Using AppleTV on the road, in isolation

Question

Walt_Atwood Author

Level 1

19 points

Using AppleTV on the road, in isolation

I recently purchased a refurbished AppleTV (current-generation), and it uses my local internet connection just fine.

Here's my local home setup:

DSL Modem -> Ethernet cable -> Airport Extreme -> WiFi -> AppleTV

This works just fine... while at home...

There's another scenario I need to explore.

I want to be able to take the AppleTV on the road, to make presentations wirelessly from an iPad Mini (running iOS 8.3) or a MacBook Pro (running MacOS 10.9). I have a projector and a Kanex adaptor, so I have the ability to plug the AppleTV into either the projector or an HDTV.

Problem: some of the remote sites I visit have no internet connection available and cellular service is very poor at best.

If I want to give a presentation at a remote site wirelessly using AppleTV, how do I get it to work?

Thanks in advance.

iPad Mini, iOS 8.1.3, 2013 Mini, 32 GB SSD, refurb

Posted on Jul 17, 2015 2:22 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 17, 2015 4:57 PM in response to Walt_Atwood

So you can technically use AppleTV to play content from iTunes on a local computer or iOS device without internet access how ever it is REALLY slow to respond and very annoying when doing this. You will need to take a wireless router with you so you have WiFi to connect ATV to your Powerbook and IOS device.

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Answer 2

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,560 points

Jul 18, 2015 2:46 AM in response to Walt_Atwood

Without internet any form of protected content playback would be out.

You'd ideally need a LAN to Airplay from one device to the other even if no internet was available - consider a mi-fi type device, personal hotspot from an iPhone or enabled iPad, or even ethernet direct to AppleTV from the Mac assuming it has an ethernet port. Another option might be to create an ad hoc wifi network with the Macbook.

Some recent devices allow Peer to Peer Airplay:

Use peer-to-peer AirPlay

With peer-to-peer AirPlay, your iOS device and Apple TV don't have to be on the same Wi-Fi network.

To use peer-to-peer AirPlay, you need one of these devices with iOS 8 or later:

iPhone 5 or later
iPad mini or iPad (4th generation or later)
iPod touch (5th generation or later)

You can stream content to your Apple TV (3rd generation rev A, model A1469 or later) with software version 7.0 or later. Find out which Apple TV model you have.

Make sure that both devices have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on.

If you want to stream iTunes Store content, you also need an Internet connection.

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Answer 3

Walt_Atwood Author

Level 1

19 points

Jul 18, 2015 8:36 PM in response to Alley_Cat

For the most part, I would want to be able to play slideshows (like Keynote presentations) that were prepared in advance. With no way to connect to the internet, I was wondering how I could wirelessly connect to the AppleTV when I have the presentation on a MacBook Pro or an iPad Mini.

I tried doing this recently, but I could not get to first base with the AppleTV, so I had to connect the laptop directly to the projector.

My goal is to be able to play slideshows or short video clips that are stored on the laptop or (most likely) on the iPad Mini.

But how do I get it to work when there's no network? What is the technique?

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