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Old 09-17-2022, 10:12 AM   #1
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Apple device to RV TV

I want to play a movie on either my Mac or my iPad and have it display on the TV in the RV. I know I can do that by running an HDMI cable from the Apple device to the TV but I would like to do that without the cable. I am pretty sure that I can set up a router in the RV and use that local connection to send the movie signal to the TV but I don't want to buy a new router just for the RV and my old routers are probably too slow to handle the movie signal.

I understand that you can send a movie signal from an Android tablet to a TV wirelessly by using a Chromecast device but I am not sure that there is any way to do the same thing using a Mac or iPad, and I don't want to do internet streaming because we generally are not camping near a strong cell signal.

We have digital copies of some movies I have bought on our Apple devices, but can I send those signals to the TV in the LG TV in our RV wirelessly? If so, how? Will Chromecast work with an Apple device?

The alternative is probably to buy a cheap Android tablet and a Chromecast device but we already have enough devices around the house that I would rather not get another one just for this one thing.

Thanks for any help.
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Old 09-17-2022, 11:00 AM   #2
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We have a Roku connected to our RV TV and it supports Apple AirPlay for streaming from iPad/iPhone to the Roku. Works great.
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Old 09-17-2022, 11:35 AM   #3
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Originally Posted by litzdog911 View Post
We have a Roku connected to our RV TV and it supports Apple AirPlay for streaming from iPad/iPhone to the Roku. Works great.
Do you use a router in your RV to connect? Or are you connecting without a router?

I am trying to keep this as simple as possible and would rather not have to buy a new router just for this one thing.
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Old 09-17-2022, 01:19 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AJMike View Post
I want to play a movie on either my Mac or my iPad and have it display on the TV in the RV. I know I can do that by running an HDMI cable from the Apple device to the TV but I would like to do that without the cable. I am pretty sure that I can set up a router in the RV and use that local connection to send the movie signal to the TV but I don't want to buy a new router just for the RV and my old routers are probably too slow to handle the movie signal.

I understand that you can send a movie signal from an Android tablet to a TV wirelessly by using a Chromecast device but I am not sure that there is any way to do the same thing using a Mac or iPad, and I don't want to do internet streaming because we generally are not camping near a strong cell signal.

We have digital copies of some movies I have bought on our Apple devices, but can I send those signals to the TV in the LG TV in our RV wirelessly? If so, how? Will Chromecast work with an Apple device?

The alternative is probably to buy a cheap Android tablet and a Chromecast device but we already have enough devices around the house that I would rather not get another one just for this one thing.

Thanks for any help.
All these things you suggest require a wireless connection through a router. So either you have to get a router our just have to use a cable. Even a smart TV with apple streaming would required a router.

So.... you can't have our cake and eat it too....

Most any router made in the last 5 years would work. So if you have one just try it; you might be surprised.
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Old 09-17-2022, 03:19 PM   #5
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All these things you suggest require a wireless connection through a router. So either you have to get a router our just have to use a cable. Even a smart TV with apple streaming would required a router.

So.... you can't have our cake and eat it too....

Most any router made in the last 5 years would work. So if you have one just try it; you might be surprised.
Thanks. That was what I was afraid of. I have some HDMI cables and have ordered an HDMI to USB-c cable, which I can use with my wife's iPad, so I guess that is what I will have to do.
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Old 09-17-2022, 03:48 PM   #6
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Thanks. That was what I was afraid of. I have some HDMI cables and have ordered an HDMI to USB-c cable, which I can use with my wife's iPad, so I guess that is what I will have to do.
Just a guess, but what you ordered above won't work.

You need this.... (on sale right now)

https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Lightni...s%2C233&sr=8-3

Notice +61,000 reviews and over 1000 questions answered.... going to bet you'll need this to make it work like you want it to.

This will work with your iPhone or iPad, and you can send apple tv shows or movies... your pictures... or other apps to the tv screen.

Apple has some sort of anti-pirating software so without this adapter it won't send the signal out from your iPad and thru the wire you ordered.

We have 3 of them in our coach. (I paid the full price of $50 each) I also purchased 3 HDMI cables and leave these adapters attached to each tv. Rember the iPad will be connected to the tv the whole time you are watching it so get a cable long / short enough to put the iPad nearby.




Good Luck!
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Old 09-18-2022, 08:22 AM   #7
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I didn't think it was important to go into details about what digital videos I had, but I guess it is, so here is a more complete rundown. Apparently it matters. Sorry for the length of this post.

All of my digital videos were bought from Amazon, and I have downloaded them to both my computer and my wife's iPad. They only play using the Amazon Prime app and some testing yesterday told me a couple of things.

First, if I have either device connected to the internet and can sign into my Amazon account, then I can play the videos without a problem on the Apple device. If I can not sign into the internet, then Amazon gives me 48 hours to play the videos disconnected, and then won't play them at all until I can again connect and sign into my Amazon account. I guess they want to be sure that the videos are not pirated in some way.

Next I tried to cast the movies to the TV in our house, just to test the whole thing, and the app told me that I was not allowed to cast to a second device from my downloaded copy, and that the app would actually stream the movie from Amazon. So, if I could not actually cast the movie using a router I did not see any option except a wired connection. If the app is going to stream the videos anyway what is the point of trying to cast?

Next I tried the HDMI to USB-c cable that I had ordered (which came in yesterday evening). I disconnected all my devices from the internet, hooked the cable up to the iPad, started the Amazon Prime video app and played several of the movies. They played on the iPad and, using the simple cable (see below) they also displayed on my home TV. There did not seem to be a problem in mirroring the TV to the iPad, even with a simple non-Apple cable.

Next I tried my Mac. I had an old UGREEN USB-c hub that I bought 4 years ago for my MacBook Pro. The computer has only USB-c connectors and the hub, which has a USB-c connector for the computer, also has the regular USB-A slots as well as an HDMI and memory card slot. I plugged it in, connected the plain HDMI cable to it and to the TV and played it on the TV without any problem. I tried several videos and they all worked, same as above.

This all seems to say that I can play the movies on my Apple devices and mirror them on the home TV when the connection is wired, and I will have to try this using the RV when I get it out of storage. We are going on a short trip in a couple of days, so I can try it when we start loading the RV. It also seems to say that I can not cast the signal to the TV wirelessly, regardless of how I try to do it. I have a very old Android tablet and thought about getting a Chromecast device to cast the movie, but since the movies are from Amazon and only play using the Amazon Prime Video app I am sure I would run into the same problem.

I guess the basic rule of the universe really is "Everything is more complicated than you think".
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Old 09-18-2022, 12:28 PM   #8
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Wow... that is complicated!

Thanks for the info... I would have never guessed that would have worked.
So, with your post, I learned something new today.

I was under the impression that nothing video, not even the amazon prime videos, would be able to sent out without that apple adapter.

We are like you except all our movies and tv shows were purchased from Apple. We also download them to our iPhones and iPads

When I first tried it I bought a cheap $16 adapter from amazon that claimed it would allow video out to the tv and of course, it didn't work. We could only play our movies and tv shows from our iPhone or iPad with that adapter I listed above... without it we never got anything to work on the tv's.

We are also Prime members, but I can't remember ever trying to use the app to send video out to the tv before I had that adapter.

Thanks for the additional info and update.

Good Luck!
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Old 09-18-2022, 12:54 PM   #9
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I’ve had great success by screen mirroring my Android phone to a Firestick. No WiFi required on the FS. I use my unlimited data plan and can watch anything from the phone on the FS.
Always works, not complicated!
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Old 09-18-2022, 03:17 PM   #10
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I’ve had great success by screen mirroring my Android phone to a Firestick. No WiFi required on the FS. I use my unlimited data plan and can watch anything from the phone on the FS.
Always works, not complicated!
That is interesting. I think I may have a very old Android tablet so I will see if I can hunt it up and give that a try. And new Android tablets are really inexpensive, especially compared to a new iPad.

Thanks for the information.
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Old 09-18-2022, 03:45 PM   #11
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Ditto to ROKU

$35 for stick and cable. No service fees. I mirror my iPhone and iPad plus getting free show’s on ROKU .
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Old 09-19-2022, 09:03 AM   #12
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For what it's worth:

I went searching for an old Android tablet to check and see how that would work, but could not find it. All I could find were and old Android Fire tablet and an old Kindle, but I did find an old Android phone and decided to try using that.

I installed both the Amazon Prime app and the Roku screen mirroring app on the Android phone and decided to test them with my home TV. I tried mirroring the Android phone with the Roku but had no luck. The Android app wanted me to buy the upgrade and I was unwilling to do that until I verified that the base app worked, and I could never get that to work properly. That may have been user error but nothing I did could get the base app to properly mirror on the Roku. The Roku is a Roku Ultra with software version 11.0.0, so it is not very old.

The whole idea of trying the Android phone was to see if using a Chromecast device might allow me to use the Android phone without using wires, but since I could not get that phone to work at all with the Roku I am not sure I want to waste the money buying a Chromecast device. If it would not work with the Roku I assume it would not work with the Chromecast. And I don't have an Amazon Firestick to try that either.

I then connected the mirroring app to the TV itself and the result was really strange. When playing an Amazon movie on the phone the TV screen went blank and showed nothing. I turned on the closed captioning to see if that made any difference, and the captioning showed on the TV, but the movie did not, so I was watching a blank TV screen with working captions. Very odd.

I then shut down the apps and used the HDMI to USB-c cable to connect to the TV. I assumed this would work, but it did not. In fact it acted as though there was no cable attached.

So this is all a bit confusing to me. I assumed that the Android setup would work better than the Apple one, but it did not work at all, so I am back to using the Apple devices.

BTW, my MacBook Pro and my wife's iPad are both intel chip devices. I don't know if any of this would work with the new Apple M1 or M2 chips. And I still have to test all of this with the not-so-smart TV in the RV to see if it all works there as well.
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Old 09-19-2022, 09:19 AM   #13
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I never had any luck using the Chromecast because it always wanted to be on Wi-Fi. You can pick up a fire stick for as low as $25 in most places. And it does not need to be on any Wi-Fi. When you mirror it uses its own identification.
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Old 09-19-2022, 11:25 PM   #14
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Do you use a router in your RV to connect? Or are you connecting without a router?

I am trying to keep this as simple as possible and would rather not have to buy a new router just for this one thing.
Yes, we have a WiFi hotspot/router in our trailer. When we have good internet we do lots of streaming with our Roku.
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