Apple TV or box

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I am toying with getting a new TV. Currently have 40" toshiba hd.

Been reading bout neat things I can to and access from my Apple products.

Not sure if I have to buy anew tv or just an apple box.

Can anyone explain the basic concept of accessing and showing files from MacBook iPad on TV for a much larger picture and/or sound?
 
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There are a variety of ways to potentially "share" content to a TV screen.

- HDMI cable from your computer to the TV. This will deliver both audio and video via the TV while the computer is doing the processing of the media file.
- Put supported media files on a USB stick and plug into your TV. Same as previous although the resolution may be different since the TV is now processing the media file.
- Access a shared directory on your home network (computer) -from- the TV. Same as previous item except you're not using a USB stick.
- AirPlay mirroring: Use the Apple proprietary mirroring technology for a no-wires way to share the screen of your device to the TV. This will require hardware (either Apple TV or a computer with compatible screen mirroring software).

Most of the ways you get content onto the TV are tied to what sort of functionality the TV supports.

You're probably better suited to try and properly understand what kinds of content you want to have displayed on the TV and then decide which method has the most appeal for you.

I opted to buy a $60 Sony BluRay player with Amazon Prime Movies and Netflix built into it as that makes up 99.99% of the non-broadcast content that I want to see on my TV. Way less expensive and way less intrusive than buying a whole new TV.
 
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lori5060
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thankyou ember. I shall definitely try some of those other options.
tho the tv I have does not support movies via USB and that is why I was looking into buying Apple TV.

I will also try hdmi cable and see how that works, tho not wireless
 

Slydude

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I tried a Sony Blu Tay that was supposed to do this and it turned out to be a piece of junk all around. Not that some devices which claim to support this are a pain to set up -- especially on Macs. I finally gave up using DVD players for this and bought an Apple TV.
 
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I tried a Sony Blu Tay that was supposed to do this and it turned out to be a piece of junk all around. Not that some devices which claim to support this are a pain to set up -- especially on Macs. I finally gave up using DVD players for this and bought an Apple TV.

Supposed to do what, Sly? Allow you to mirror your device screens and such?

The Sony devices of today are running Android and don't interoperate very well with iOS devices for direct communications. In fact, even Samsung TVs don't interact well with Samsung devices. But, for apps directly installed on them (like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Youtube, etc.), they work quite well.

The devices I have are Sony BDPBX350 which are VERY similar to the BDPS3500 (in fact, they might actually be identical except for the model number for some reason). These are both last year's model. The current model is the BDPS3700 (although this model is apparently having an issue with the "Child Lock" feature enabling itself and being unable to turn it off - I would expect that Sony will fix this).

I'm not a fan of Samsung's "Smart Hub" technology as it's too proprietary (an Apple user complaining about something being too proprietary? really? lol). I wouldn't mind it being that way if it worked RELIABLY. Plus, Samsung is constantly updating that software. I have a TV that seems to be getting Smart Hub updates about every three days.
 

Slydude

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Sorry for the confusion (and typos) in that last post.

Originally, my media gear was in one room and the Mac, Time Capsule, and hard drives containing the iTunes library were in another room. The Sony claimed to support DLNA and left you with the impression that I should have been able to use the DVD player to show content from the library to the TV. Let's just say it was more frustration than it was worth. My Samsung TV is one of the last ones made before the "smart TV" revolution. I had to rely on the apps installed on the DVD player to handle things that true Smart TVs now handle.
 
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DLNA / UPNP is, IMHO, a joke. If you have a very specific kind of setup, it works well. Anything aside from the specific details that you need for it to work and you're basically done.

I can appreciate your frustration with that.
 

Slydude

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DLNA / UPNP is, IMHO, a joke. If you have a very specific kind of setup, it works well. Anything aside from the specific details that you need for it to work and you're basically done.
I have to agree with you on that. When I first ran into this, I expected this to be one of those issues where the device is just not did not play well with Macs. After reading numerous forums, I found that many times they do not play with well with Windows as well if you're set up differs in any way from what they expect.

I even tried a few of the pieces of server software that are often recommended. I found that they often did not work or were difficult at best to set up and configure.
 
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I'm fast coming to the conclusion that a TV is best considered the end point in the video chain and nothing more. A quick look through many home theatre forums leaves one with the impression that plasma displays were the best that TV had to offer, but the rush to SmartTV, 4K and 3D killed it off. Now, it appears that 3D is dying, with only LG seriously supporting it, 4K content is still severely limited and who has ever used a TV browser anyway?

"My plasma died. What can I replace it with?" Is a familiar question. "Nothing comparable." Is the usual answer.

IMO, smart functions are best left to devices like the AppleTV, sound to amplifiers/receivers and speakers. If your Toshiba is plasma, keep it and use the saving in the cost of an unnecessary replacement for other toys.

Plasma did not show well in stores due to a phenomenon known as "dirty whites". Sets placed next to them in "torch" mode made the display seem dull. In reality, you would never run a TV in torch mode at home.
 
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Mac mini

I have an older Apple TV but I can't download Kodi to the Apple TV so I bought an Android Smart TV box. The box was buggy and hard to use and very slow. Since I have several Mac mini's I tried downloading Kodi 17.4 to my old Mac mini. It really works great so I hooked up the Mac mini to my TV. Since you can buy a used Mac mini on ebay for about the same the price as the new Apple TV I am wondering what advantage the new Apple TV might have over the Mac mini.
 

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