Airplay to TV without AppleTV, cheap options?

GSXRMovistar · 6 Feb 2014 at 13:02

My parents both have iPads which they love and I wondered if there was anyway they could display video content on their TV from them (wireless) without the need for either an AppleTV or an expensive Amp with Airplay built in.

Had a quick look around and there appears to be several cheap HDMI dongles available but reviews seem patchy at the very least.

Any one tried any of these devices or have any recommendations?

Thanks.

Raymond Lin · 6 Feb 2014 at 13:24

The only way to stream video is through ATV, I've had 2 amps that could airplay but both only music.

If you come across any solid HDMI dongle then I'd love to hear it. I know Chromecast can do a similar thing but it's not a true mirror of the screen on the phone or laptop.

divuk83 · 6 Feb 2014 at 13:37

I'm pretty sure XBMC supports airplay with video, it worked fine from my ipad to my raspberry pi.

Dave

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=AirPlay

Raymond Lin · 6 Feb 2014 at 13:42

divuk83 said:
I'm pretty sure XBMC supports airplay with video, it worked fine from my ipad to my raspberry pi.

Dave

You may be right but I had XBMC at the time through inside ATV2 jailbreak so I thought it was to do with the ATV itself, instead of XBMC.

mad_allan · 6 Feb 2014 at 14:29

I use airplay via xbmc on the rpi, even my 5 year old boys can do it.

Neverhood · 6 Feb 2014 at 15:03

If you buy an HDMI dongle make sure you get the right one i.e. Lightning or the old 30pin style.

Scottland · 6 Feb 2014 at 15:03

It does work, can be a little ropey sometimes I find (video stuttering). Cheapest option would be an android stick with XBMC loaded on it, however considering decent ones of these are around £40, but an ATV might actually be worth the extra.

What videos are they wanting to stream? Local ones or via Apps?

GSXRMovistar · 6 Feb 2014 at 15:15

Only wanted to give them the ability to stream the content on thier iPads which I maintain. Wanted to avoid software solutions xbmc/air server etc as they all require either a htpc/pi/android stick which would just over complicate things for them.

May just opt for the video out cable then as atv is overkill and other options are too complicated. Will post up some links to the dongles I had seen a little later.

Caged · 6 Feb 2014 at 16:13

An Apple TV is £73 from a place that isn't very hard to find. I mean you could mess around with some badly made third party crap, or buy a £35 lightning to HDMI dongle, but the Apple TV isn't exactly priced at a premium and does exactly what you want to do perfectly. I can't work out why you'd want to avoid it.

GSXRMovistar · 6 Feb 2014 at 17:14

Caged said:
An Apple TV is £73 from a place that isn't very hard to find. I mean you could mess around with some badly made third party crap, or buy a £35 lightning to HDMI dongle, but the Apple TV isn't exactly priced at a premium and does exactly what you want to do perfectly. I can't work out why you'd want to avoid it.

Because the dongles I had seen (but not looked at in detail) were only $20 so if they were any good (which reviews now seem to indicate otherwise) it would be pointless spending more money on an ATV were none of the other functionality would ever get used.

GSXRMovistar · 7 Feb 2014 at 08:22

BTW the dongles I had seen were things like iPush, Reko Q10, Miracast.