Does Apple TV act like Airplay speaker to iTunes?

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I currently have a 2012 Mac Mini running iTunes. I have a very nice stereo in my bedroom - it's valve based so the sound is quite relaxing and rich.

What i'd like coming out of the stereo is the music from my iTunes running on my Mac Mini.

So, would the Apple TV work as an Airplay Speaker to my iTunes on my Mac and then could I plug in a pair of phonos to connect the Apple TV to the stereo in my bedroom?

Or do I need an Airport Express to achieve this? I'd prefer the Apple TV as it's roughly the same cost and offers me tons more features in terms of hooking it up to my TV.
 
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It'll work fine so long as you can make use of the HDMI or optical out to connect to your music system.

AppleTV doesn't have a 3.5mm output like the Airport Express does
 
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It'll work fine so long as you can make use of the HDMI or optical out to connect to your music system.

AppleTV doesn't have a 3.5mm output like the Airport Express does

Okay, many thanks for the info. In fact, I have a high-end D/A convertor that has optical and coax inputs which feeds into my valve-amp, so I guess I could take the Toslink (optical) out of the Apple TV and plug it into my DAC to get audio.

I've ordered the Apple TV now.
 

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I have a similar setup. It should work fine. In fact an Apple support guy confirmed something for me. With the right kind of setup the HDMI and toss link can be used together. Here's what I've done:

1. HDMI cable runs to the HDMI port on the TV. Audio and sound get pushed to the tv. If I don't want the stereo on I don't have to have it. Toss link cable connects the Apple TV to the stereo.

2. If I want surround sound I turn on both the TV and stereo.
 
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Hi All,

I got my Apple TV this morning. Took just a few minutes to set it up and also got the firmware updated. It's plugged into my stereo via an optical link cable and to my TV via a HDMI cable. I've set up Home Sharing in my iTunes on my mac and I can confirm that it does set itself up as Airplay speakers that can be selected in iTunes. I can even select my other Airplay speaker (Audyssey) at the same time so have sound coming out of multiple speakers. It's fantastic!

I also experimented with Airplay Mirroring (System Preferences --> Display) and was able to see my mac desktop on my large LCD TV.

I even managed to pair my Apple Wireless Keyboard with it so could effectively use my mac mini from my bedroom using my TV as the display.

And I haven't even begun to look at the TV features of it yet! To say i'm impressed is an understatement.
 

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The only things missing for me at the moment is that the ESPN features added recently do not play nice with SuddenLink cable in my area. It woiuld also be nice to mirror the ATV screen to my computer on the same network in another room but that is a minor issue.
 
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So the TV side of things is basically just a portal into pay-TV-on-demand sites, something which I already have with my Blu-Ray player and SKY HD box. Still, i'm really impressed with ATV.
 
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I use the ATV for streaming music only. Can't use it to watch movies. Here in the UK, I think the TV side of the ATV is rubbish, especially with the mickey mouse Broadband we have here in rural Britain - good one. UK, a world player - I don't think so.
 
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Any kind of video streaming anywhere is going to be a non starter on a poor Internet connection regardless of country.

I'm in a rural part of the UK and streaming works just fine. I have friends in a newly developed urban area with 0.5mb that can't stream.

But that's not to say you can't stream video from iTunes and AirPlay across your internal network.
 
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The only things missing for me at the moment is that the ESPN features added recently do not play nice with SuddenLink cable in my area. It woiuld also be nice to mirror the ATV screen to my computer on the same network in another room but that is a minor issue.

Awww you people in the US cry poor, when we in Aust should be the ones crying poor.

You get Netflix and huluPlus and you still want more. We cant even get a movie streaming site like Netflix, and what we do have is crap, so take a step in my shoes and then ask for ESPN :p
 

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LOL. OK I give mate. Actually the lack of ESPN would not bother me except for perhaps two shows. These may be available if I wanted to be sitting in front of the computer and go through the cable company site to access it.

It's actually pretty low on my list of things to gripe about.
 
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LOL. OK I give mate. Actually the lack of ESPN would not bother me except for perhaps two shows. These may be available if I wanted to be sitting in front of the computer and go through the cable company site to access it.

It's actually pretty low on my list of things to gripe about.


Alright ill take it a bit easier on you than mate ;) haha
 
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Any kind of video streaming anywhere is going to be a non starter on a poor Internet connection regardless of country.

I'm in a rural part of the UK and streaming works just fine. I have friends in a newly developed urban area with 0.5mb that can't stream.

But that's not to say you can't stream video from iTunes and AirPlay across your internal network.

I have a very fast broadband connection at well over 100Mbs so was hoping I could make good use of it. I just found the TV side of Apple TV a bit rubbish really - it's just a collection of paid-for services. As you say, you can stream films using iTunes via Airplay. At least on my Sky box I can get iPlayer and 4OD to catch up on programmes I may have missed. I couldn't find a 'catch-up TV' capability on my Apple TV - perhaps I haven't looked hard enough.

However, my main reason for buying it was the ability to stream my iTunes music to my stereo in another room and it has achieved that perfectly.
 
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Awww you people in the US cry poor, when we in Aust should be the ones crying poor.

You get Netflix and huluPlus and you still want more. We cant even get a movie streaming site like Netflix, and what we do have is crap, so take a step in my shoes and then ask for ESPN :p

Well what about me? ;-) ... I have a 120 Mbps internet connection (I could get even 200 Mbps if I wanted to) at a cost of less than 12 EURO/month, but as I live in Romania we do not have access to Netflix, Hulu, EPSN, or even TV/Movie content offered by Apple on the Apple TV. Probably has to do with copyright issues (or lack of such contracts being in place in Romania).

Still I am extremely pleased with my Apple TV (3rd gen) :)
 
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Doesnt help me out. Even if I would setup a VPN with a US based Apple account, I still need to buy/pay for the services for which I am presenting a Mastercard credit card issued by a Romanian bank, therefore automatically being declined to use such streaming services as I should have a US based credit card, right?
 
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I don't. But both unblock us and Netflix have free trials. Worth a look
 

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