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Old 10-12-2021, 03:26 PM   #1
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Apple TV

I would like to replace the supplied Sony DVD player in my 2022 flying cloud with an Apple TV. My goal is to have the sound go through the sound system and display the picture on the two TVs.

Has anyone had any luck or does anyone have any suggestions with how to accomplish this?
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Old 10-12-2021, 04:00 PM   #2
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Hi

It *should* be a straight swap out.

Bob
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Old 10-12-2021, 06:11 PM   #3
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Hi

It *should* be a straight swap out.

Bob
We are on the wait list for our Airstream, but this confuses me a bit - so I'm hoping someone can explain the whole entertainment system.

Apple TV, or at least the Apple TV we use requires an internet connection and the ability to connect to a WiFi connection to have devices connect wirelessly. I realize that the Apple TV could function solely on WiFi and not connect to the internet, but I thought it needed WiFi - not Blue Tooth.

With that being said, how can it be a straight swap out. I'd love to hear it, as we plan to do the same.
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Old 10-12-2021, 06:33 PM   #4
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We use Apple TV in our Classic 33. I simply connected through one of the optional ports on the projector (which is wired to the Bose sound bar).

So if the DVD player has a HDMI cable, it should be pretty straight forward to remove the DVD player and plug in the Apple TV.

The second question related to the connectivity … streaming Apple TV requires a WiFi connection with an internet connection. Most of the time we connect our Apple TV to the AT&T WiFi hotspot but sometimes we have to connect to a personal hotspot on our mobile phones. I don’t think there is a Bluetooth connection available, to my knowledge.

Given our Apple TV and our devices are connected to the same AT&T hotspot network, they “see” each other. If an internet connection is not available, and we want something to watch, we stream movies from an iPad using Airplay (b/cause both devices are on the same network).

I hope this helps!
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Old 10-12-2021, 06:38 PM   #5
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I use a fire stick, but Apple TV works the same. We pulled our DVD player and hook the fire stick into the hdmi splitter, and it also plays sound through the stereo speakers (with the head unit set to aux). To get fire tv to work (same for Apple TV) we need to have some kind of wifi signal. We have two iPhones with 30GB of hotspot data as well as a MIFI with 150GB of data. We full-time so we use a fair amount of data. So far the combination we have has been enough…for the most part.

We usually have a good enough signal to be able to stream, but not always. When we don’t, we play cards or something.

We also replaced one of our TVs with a Vizio smart TV, which I think is far superior to using fore tv or Apple TV. I think we will eventually swap out the other TV for a smart TV and then ditch the fire TV. The funny thing is that’s when we would probably put a DVD/Blu-ray player back in on the HDMI port.
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Old 10-12-2021, 06:53 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by The Willys View Post
We are on the wait list for our Airstream, but this confuses me a bit - so I'm hoping someone can explain the whole entertainment system.



Apple TV, or at least the Apple TV we use requires an internet connection and the ability to connect to a WiFi connection to have devices connect wirelessly. I realize that the Apple TV could function solely on WiFi and not connect to the internet, but I thought it needed WiFi - not Blue Tooth.



With that being said, how can it be a straight swap out. I'd love to hear it, as we plan to do the same.

Assuming the DVD player in these units uses HDMI (which is also piped to the stereo system), you can swap the DVD player out with an AppleTV box. There were some reports of 2020 models not running a HDMI cable from the stereo head unit to the upper lockers but I’m not sure where that stands now.

To stream video or run internet-connected apps on the AppleTV, yes, you need an internet connection (either wi-fi or wired). This is separate from having wi-fi, though, which you can have without having an internet connection, and through which you can stream content from an iOS device. I have an AppleTV in my trailer but generally just hook up an iPad to the TV directly using an HDMI adapter.
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Old 10-12-2021, 06:55 PM   #7
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You can also add Apple TV to any television or system with an HDMI port just by inserting a newer Amazon FireTV device and installing the Apple TV app. No need to get a new TV just to get Apple TV. I just did this on an older Samsung by connecting a new Firestick.
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Old 10-12-2021, 11:16 PM   #8
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I have two Apple TV’s attached to the back of each TV and connected via a short hdmi cable. The sound then plays via AirPlay to my Fusion sound system. Needless to say all devices need to be on the same wifi network.
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Old 10-13-2021, 12:09 AM   #9
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On my 2020 Globetrotter, the TV/DVD player doesn't automatically play over the coach speakers like it did in previous years. I tried various arrangements to get it to do so but with everything I tried the lack of sync between the video and audio over the Fusion system was too annoying. Maybe the arrangement with sources like Apple TV and Air Play works differently.
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Old 10-13-2021, 06:04 AM   #10
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I'd take a look at Roku. It doesn't have the competitive issues that Apple has with some other tech companies. Yes the ATV has gotten more channels, but Roku is really the 800lb gorilla in the streaming box segment. It also has the Apple TV app, so you get the best of both worlds and IMHO a much better GUI (graphical user interface).
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Old 10-13-2021, 06:16 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by mikeinca View Post
On my 2020 Globetrotter, the TV/DVD player doesn't automatically play over the coach speakers like it did in previous years. I tried various arrangements to get it to do so but with everything I tried the lack of sync between the video and audio over the Fusion system was too annoying. Maybe the arrangement with sources like Apple TV and Air Play works differently.
I bought an inexpensive bluetooth dongle that I plugged into the 3.5mm audio jack on the back of my television. This allows me to play the television sound through my speakers in my 2020 International. It’s a little bit of a pain to set it up each time I watch television, but it works well. I don’t watch television in the Airstream very much anyway, so it’s no big deal.
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Old 10-13-2021, 08:50 AM   #12
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Hi

The streaming side of things gets complicated.

Many campgrounds advertise that they have WiFi. Roughly 99% of them have WiFi that is not adequate for any sort of streaming once folks show up at the campground. If you are the only one there ... you get lucky.

The practical answer for data when out and about is a cellular connection. If you camp in locations close to urban areas, you might have good signals from multiple carriers. In the kind of places we like to camp there rarely is more than one carrier with a good signal. That's true with or without the cell booster turned on.

There also are a number of campsites that simply have no cell signal. No signal from any carrier no matter what sort of gear you have along. There might be coverage on the other side of the campground, but not at your site.

It's not only about how many bars you get. Some rural areas have very limited cellular infrastructure. It overloads quickly. You still get three bars, but no data. The entire capacity is going to voice calls. There's nothing left over for data. Things may get better around 4AM ... or they may not. Just who is on the phone at 4AM .... I'm not sure I want to know ....

If connectivity is an optional sort of thing, having one carrier and one hotspot works ok. You may only have data some of the time. You stream then and do something else the rest of the time. That works for some folks, others buy multiple plans on multiple carriers.

Many carriers have "unlimited" plans. Somehow the word unlimited always has an asterisk next to it. There's a paragraph or ten about how the word actually means "it's a limited data plan but that's not what we call it". How fast you run out of data is higly dependent on your carrier and the fine print in your plan. It's very likely that your plan with some carrier has different fine print than my plan with the same name from the same carrier ... go figure.

So no, there is no perfect solution. You can quickly max out most plans with a few nights of streaming 4K movies. 14 GB is about what a 4K movie would chew through. Two movie like that just used up the monthly allowance on my hotspot .... It's not just movies. Have four of you sitting there 4K YouTubing on your tablets and you will run through a lot of data in a short time ....

Fun !!

Bob
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Old 10-13-2021, 08:57 AM   #13
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We tend to download shows and/or movies to an iPad from Netflix for use offline. They can be streamed directly to the television. It's also a nice option.
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Old 10-13-2021, 08:57 AM   #14
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Your phone or iPad can run wifi for your trailer via a hotspot feature. Your plan has to support it, and top-tier plans usually cap out hotspot features at 100GB or so (even though streaming directly to the phone is usually more-or-less unlimited).

I've never been able to get a decent connection to a campground wifi network and at this point I don't even bother trying. If I have internet, great. If not, I don't. I don't watch a lot of TV but I do keep an iPad Mini in the trailer that I've downloaded movies on prior to the trip.
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Old 10-13-2021, 11:58 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis C View Post
I bought an inexpensive bluetooth dongle that I plugged into the 3.5mm audio jack on the back of my television. This allows me to play the television sound through my speakers in my 2020 International. It’s a little bit of a pain to set it up each time I watch television, but it works well. I don’t watch television in the Airstream very much anyway, so it’s no big deal.
Sounds (no pun intended) like a good solution. Unfortunately my TV doesn't have an audio jack. On our two previous Airstreams, audio was captured off an audio board in the TV and wired directly to the coach stereo so everything was in perfect sync. But short of taking the TV apart and rewiring the trailer I've not found another solution with our current Airstream that doesn't result in at least some latency between the video and audio. As it is, we just use the TV speakers which have been adequate. As you say, it's not a big deal anyway.
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Old 10-13-2021, 03:07 PM   #16
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Bob this is the first time I will have to disagree with you

It comes down to how much you invest, but since I work in digital sector and live full time in my Airstream I invested in my setup:

- Pepwave Max Dual model with Verizon and ATT
- 7-way MIMO antenna
- 700GB on both plans (4G)
- one wifi network for all devices in the Airstream

Two Apple TV’s behind each TV and sound played to Fusion via AirPlay - pretty much surround cinema sound.

In nine months of traveling I only had one episode of not getting data (in the deepest forest of the Adirondacks), and I boon-dock 90% of the time away from everything and everyone. My download speeds are better than what I had before in my house with Spectrum, always above 40-50Mbps. Quite the experience to stream movies in total wilderness
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Old 10-13-2021, 04:08 PM   #17
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I removed the DVD play and the shelf it sat on too. I installed a Dish Receiver and it took up so little room we now can store other things in that space. I got tired of using WiFI to simply watch TV. Dish works everywhere too.... all I need is a decent clearing in the south sky.
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Old 10-13-2021, 06:49 PM   #18
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Thanks for the replies

I popped out my DVD player, rerouted the hdmi cable through the gromet and hooked up the Apple TV. Now I can watch it on either tv and it works great.
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Old 10-20-2021, 09:26 AM   #19
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Originally Posted by Harry Hedaya View Post
I would like to replace the supplied Sony DVD player in my 2022 flying cloud with an Apple TV. My goal is to have the sound go through the sound system and display the picture on the two TVs.

Has anyone had any luck or does anyone have any suggestions with how to accomplish this?
Just add an HDMI switch box. No swap out needed.
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Old 10-20-2021, 12:28 PM   #20
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Originally Posted by Harry Hedaya View Post
I would like to replace the supplied Sony DVD player in my 2022 flying cloud with an Apple TV. My goal is to have the sound go through the sound system and display the picture on the two TVs.

Has anyone had any luck or does anyone have any suggestions with how to accomplish this?
I do that exact thing on my 2017 Flying Cloud. If you plug into the HDMI behind the DVD player it will work just like the DVD player. I actually use an HDMI switch and maintained the DVD player. I also have a Nintendo Switch base connected to the HDMI switch.
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