What to buy? Apple TV or cables?

Joined
Nov 9, 2012
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Istanbul, Turkey
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Air 13' new iPad 16gb WiFi iPhone4 32gb
Hi everybody. My first Thread :)
I have iPhone, iPad and MBA. I want to connect them with my LCD TV.
Cheaper solution is to buy one "mini DP to HDMI cable" for my MBA and one "30-pin to HDMI cable" for my iPad/iPhone. Or I could buy an AppleTV for 99$.
I live in Turkey and iTunes doesn't function here as music and movie source, only Apps can be bought.
So... Should I buy an AppleTV or two cables? What do you think? Are there any technical differences between those two alternatives? Will the Apple TV show everything on the screen of my LCD TV that I see on the screen of my iPad / MBA? Or does it depend on what type of file I'm watching on my iPad/MBA?
Thx.
 
Joined
Jan 19, 2008
Messages
4,695
Reaction score
73
Points
48
Location
houston texas
Your Mac's Specs
09 MBP 8GB ram 500GB HD OS 10.9 32B iPad 4 32GB iPhone 5 iOs7 2TB TC Apple TV3
Hi everybody. My first Thread :)
I have iPhone, iPad and MBA. I want to connect them with my LCD TV.
Cheaper solution is to buy one "mini DP to HDMI cable" for my MBA and one "30-pin to HDMI cable" for my iPad/iPhone. Or I could buy an AppleTV for 99$.
I live in Turkey and iTunes doesn't function here as music and movie source, only Apps can be bought.
So... Should I buy an AppleTV or two cables? What do you think? Are there any technical differences between those two alternatives? Will the Apple TV show everything on the screen of my LCD TV that I see on the screen of my iPad / MBA? Or does it depend on what type of file I'm watching on my iPad/MBA?
Thx.

Depends on the year and model of each along with what OS/iOS ?
 
OP
Applesince2009
Joined
Nov 9, 2012
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Istanbul, Turkey
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Air 13' new iPad 16gb WiFi iPhone4 32gb
Hi OSXX.
iPhone 4 with iOS 5.1.1
new iPad with iOS 5.1.1
MBA product of 2012 with OS X
 
Joined
Jan 19, 2008
Messages
4,695
Reaction score
73
Points
48
Location
houston texas
Your Mac's Specs
09 MBP 8GB ram 500GB HD OS 10.9 32B iPad 4 32GB iPhone 5 iOs7 2TB TC Apple TV3
The iPad and the MBA will mirror using the ATV all wirelessly the iPhone 4 will only do airplay.
To me mirroring is worth it .
 
OP
Applesince2009
Joined
Nov 9, 2012
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Istanbul, Turkey
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Air 13' new iPad 16gb WiFi iPhone4 32gb
Got it. Thank you.
 
Joined
Feb 26, 2010
Messages
2,116
Reaction score
123
Points
63
Location
Rocky Mountain High, Colorado
Your Mac's Specs
1.8 GHz i7 MBA 11" OSX 10.8.2
I wasn't all that pleased with mirroring but maybe I was doing something wrong. It seemed to show a lot of compression artifacts when playing movies. I have last year's air and am wired to the network. When I added the same movie to itunes and streamed it - it all played fine.

Anyway the apple tv is an elegant solution which I like - but the two cable system works - except you have to swap and plug whereas the apple tv is always ready to go.
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
I agree with Ivan. The mirroring feature is near useless, at least for full motion video anyway. Besides, to use the mirroring feature, you'd have to have an AppleTV anyway. That doesn't really solve the question of whether he should get an ATV or cables for the other devices.

I would say that your answer depends on what it is you want to accomplish. If you want to simply play videos, then the ATV is the way to go. You can stream the videos from iTunes on the MacBook (using Home Sharing, NOT AirPlay) and save the hassle of multiple cables and connecting/disconnecting devices. It'd also be adequate for using AirPlay to mirror "static" content off your iDevices, like web pages, documents, etc.

If your media content is stored on your iDevices, then you'd be better off using cables to connect them directly.
 
Joined
May 19, 2009
Messages
8,428
Reaction score
295
Points
83
Location
Waiting for a mate . . .
Your Mac's Specs
21" iMac 2.9Ghz 16GB RAM - 10.11.3, iPhone6s & iPad Air 2 - iOS 9.2.1, ATV 4Th Gen tvOS, ATV3
I agree with the 2 above as well ^^ with the mirroring movie content. I tried to watch a few movies via Mirroring and they where unwatchable, but in general the function works quite well for basic screen mirroring.
I think the ATV is still the way to go because you need to think if you have cables you need to be in so many feet of the TV to use that function. If you get the ATV you can be anywhere to mirror both devices.

I will say mirroring on my iPhone playing games works very good and i have never had any lag or pixelation going on when playing them.
As lifeisabeach posted depends on exactly what you want to accomplish.
 
OP
Applesince2009
Joined
Nov 9, 2012
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Istanbul, Turkey
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Air 13' new iPad 16gb WiFi iPhone4 32gb
All right. Summary:
1) I should expect problems while airplaying movies from my MBA. Streaming from iTunes via Homesharing is the solution for that. (Will I have this problem while mirroring, say, YouTube from my iPad, too ?)
2) Mirroring static screens (pics, web pages) would be flawless.
3) Mirroring games from my iPhone or iPad would be okay, too (I didn't think of that, by the way. My son will love it).
4) AppleTV is more practical to connect and more tidy for the living room.
5) But, I'm gonna have to converte several movie formats for iTunes, right?

If no other warnings appear, it looks like AppleTV instead of two cables :)
Thank you OSXX, IvanLasston, lifeisabeach and Tattooedmac
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
All right. Summary:
1) I should expect problems while airplaying movies from my MBA. Streaming from iTunes via Homesharing is the solution for that. (Will I have this problem while mirroring, say, YouTube from my iPad, too ?)

Yes, you would. But there is a YouTube app on the AppleTV anyway.

2) Mirroring static screens (pics, web pages) would be flawless.

Expect a lag when changing pages, but yes.

3) Mirroring games from my iPhone or iPad would be okay, too (I didn't think of that, by the way. My son will love it).

It depends on the game. Card games and anything that is more or less static until you make a move should be ok. Racing games and action games in general, no.

4) AppleTV is more practical to connect and more tidy for the living room.

Correct.

5) But, I'm gonna have to converte several movie formats for iTunes, right?

Possibly. Depends on how your media is formatted now.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top