Airplay to Apple TV without wifi?

[Chew Toy McCoy]

My Apple TV(s) are 2 or 3 generations olds. In theory you should be able to Airplay to them without a wifi connection but so far I've had no luck. The scenario is I have a family cabin where we do share wifi with a neighbor but it's satellite which can make dialup look blindingly fast by comparison. So I'd just like to be able to Airplay videos downloaded to my iPad or iPhone to an Apple TV.

If this can't be done, are their alternatives out there? I've had success with non Apple bluetooth audio streaming, but haven't attempted video.

 

[Eric]

Not sure of a way to do that honestly as it seems fully reliant on wifi. However, I'm betting if you setup a basic router in the cabin, even an old one you have lying around, that would do the trick. Get them both on the same network and you "should" be able to airplay without any internet. I used to do that in an old RV we had.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Not sure of a way to do that honestly as it seems fully reliant on wifi. However, I'm betting if you setup a basic router in the cabin, even an old one you have lying around, that would do the trick. Get them both on the same network and you "should" be able to airplay without any internet. I used to do that in an old RV we had.

Already tried that, wifi router not connected to the internet and just used to give the Apple TV something to connect to. No dice. You got it to work? Which gen Apple TV?

It should come as a shock to no one that the higher ups at Apple can't imagine a place on earth where wifi isn't available that you wouldn't want to just meditate on the awesomeness of nature and therefor don't need this option. They think everywhere that doesn't have a cell signal or wifi is the Joshua Tree instead of Two Cans, Arkansas.

 

[Eric]

Not with that device, you're right. I mainly used it to feed movies off of an attached network drive to the TV through wifi, no internet needed. So we're talking about airplay, right? I guess I shouldn't be surprised but that seems like it would be internal only as they say here.

 

[DT]

Late model 3rd gens, 4th gen and later can establish a peer-to-peer network to an iOS device, without a bridging network.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Late model 3rd gens, 4th gen and later can establish a peer-to-peer network to an iOS device, without a bridging network.

Hm. I feel like I should get a current gen Apple TV and test it out and return it if it doesn't work. Have you tested it?

 

[DT]

Yes!

It uses BT to negotiate the connection, then is peer-to-peer, it's not unlike Air Drop.

I've used an ATV as a convenient way to get Mac video to a project or TV that was across a room. I don't think I've used it where I'm using WiFi to a internet source and then AP-ing that over to an ATV, I guess it would work the same way, or if the iOS device was using cell data[?]

I can setup some experiments

FYI, since an ATV is generally not able to connect to a hotel WiFi network that requires an auth page, we stopped taking it, and now take the iPad with a hub with an HDMI out.

Apple __really__ needs to ad a minimal browser UI to handle web based network auth, other devices offer this (ex: Amazon Fire Stick).

 

[User.45]

Yes!

It uses BT to negotiate the connection, then is peer-to-peer, it's not unlike Air Drop.

I've used an ATV as a convenient way to get Mac video to a project or TV that was across a room. I don't think I've used it where I'm using WiFi to a internet source and then AP-ing that over to an ATV, I guess it would work the same way, or if the iOS device was using cell data[?]

I can setup some experiments

FYI, since an ATV is generally not able to connect to a hotel WiFi network that requires an auth page, we stopped taking it, and now take the iPad with a hub with an HDMI out.

Apple __really__ needs to ad a minimal browser UI to handle web based network auth, other devices offer this (ex: Amazon Fire Stick).

Yup there's the answer. BT Airplay is available on ATV3 and up. We had the same issue when I was a resident, I wanted to be able to airplay so we could watch games and stuff on slow night shifts and all the fun stuff were blocked on the hospital's network and the ATV couldn't connect to the wifi. It worked splendidly.