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Old 01-30-2018, 12:00 AM   #1
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Apple TV in ACE

I have been spending some of my winter time getting my old Gen 3 Apple TV to work with my main TV. Hooking it up was simple enough - just an HDMI cable to the TV, but getting streaming to work was a bit more fun

First attempt was to use a small wireless router I have that I generally use to isolate myself from hotel WiFi. But I discovered that this would only work if I had an external WiFi network to connect to - but given the typical RV Park WiFi that was a non-starter. The only thing this set up is good for using AirPlay to display stuff playing on a Phone, Mac or iPad.

So I tried setting up the Apple TV to connect to my cell phone hot spot and found that this works like a charm, subject to having cell service. Then I discovered that I had to have the Apple TV outside of the TV cabinet to use the remote (line of site IR). So lets try to use the Remote App on the cell phone - no joy. The app said cannot connect to Apple TV. Apparently when the cell phone is acting as the network router, the Remote App can't find anything on the hot spot network.

What I did find is that when I connected my iPad to the hot spot in addition to the Apple TV, the Remote App on the iPad worked just fine. But now I have to have both devices fired up and connected. Now I'm pondering if it is worth the $20/mo that Verizon will want to reconnect my old 4G MiFi. I'm thinking not, and applying what it would cost to a cell phone booster and the unlimited plus data plan.

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Old 02-01-2018, 01:35 PM   #2
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Originally Posted by DenverTransplant View Post
I have been spending some of my winter time getting my old Gen 3 Apple TV to work with my main TV. Hooking it up was simple enough - just an HDMI cable to the TV, but getting streaming to work was a bit more fun

First attempt was to use a small wireless router I have that I generally use to isolate myself from hotel WiFi. But I discovered that this would only work if I had an external WiFi network to connect to - but given the typical RV Park WiFi that was a non-starter. The only thing this set up is good for using AirPlay to display stuff playing on a Phone, Mac or iPad.

So I tried setting up the Apple TV to connect to my cell phone hot spot and found that this works like a charm, subject to having cell service. Then I discovered that I had to have the Apple TV outside of the TV cabinet to use the remote (line of site IR). So lets try to use the Remote App on the cell phone - no joy. The app said cannot connect to Apple TV. Apparently when the cell phone is acting as the network router, the Remote App can't find anything on the hot spot network.

What I did find is that when I connected my iPad to the hot spot in addition to the Apple TV, the Remote App on the iPad worked just fine. But now I have to have both devices fired up and connected. Now I'm pondering if it is worth the $20/mo that Verizon will want to reconnect my old 4G MiFi. I'm thinking not, and applying what it would cost to a cell phone booster and the unlimited plus data plan.
I'm not a 100% sure here but it sounds like a capable router that would allow your phone, Apple TV to be on the same network is your problem. They do have some that will allow this through a cell phone. Also, with Android there are apps that will allow your phone to do this while acting as a hotspot. You may want to check the Apple store. Personally, unless you need the benefit of more data, I wouldn't add another hotspot. My 2 cents [emoji3]
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Old 02-01-2018, 01:47 PM   #3
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You can easily keep you Apple tv in your cabinet. All you have to do is get an ir repeater and plug the hdmi out into your switch box. My android Fire tv uses bluetooth so I don't need a repeater and by plugging into my switch box I feed all three of my tvs. Life can be made easier but just switching to a Fire TV or Nvidia shield which I use at home. (also bluetooth ).Both are under $100.
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Old 02-01-2018, 01:49 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by PNTR10 View Post
You can easily keep you Apple tv in your cabinet. All you have to do is get an ir repeater and plug the hdmi out into your switch box. My android Fire tv uses bluetooth so I don't need a repeater and by plugging into my switch box I feed all three of my tvs. Life can be made easier but just switching to a Fire TV or Nvidia shield which I use at home. (also bluetooth ).Both are under $100.
The latest generation of Apple TV's remote is also RF/Bluetooth and thus doesn't need a repeater as well.

Note that he is trying to use an older model Apple TV (most likely because he upgraded at home already).
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Old 02-01-2018, 02:44 PM   #5
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Jamiegeek, Gotcha. It's a long story but I am prejudiced against Apple products. My wife was locked out of her Iphone for 6 months due to a software upgrade and forgetting her Icloud password. It took 6 months of submitted paperwork , countless phone calls and assistance from Sprint thus preventing us from ending our lease and upgrading our phone. They kept denying our paper work because they didn't agree with the purchase price. It was never a purchase but a lease through Sprint. Apple wanted us to buy the phone to end our lease and let us use it as a small paperweight.
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Old 02-01-2018, 03:14 PM   #6
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Here is a solution that we found. We recently upgraded a cell phone to a Samsung Galaxy S8. This cell has the ability to share a wifi connection via it's own hotspot - at least on Verizon. Often you cannot connect a streaming device to a hotel or campground network. We recently spent a month in a campground and had our own cable modem. Nice - it provided more than 30Meg/Sec speed but wouldn't allow our streaming devices to connect directly (we use mostly Amazon Fire Sticks and Apple TV. Apple TVs are too locked down without jailbreaking and that is a pain in the neck).

The Samsung Galaxy allowed us to share the wifi via the phone hotspot. Slick and easy.
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Old 02-01-2018, 03:57 PM   #7
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Here is a solution that we found. We recently upgraded a cell phone to a Samsung Galaxy S8. This cell has the ability to share a wifi connection via it's own hotspot - at least on Verizon. Often you cannot connect a streaming device to a hotel or campground network. We recently spent a month in a campground and had our own cable modem. Nice - it provided more than 30Meg/Sec speed but wouldn't allow our streaming devices to connect directly (we use mostly Amazon Fire Sticks and Apple TV. Apple TVs are too locked down without jailbreaking and that is a pain in the neck).

The Samsung Galaxy allowed us to share the wifi via the phone hotspot. Slick and easy.
But isn't that using the phones 4g data connection to feed the mobile hotspot?
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Old 02-01-2018, 04:11 PM   #8
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But isn't that using the phones 4g data connection to feed the mobile hotspot?
If the Galaxy is connected via wifi, the wifi connection is shared NOT the cell phone data plan. I kept a close eye on our usage and the worked. The only hitch is you must have a plan that allows you to have a hotspot. This was a very useful option for us.
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Old 02-01-2018, 04:13 PM   #9
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Have to try it. My phone can tether and hotspot but only on cell data as far as I know.
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Old 02-01-2018, 04:29 PM   #10
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The TV in my Freedom Elite has a built in DVD player and HDMI and USB inputs. I have a DVD library, a Roku and a 1 Tb USB hard drive filled with movies and TV shows. I don't need Apple TV. Besides, I hate Apple products. They're overpriced hype.
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Old 02-01-2018, 04:42 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by petefoss View Post
Have to try it. My phone can tether and hotspot but only on cell data as far as I know.
The Samsung 8, 8+ and Note 8 are the only Verizon phones that I know of that do this share.
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Old 02-01-2018, 04:47 PM   #12
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The TV in my Freedom Elite has a built in DVD player and HDMI and USB inputs. I have a DVD library, a Roku and a 1 Tb USB hard drive filled with movies and TV shows. I don't need Apple TV. Besides, I hate Apple products. They're overpriced hype.
One of the reason we have mostly Amazon Fire Sticks is the Apple lock down mindset. I must say though, I've done systems professionally and now only gave Apple computers. They are expensive but I haved never had a blue screen of death. And a computer I paid $1800 for 5 years ago is still worth $800 on EBay. Just our experience.
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Old 02-01-2018, 05:00 PM   #13
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Everyone has an opinion. As a former IT Pro (for over 25 years) I like Apple products because they are solid and only require infrequent support. Thank goodness for Windows and Android products as they gave me something to support for all of that time!

Going back to the OP's post, he has the right idea - I say get the MiFi cranked up and use it for its intended purpose. Then you will have a WiFi network to share anything you want. We have 2 Apple TVs, 2 Xbox Ones and Roku and run them all through a MiFi. We have an AT&T Unlimited plan, it is $20/month to add the MiFi to it and worth every penny. We are heavy streaming users as well as playing multiplayer games on Xbox.
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Old 02-01-2018, 05:36 PM   #14
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Everyone has an opinion. As a former IT Pro (for over 25 years) I like Apple products because they are solid and only require infrequent support. Thank goodness for Windows and Android products as they gave me something to support for all of that time!

Going back to the OP's post, he has the right idea - I say get the MiFi cranked up and use it for its intended purpose. Then you will have a WiFi network to share anything you want. We have 2 Apple TVs, 2 Xbox Ones and Roku and run them all through a MiFi. We have an AT&T Unlimited plan, it is $20/month to add the MiFi to it and worth every penny. We are heavy streaming users as well as playing multiplayer games on Xbox.
I was able to fully join the Apple walled garden when I retired from the corporate world. I had a very bad flashback when I was resurrecting an older Windows laptop and updating it to Windows 10. It was old enough that the Windows 10 installer wouldn’t do the upgrade. I had to do a complete disk drive wipe and clean Windows 7 install, including the hack to fool it into validating my Win 7 upgrade disk. I’d been messing with getting XP to run on it for some software a client used, and even though I’d installed Win 7 again, apparently there was enough XP crap left on the drive to make Win 10 choke. Thanks Microsoft.

Then two full days of updates (and multiple update fails) to Win 7 to get to point where it was able to even run the Win 10 installer. Finally got it on the 3rd day. While Apple hasn’t been able to entirely keep up with “It just works”, all it takes is one episode of wresting with Windows to appreciate how well Apple stuff works compared to the alternative. I have a 6 year old MacBook Pro that is running High Sierra and working like the day I got it.

Good chance I will revive the Mifi once we get back out on the road. The iPhone hot spot works well, but when its acting as the router it acts like it can’t see its own wireless network. I do have an old Roku that I may try. I thought of upgrading the Apple TV, but with the POS Sieki it hardly seems worth it.
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Old 02-01-2018, 05:40 PM   #15
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I have an Apple TV in my coach. But sometimes I find it easier to just download a movie on my Iphone and plug it directly into the tv utilizing the Apple HDMI adapter. Netflix now allows you to download certain movies.
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Old 02-01-2018, 06:31 PM   #16
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The Samsung 8, 8+ and Note 8 are the only Verizon phones that I know of that do this share.
Not supported by my phone. Sharing is only for mobile data.

Not sure if it's a ATT issue or a contract feature (company phone).

Oh well,
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Old 02-01-2018, 07:21 PM   #17
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Agree with the advice on the MiFi. That is exactly what I have used the Samsung S8 for. I believe the only devices that can share the Wi-Fi that I am familiar with are the Samsung S8 S8 plus and Note 8.
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Old 02-01-2018, 07:35 PM   #18
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Not supported by my phone. Sharing is only for mobile data.

Not sure if it's a ATT issue or a contract feature (company phone).

Oh well,
Pete
Sharing WiFi seems to be more enabled by your cellular service contract than by the phone. Everyone on our plan can turn on a hotspot (my Note 8, son's iPhone and wife's iPhone). I could also do that with my old Note 5, and even my S6.

I had an earlier plan that didn't enable hotspot with the S6 but when I changed plans hotspot was enabled.

I've done this before: turned on the phone's hotspot, had a laptop and an apple tv join the phone's wifi network and streamed iTunes media from the laptop to the TV using that wifi (without consuming cellular data). (This was previously downloaded media already present on the laptop--not streamed from Apple's cloud.)
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Old 02-02-2018, 02:39 AM   #19
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I have an Apple TV in my coach. But sometimes I find it easier to just download a movie on my Iphone and plug it directly into the tv utilizing the Apple HDMI adapter. Netflix now allows you to download certain movies.
Yes, Netflix allows you to download movies and TV shows but they don’t allow you to view them through the adapter you’re talking about or airplay. Amazon also allows downloading but also allows airplay and hdmi adapter viewing on a TV.

Pete
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Old 02-02-2018, 03:00 AM   #20
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Wifi Sharing

Okay folks - just to be clear. Wifi Sharing is feature that has been around for awhile but disabled on lots of cell phones. With the Samsung S8, S8+ and Note 8, it remains enabled. Below are the instructions directly from the S8+ users manual. This allows the cell phone to act as a wireless router. For most this feature will not be useful. However, we have found it invaluable for the last 1.5 months with all our streaming devices. As noted though, you must have a plan that allows you to have a hotspot.

Hope this clarifies the wifi sharing feature.
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