Do I need to buy another Apple TV?

VfM4meplse

I have a new-ish Sonia Bravia that uses Miracast, and I'd like to a mirror my iPhone / iPad sometimes. I realise that Miracast was launched as an android alternative to iOS streaming, but I thought I'd at least give it a go - AirPlay just isn't entertaining it, and neither intuition nor Google has worked.

I have an Apple TV sbox connected to another TV in the house. Is there anyway of wirelessly connecting to this second TV? Or does this mean I need to buy another Apple TV box?

Strider590

Get rid of Apple from your life and enjoy the freedom to use whatever hardware you like. No matter what these other manufacturers do, Apple eventually find a way to stop their hardware working with their devices.

In the last IOS update, the cable I bought my GF so that she could move photos from the camera to her iPad, stopped working because IOS realised it was an aftermarket cable. Nothing wrong with it, just wasn't bought from Apple.

steviebabes

I have a Google chromecast, works brilliantly from my laptop, chrome book and Android phone. I'm sure it will work with iPhone/iPad as long as the app is available. They are about £30 from Currys but shop around for the best price.

prowla

There may be an app available for the AppleTV to allow it to talk with other things - I have one which allows mine to work with a Western Digital NAS drive, but they do seem a bit clunky.

The whole area of interoperability is a bit hit and miss at the moment.

(Oh, I don't really use the AppleTV a lot, I'm waiting for the Amazon app for it, but they seem to be keeping each other at arms length at the moment.)

VfM4meplse

Strider590 wrote: »

Get rid of Apple from your life and enjoy the freedom to use whatever hardware you like.

Not possible! Like many suckers out there, I was hooked within 30 seconds

almillar

Yep, get a Chromecast and download the Chromecast app (they've just rebranded all of this to GoogleCast) on your iPhone and you can share that way. £30-£35 so much cheaper than AppleTV.

paddyrg

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Not possible! Like many suckers out there, I was hooked within 30 seconds

In which case walk into an Apple Store, hold your wallet wide open for them to help themselves, and ask them for suggestions ;-)

Seems a dreadful waste of money to me when there are many alternatives starting at £5 or so, but if you're 'hooked' on the Apple way... :-!

prowla

paddyrg wrote: »

In which case walk into an Apple Store, hold your wallet wide open for them to help themselves, and ask them for suggestions ;-)

Seems a dreadful waste of money to me when there are many alternatives starting at £5 or so, but if you're 'hooked' on the Apple way... :-!

Some Apple things work really well.

But the AppleTV seems to have been hobbled, IMHO.

searchlight123

i bought one of these from ebay. very cheap (around £11) and it streams perfectly to my tv from a samsung s5 phone, android tablet, windows laptop AND my ipad 4.
there is a little switch on the back of it to use when swapping between streaming from iOS to android.
for me it does work perectly:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Latest-HDMI-1080P-Anycast-EZCast-EZ-Cast-WIFI-Dongle-For-Smartphones-chromecast-/171994848621?hash=item280bb11d6d:g:8wEAAOSw2x1XJzXm

paddyrg

prowla wrote: »

Some Apple things work really well.

But the AppleTV seems to have been hobbled, IMHO.

Some do, indeed. Their weak spot is (by design) interoperability with anything outside their walled garden.

prowla

paddyrg wrote: »

Some do, indeed. Their weak spot is (by design) interoperability with anything outside their walled garden.

My Mac has excellent interoperability and my iPhone connects to Microsoft Exchange fine (indeed in my previous company my iPhone connected to Exchange more reliably than a Nokia Windows phone), as well as hotmail.

I really don't get the basis of the myth that Apple products are any more closed than other brands.