Apple TV....anyone try this yet?

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fijidad

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Still working through alternatives to Directv, and wondered if anyone had tried Apple TV? I'm going to look into the cost and features.
 
Apple TV is great if you have an iPhone and/or iPad as everything works so well together. If you don't have other Apple devices there are better TV devices out there for you. As stated you need high speed unlimited internet. 
 
Any suggestions for the best cost/benefit internet service for on the road? I've been using my personal hotspot but ran up data usage quickly. Seems there ought to be a better way.
 
Unless high speed Internet prices come down.(talking about SAT). There never will be the ability to download movies on the ro that would be cost effective. Even campgrounds with wifi will never happen.  Unless you are camping in Qualcoms parking lot.too much technology in the campground. Not in the office. They cannot handle the demand.
 
Tin man said:
Even campgrounds with wifi will never happen. 
Click to expand...
I had no problem watching movies on my campground Wifi until I recently had Comcast installed because the snowbirds will be showing up. Even watched some 4k movies without issue. But then again the park was empty and I was the only one using the Wifi. I was getting a solid 15 to 20 meg signal.
 
I use Apple TV in my sticks and Bricks.  Love it, but I have good High speed internet there.  Unless you are fortunate like Sielerbird and have good campground wifi I don't think apple TV is a good option for a MH.  If you have lots of movies and other content downloaded on another Apple device it might work well to "airplay" but if your looking to stream from the internet then you need a good internet connection.
 
yep, I have the older version apple tv at the house.

It's great as other have said, if you are firmly in the apple/itunes ecosystem

We used to be, but have converted to google/android..... but we still use appletv to access netflix.
Don't use it for much else.

I recently bought an amazon fire stick and have that in my MH for streaming.  I like its interface better than apple's but they likely don't have as much content overall.  Good if you are amazon prime.

Roku would probably be the best bet overall.  Mine is old though and we don't use it much.

 
Apple TV should work if you have WiFi, a wireless hotspot or wired internet connection. Keeping my unlimited data plan on my Verizon Android smart phone is well worth it. I can make my phone a 4G wireless hotspot and I can connect up to 5 devices like Apple TV, ipads, and smart phones or smart TV's. The kids can stream movies on Netflix or apple TV while we are driving or in a campsite. Only time we have an issue is going through a remote area. Most major Highways have a good enough connection for them to be connected for hours at a time. With Verizon, I don't upgrade my phone with their plan option. I just buy used phones on Craigslist for the model behind the latest and that allows me to keep my unlimited data plan. I looked at my usage last week and it was up to 23 GB and still had a week left.
 
There really is no way an Apple TV can replace DirectTV if you watch TV even modestly. Data is just too costly and unreliable on the road to be workable.

And even with data you might miss some things that are not easily replicated on streaming boxes. Stuff like live news, sports, etc.

I have an Apple TV (3rd generation) and an Amazon Firestick TV. But I also have 3 macs. I have many movies saved on my mac that I have converted from my DVDs. This gives me a rather large collection of movies to watch without requiring any internet data. But I had to put some effort into setting everything up.



Mike
 
Tinmania said:
There really is no way an Apple TV can replace DirectTV if you watch TV even modestly. Data is just too costly and unreliable on the road to be workable.

And even with data you might miss some things that are not easily replicated on streaming boxes. Stuff like live news, sports, etc.
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Amen. Though I have a 40GB Verizon at a plan, I can't imagine streaming on a daily basis what I now watch on DISH sat TV.

Tinmania said:
I have an Apple TV (3rd generation) and an Amazon Firestick TV. But I also have 3 macs. I have many movies saved on my mac that I have converted from my DVDs. This gives me a rather large collection of movies to watch without requiring any internet data. But I had to put some effort into setting everything up.
Click to expand...
I have a "hopped up" (bigger internal hard drive) 1st gen and 3rd gen Apple TVs in my RV.

When I started full timing two years ago, I thought I'd use the 1st gen ATV's hard drive to play back shows. But, alas, the 1st gen is getting long in the tooth and its processor just isn't powerful enough for a lot of movies.

As previously mentioned, the AirPlay feature of ATVs is great because you can stream movies from an Apple OS device to your ATV-equipped TV. Though it requires a WiFi connection, no broadband data is used with ATV. (Unless your ATV and Apple OS device are on different networks.)

If you want the ability to stream and also play back media, look at WD TV http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1270#Tab2&Tab30.
 
First thing you need to knwo: Any television service YOU PAY FOR, it too costly

Now Apple TV, ROKU, Sling Box. and a host of others even the ones that advertise "Thousands of  Satellite Channels For Free only 19.95" (Which by the way is a lie)  Unless you have truly unlimited data. You are going to end up paying for the bandwidth.  If you leach off park Wi-Fi and your neighbors find out you may be subject to "Sanctions" . (I refuse to speculate what they will do).

Sat TV, well we all know that's too expensive.

But the industry is intended to make you into a fool, and as you know a fool and his money are soon parted.
That is.  They all feel that.. Well this scans to "Old Time Religion"

THough the love of it roots Evil
Still there's those who seem to feel though
That ALMIGHTY GOD's A DOLLAR (hold up single while singing this line)
And there's not enough for me.

Give me that old......

(Copyright on that verse is mine, Feel free to use it).
 
We recently traveled the coast of New England from CT to ME.  I have Apple TV at home and in our coach.  Had no trouble watching TV shows using my iPhone 5S, with LTE using AT&T unlimited data plan as my hot spot.  We are on a family share plan with my kids so the cost is minimal.  Only used for our favorite TV shows, Netflix and movies that I rent through Amazon.  Worked great whereever we were.
 
Sorry to revisit an old thread...

We are going to try an Apple TV 4K in our camper next week.  Both of our phones are iPhones and have unlimited data plans as well as the ability to become a hot spot.  So at best I hope to stream a movie to my phone and have it displayed to the tv through the ATV connection.  Or at worst we download a few movies in advance to our phones and then send them to the ATV for viewing on the tv which then precludes needing an LTE signal strong enough to support streaming.  Once I get it all hooked up and try it for a long weekend I'll give an update here and let everyone know how it went.

Now I need to start researching wireless HDMI splitters to allow viewing at either end of the camper!
 
quadna71 said:
Sorry to revisit an old thread...

We are going to try an Apple TV 4K in our camper next week.  Both of our phones are iPhones and have unlimited data plans as well as the ability to become a hot spot.  So at best I hope to stream a movie to my phone and have it displayed to the tv through the ATV connection.  Or at worst we download a few movies in advance to our phones and then send them to the ATV for viewing on the tv which then precludes needing an LTE signal strong enough to support streaming.  Once I get it all hooked up and try it for a long weekend I'll give an update here and let everyone know how it went.

Now I need to start researching wireless HDMI splitters to allow viewing at either end of the camper!
Click to expand...
Yes, please report back. I use my iPhone/iPad to view movies on the LR TV but I don?t use Apple TV. Instead I just use a HDMI/lightening connector to mirror the display on the TV. It works great, but it isn?t easy to pause because the phone has to be close to the TV.
 
When my son bought a new Apple TV he passed his old one to me. I like it a lot. If you have a new smart TV you might not need one, because they come with a lot of the same apps that an Apple TV has. But I love the mirroring feature and the portability! So easy to cast what's on my phone or iPad to the TV. It's a great way to share photos and videos with family and friends. We can bring it to friends homes and watch sports and movies they can't get with their TV. You don't need the latest version, I have an Apple TV 2 and it works as well as the newest version.
 
You might want to consider Amazon's Fire Stick.  Gives a lot of variety plus local stations where you camp.  Monthly cost, but looks like the better TV shows are going to be streamed.
 
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