV tonight, got it all hooked up. I also downloaded an app called AirVideo HD and the AirVideo Server for my PC. It says it converts any video on the fly wireless. It seems to work pretty good, any video I've thrown at it so far has seem to play fine, I streamed a 12gb 1080p video tonight. I have to start AV Server app on my PC, the open the AV HD app on my iPad and use the mirroring feature or whatever. In AirVideo once I play the video in the app, it just pops up over the Apple TV main screen.

Now to my questions...
- Are there any other apps similar to AirVideo HD, I'm looking for the best out there, any other recommendations? I really would like to keep the best quality possible when streaming. I don't know how much the video downgrades while using this particular app.
- Is the Apple TV & streaming app my best option, I'm guessing to just return the adapter now? The adapter was just $40 less then the Apple TV. I won't really be using Netflix, Hulu, etc. so I didn't see the need for an Apple TV at first, all I wanted to was stream movies easily. I don't have many electronics at home, Just a few Android phones, a PS3, a Kindle Fire, a laptop/PC and the iPad/Apple TV. Out of those I guess I was trying to find the easiest solution for streaming.
- I was also wondering is there any to stream a video from my PC directly to the Apple TV without the need of the iPad, just use my PC? Is that even possible?

Thanks :yes:

 

[Massie]

I love mirroring my Mac to my Apple TV. People are always shocked at how easy it is to watch content on the big screen here?literally the touch of a button.

 

[budmonster]

AirVideo is one of the best.
If you wanted to, you could probably use the adapter with AirVideo rather than the AppleTV.
If you were on a Mac you could mirror anything on your screen to the AppleTV without having to go thru the iPad. There is software out here that will let you mirror your Windows PC to the AppleTV. A quick google search came up with AirParrot. AirParrot - AirPlay your Mac or PC's screen to Apple TV note that I've never used this software, so I cannot vouch for how well it works.

I think I'm out of luck with AirParrot. Since it mirrors my PC monitor(HP w2207h) and my monitor only goes up 1680x1050, I'm unable to stream any 1080p videos properly. Also, I can't seem to get audio to play and there is choppiness/lag with the video stream. I'm assuming my PC isn't fast enough(AMD Phenom II X4 920 & 6GB DDR2 memory). This sucks, cause it seems like really nice idea. It would of ended my search. I don't understand how my iPad Air can stream with no problem at all. It has to stream from my PC > iPad Air > Apple TV > HDTV. With AirParrot it cuts out the iPad so I thought it would work just as well if not better.

 

[budmonster]

AirVideo is one of the best.
If you wanted to, you could probably use the adapter with AirVideo rather than the AppleTV.
If you were on a Mac you could mirror anything on your screen to the AppleTV without having to go thru the iPad. There is software out here that will let you mirror your Windows PC to the AppleTV. A quick google search came up with AirParrot. AirParrot - AirPlay your Mac or PC's screen to Apple TV note that I've never used this software, so I cannot vouch for how well it works.

Does the Apple TV even allow 1080p mirroring? I believe that the Lightning Digital AV Adapter does. Right now I'm deciding on which to return.