apple tv or reflector

[aidenbran2000]

At the school I work at the school are looking at purchasing about 150 iPads to add to the 50 that we already have. They are also looking at ripping out all the whiteboards and projectors and replacing them with tvs and getting apple tvs to display the iPad work. I stumbled across reflector and was wondering what anyone's thoughts would be on this method instead of the tv method.

 

thanks

[caffrey]

There's airserver too , costs next to nothing compared to an apple TV - you can still use projectors with this (unless you're ripping out because of age)

[aidenbran2000]

projectors are about 10 years old in some departments so the school don't know if they should just to rip them out and put tvs in instead as most don't use he interactive as much, they just display powerpoints.

[foofighterjim]

Always found Apple TV a little hit and miss in actually connecting. This was a couple of years ago though so they could have gotten better since then. Also proxy settings could only be entered with configurator not directly on the device, this was a big problem at the time.

[caffrey]

Airserver gets rid of the fluff and just does mirroring also you can just run it when you need it to stop excessive showing of airplay devices on the network (and traffic) Downside is maybe your wifi network is seperate from your domain network and you would have to reflect the traffic between vlans (Could also be a problem with ATVs too depending on how you've connected them)

[aidenbran2000]

thanks for the quick responses. I can see why SLT want the tvs for all the iPads that they are buying but at the end of the day someones going to have to rip out over 40 projectors and smart boards and more than likely end up being me.

[caffrey]

TV's seem an odd choice as the screen size is limited (dependant on budget), whereas projectors can be more or less any size - unless you have small classrooms.

[mac_shinobi]

X-Mirage - X-Mirage - AirPlay receiver, Mirror, Record your iPhone, iPad, iPod screen&content to any Mac or Windows PC Screen wirelessly

 

Air Server - http://www.airserver.com

 

Reflector - Reflector Airplay Receiver - Mirror an iPhone or iPad to a Mac or PC

 

For Mac OS - I believe you can get X-Mirage for one machine free from TUAW , as per here --> https://deals.tuaw.com/sales/the-mac-freebie-bundle-3-0#

 

Try the demo versions out of each and see which one suits you best and then go with that

 

Personally I went with X-Mirage but that is on OS X - as above depends if you want to run on a windows pc or an apple mac as not sure if they all have windows versions available

Edited May 28, 2014 by mac_shinobi

[Shadow_Walker]

As others have said it really depend on the budget. If you do want to keep the interactive side of the boards then have a look at touch TV's.

[aidenbran2000]

TV's seem an odd choice as the screen size is limited (dependant on budget), whereas projectors can be more or less any size - unless you have small classrooms.

 

classrooms are average size but they were looking at around 32 inch to 50 inch tvs for different classrooms.

 

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As others have said it really depend on the budget. If you do want to keep the interactive side of the boards then have a look at touch TV's.

 

Thanks, never heard of them before but could be interesting to see what the teachers and SLT think of them.

 

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Thanks for that list it has given me something to consider now

[Cablers_JonPaul]

Are you replacing the iwb's & projectors with TV's or interactive flat panels?

 

Apple TV works well but you pay for it, we have schools happy using AirServer too. Here is a comparison off of the AirServer web site between the two:

AirServer - Compare

[Edu-IT]

classrooms are average size but they were looking at around 32 inch to 50 inch tvs for different classrooms.

 

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Thanks, never heard of them before but could be interesting to see what the teachers and SLT think of them.

 

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Thanks for that list it has given me something to consider now

They don't come cheap however.

 

I'd question why you need to throw away working projectors and boards. You could at in the short term use software to do what you want and then have a programme to replace with touch lcd's when they break or need an upgrade. That way you don't have to rip everything out at once.

[MikeGilbert]

AppleTV needs a HDMI port (there are VGA-> HDMI adapters, but they're rubbish), so the old projectors will need replacing with something - and are probably well dim with expensive lamps, too.

By "TV" you need to mean "Large Format Display with Commercial Grade panel" - otherwise it'll be less than brilliant/suitable. There are plenty of options out there; NEC E-series are nice and reasonably priced.

Short throw projectors will cost less than a panel, and can be interactive, if necessary - the new BenQ unit is pretty decent, and can go to pen-interactive for about £150 over the base price, as a retro-fit that anyone can do

"Proper" interactive screens need to be 6-touch and will work as a Windows or Mac input device, rather than requiring proprietary software.

There are other options, too...

[mac_shinobi]

Can't edit my previous post but just wanted to give credit to @Arthur ( who originally provided me with that TUAW link free bundle package )

 

Thank-you Arthur !!