Hey all,
Wanted to share my particular ATV3 setup, because I thought it may be of use to someone. I read a lot of failed and half attempts but no real conclusive info, so i'm putting this out there.
Premise: I have an rMBP 2012 and love the ATV so I was very intrigued when Mavericks allowed extending a desktop via ATV Airplay and not just mirroring.
I thought wouldn't this be more useful for a monitor than a TV since typically you sit close to your monitor and use them for reading and actually doing stuff.
So I decided to give this a shot, in essence creative a wireless monitor, or better.
First things I had an old Dell U2311h monitor kicking around which I love so I decided to give it new life. I purchased a Flo monitor arm from Herman Miller, highly recommended, simple, looks good and elegant as far as monitor arms go. (Designer by trade so it matter to me
)
Next get an ATV3, connect it all and magic...newp problems...
As i learned many monitors particularly older one do not have HDMI in. Also from the ATV using a HDMI to DVI adapter will not work! I read somewhere that apple just didn't allow the signal to go through the way you need it...anyhow.
VGA? no because this is not the 90's.
Next up was display port, again found out that an adapter will not work, DP signal to HDMI will work but it doesn't work the other way around...and since ATV3 is HDMI out, that was a no go.
What you need is this:
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-HDMI2DP-DisplayPort-Active-Converter/dp/B004I6IYSM
This is an active converter, that will convert HDMI to DP properly, this works. With this I can have up to 2560x1440 resolution, but went with the monitors native 1080p. Looks good and is pretty much as good as being wired in, save heavy graphics and colour work. Price almost stopped me but I really wanted to keep the monitor. It runs warm to a bit hot when in use but no problems so far.
Picture: ATV3 > HDMI cable > active converter > DP cable > monitor
Now with the picture taken care of I also wanted audio, so i purchase the sound bar attachment for the monitor. This snaps to the frame of the monitor nicely and is powered from the monitor. However...the sound input is 3.5MM stereo and the ATV3 only outputs optical out. (Apple TV original looking pretty good at this point...jk)
So to solve this particular problem you need something like this:
http://www.amazon.ca/D03K-Digital-Analog-Audio-Converter/dp/B009346RSS
Sound: ATV3 > Optical cable > audio conveter > stereo cable > monitor soundbar
And so there it is, hit extend desktop on your mac and slave the monitor and toss whatever you want up there, from anywhere. Sit down hit a button instant second monitor with no cable from the mac to monitor.
Bonus: if you turn off airplay the monitor becomes a stand alone typical ATV setup, you'll see the ATV menu and just use the remote to use it how you see fit. Also why i wanted sound. Be sure to go into the ATV settings and set the resolution to the native rez for best crisp picture and text. ATV recognizes this separately from the Airplay connection, it's in Audio & Visual in the ATV settings.
Also since most monitors will go to sleep when there is no signal, if you just want to use the monitor with ATV, and there are both sleeping, waking the ATV via remote will power up the monitor. This also applies to using with as an extended desktop, just hit the airplay button to connect to the ATV from the menu bar on your mac and it turns on the monitor wirelessly.
It's a good setup, hope this can help someone. Or just ignore all of this and get a monitor that has HDMI in and audio built in...
Best,
HB
Wanted to share my particular ATV3 setup, because I thought it may be of use to someone. I read a lot of failed and half attempts but no real conclusive info, so i'm putting this out there.
Premise: I have an rMBP 2012 and love the ATV so I was very intrigued when Mavericks allowed extending a desktop via ATV Airplay and not just mirroring.
I thought wouldn't this be more useful for a monitor than a TV since typically you sit close to your monitor and use them for reading and actually doing stuff.
So I decided to give this a shot, in essence creative a wireless monitor, or better.
First things I had an old Dell U2311h monitor kicking around which I love so I decided to give it new life. I purchased a Flo monitor arm from Herman Miller, highly recommended, simple, looks good and elegant as far as monitor arms go. (Designer by trade so it matter to me
)Next get an ATV3, connect it all and magic...newp problems...
As i learned many monitors particularly older one do not have HDMI in. Also from the ATV using a HDMI to DVI adapter will not work! I read somewhere that apple just didn't allow the signal to go through the way you need it...anyhow.
VGA? no because this is not the 90's.
Next up was display port, again found out that an adapter will not work, DP signal to HDMI will work but it doesn't work the other way around...and since ATV3 is HDMI out, that was a no go.
What you need is this:
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-HDMI2DP-DisplayPort-Active-Converter/dp/B004I6IYSM
This is an active converter, that will convert HDMI to DP properly, this works. With this I can have up to 2560x1440 resolution, but went with the monitors native 1080p. Looks good and is pretty much as good as being wired in, save heavy graphics and colour work. Price almost stopped me but I really wanted to keep the monitor. It runs warm to a bit hot when in use but no problems so far.
Picture: ATV3 > HDMI cable > active converter > DP cable > monitor
Now with the picture taken care of I also wanted audio, so i purchase the sound bar attachment for the monitor. This snaps to the frame of the monitor nicely and is powered from the monitor. However...the sound input is 3.5MM stereo and the ATV3 only outputs optical out. (Apple TV original looking pretty good at this point...jk)
So to solve this particular problem you need something like this:
http://www.amazon.ca/D03K-Digital-Analog-Audio-Converter/dp/B009346RSS
Sound: ATV3 > Optical cable > audio conveter > stereo cable > monitor soundbar
And so there it is, hit extend desktop on your mac and slave the monitor and toss whatever you want up there, from anywhere. Sit down hit a button instant second monitor with no cable from the mac to monitor.
Bonus: if you turn off airplay the monitor becomes a stand alone typical ATV setup, you'll see the ATV menu and just use the remote to use it how you see fit. Also why i wanted sound. Be sure to go into the ATV settings and set the resolution to the native rez for best crisp picture and text. ATV recognizes this separately from the Airplay connection, it's in Audio & Visual in the ATV settings.
Also since most monitors will go to sleep when there is no signal, if you just want to use the monitor with ATV, and there are both sleeping, waking the ATV via remote will power up the monitor. This also applies to using with as an extended desktop, just hit the airplay button to connect to the ATV from the menu bar on your mac and it turns on the monitor wirelessly.
It's a good setup, hope this can help someone. Or just ignore all of this and get a monitor that has HDMI in and audio built in...
Best,
HB
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