My second AE died. I don't need it for wireless - it just served as a way to stream music from mac and ipad to my receiver. My question is, can I do the same thing instead if I bought an Apple TV? Even if I don't have my tv on (I will usually access my iTunes and music through my computer)?
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Apple TV or Airport Express
- Thread starter degas
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Yes. Sort of.
The Apple TV needs to be set up on a television first and be connected to your LAN. And if you're just going to stream to your audio system there needs to be an optical input on the audio system in order to send audio to the Apple TV > audio system.
Not sure if the TV needs to be on though. I never tried that.
The Apple TV needs to be set up on a television first and be connected to your LAN. And if you're just going to stream to your audio system there needs to be an optical input on the audio system in order to send audio to the Apple TV > audio system.
Not sure if the TV needs to be on though. I never tried that.
Although it can be done (use an aTV for music streaming only), it is a PITA and requires at some point, being hooked to a tv to navigate it's setup screen. I would recommend the AE (I have both).
I should say that I don't mind setting it up with tv on - that's no problem. Re: Optical Audio - couldn't I just connect it to receiver via HDMI? Sorry if I'm not understanding things correctly.
You could connect the HDMI to the receiver but when you do you are also disconnecting the feed to the Television. That might make the Apple TV not work properly since there wouldn't be any connection from the Apple TV to the Television.
If you're not going to use the Video part just get a new AE. But if I were you I'd wait if you can because the wireless devices are due up for a revision to 802.11c
My receiver is connected to the tv as well via hdmi and handles passing through(correct use?) so I should be ok with that. I would use the video aspect of the Apple TV as well, especially Netflix.
I think that people are overstating the problems associated with having an ATV to play music without the TV on.
An AppleTV can be set up with the TV on and still function with the TV off. If you have a receiver with HDMI then you can connect the ATV directly to the receiver, and then only turn the TV on when viewing video content. You shouldn't have any problems streaming music to the ATV regardless of whether the TV is on or not.
An AppleTV can be set up with the TV on and still function with the TV off. If you have a receiver with HDMI then you can connect the ATV directly to the receiver, and then only turn the TV on when viewing video content. You shouldn't have any problems streaming music to the ATV regardless of whether the TV is on or not.
Well if that's the case. Get the Apple TV and connect it to the receiver. You're still going to need to set it up on the television first though.
When I want to stream audio but I dont want to turn on the TV, I grab my iPhone or iPad and open the remote app and choose the audio I want to play on the ATV...
This is the way I use my aTV2 most of the time. I either go to iTunes and start a playlist, sending it to the aTV through Airplay, or I use the iOS app Remote to choose what I want from iTunes as I walk around the house.
I happen to have my aTV connected to my receiver by an optical cable, but that is just because I have an older receiver that doesn't do audio passthrough.
Works a charm, except that it will often stop playing after an hour or so. I then have to hit pause and play again and it restarts.