For those who found this post by Google search, I assume we are in the same boat. For those wondering why you would want to setup an Apple TV on an RV or while camping, the answer is simple. We are very active with our children and take every means necessary to get our kids out in nature and to see the world, but truth be told that can be extremely tiresome with 2 toddlers and sometimes the adults just need a break. Whether it be nap time or settling them down to their favorite movie before bed, having this little hack available to us makes life just that much more simple. Below is a complete setup guide and video to help walk you through this simple hack. Please excuse me if you find some of the steps redundant as I am outlining them as if you were a first time user or iTunes, AirPlay and Apple TV. To my Android subscribers I'm sorry, I assume you can do the same thing with your Chromecast and Android devices, I don't have any and can't speak from experience on setting it up.
What You Will Need:
- A wireless router - An old one that you know you have the network name and password for is ideal, but if you don't buy a cheap one from Amazon. Make sure you configure it using the start up instructions it comes with so you have the SSID (Network Name) and Password to access the wireless network.
- A computer with iTunes downloaded to it.
- iPhone or iPad running a version of iOS that allows AirPlay.
- Apple TV Gen 2,3,4
- TV
Getting Started:
I will walk you through how I preconfigured my setup to allow for streaming from my computer or iOS device like my iPhone or iPad. You don't have to use my method and by all means if you don't want to worry about a computer than just use your iPhone or iPad utilizing AirPlay.
Configure iTunes
I don't like to take up all my storage on my computer for saving movies, and with the prices of external hard drives being as cheap as they are you shouldn't want to either. So for all my media that I have on iTunes I have it stored on an external hard drive. Below are the instructions to make this work.
- Open iTunes -> Select Preferences -> Select Advanced -> Select Change
- Pick Your External Hard Drive as the iTunes Media Folder Location
- It may ask if you want to organize the media folder, I select yes.
- This allows you to utilize the "Automatically Add To iTunes" folder. When adding new content just download it to this folder on your external hard drive and you will see it in you iTunes interface.
- iTunes automatically stores video files to "Home Videos", just open the "Home Videos" and and hit "Control + A" to select all, right click and change the file sorting option t
You may be asking yourself, why go through the hassle of all of this when I can just use AirPlay from my iPhone or iPad. Well the answer for us is easy. As you can see from our website we love to travel, not just in an RV but every form, and you can only store so much on your phone, so this method allows us to utilize it whether we are in France, on the RV in a remote campground or just at home.
Set Up Wireless Router
Plug your wireless router into a power outlet, remember we are not connecting to the internet, so you don't need to plug an ethernet cord into your modem. I suggest doing this in your house to test things out. Give the router a few minutes to fully load up. Now with your phone and/or computer make sure you can log on to that network. Once you are connected the last thing you need to do is connect your Apple TV to the same network.
Setup Apple TV
Plug the Apple TV into a power outlet and run HDMI cord into the tv.
- Go to settings -> General -> Network -> Select Your New Wireless Router
- Back all the way out to main screen.
- Select Computers
- Access all your iTunes media
- If you connect an iPhone or iPad to this same wireless network you can also use AirPlay.