Macs and Wireless Projectors with AirPlay

Nathan Parker · March 2014

I can't remember if I asked this before. If I did, sorry about that, but here goes...

In my church, when we use projectors (which isn't all the time but during special events), currently we've kept a PC up on the front row connected to the projectors (we've also been using PowerPoint instead of Proclaim, and now that I'm here, I'm working to get us switched to Proclaim. PowerPoint has been awful).

This can be quite distracting since there's a computer with a screen and people working in in our front row.

Now that I've been called in to oversee all future presentations, I want to bring my Mac to church and keep it in the back of the church (also planning on connecting it to the sound board so I can digitally record all our services). With the projectors up front and me being in the back, I need a quick any easy way to get my Proclaim feed from my Mac to the projectors.

We're about to have our Wi-Fi network boosted in the church where it'll reach into the sanctuary. When we do, we can enjoy all the other benefits of Proclaim as well such as allowing our music director to run Proclaim on his iPad and see all the slides in real time, etc.

I'm wondering if it'd work where I could connect an Apple TV to the projectors (I think they're VGA so I might need an HDMI to VGA adapter; we already have a VGA splitter) and use AirPlay on OS X to wirelessly beam my Proclaim slides to the projectors.

Would that work ok for this setup or do we need to try something else?

Thanks!

Mike Binks · March 2014

Nathan

Once you have your WiFi installed using Apple TVs should be a dodle.

I understand that the new version (due out soon) are to be even better at detecting signals.

Nathan Parker · March 2014

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/576248#Comment_576248

Mike Binks said:

Nathan

Once you have your WiFi installed using Apple TVs should be a dodle.

I understand that the new version (due out soon) are to be even better at detecting signals.

Sounds good. We'll definitely be waiting for the new ones.

If the projectors are VGA only, will I also need to look at grabbing an HDMI-VGA adapter as well?

Thanks!

Josh Edwards · March 2014

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/576297#Comment_576297

Nathan, the Apple TV only has an HDMI output, so yes, if your projectors are VGA only, you will need the HDMI to VGA adapter. I'm not sure how well this would work though... It's something that would need further exploration in my opinion.

Josh Edwards · March 2014

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/576302#Comment_576302

Also, you'll want to make sure you are running AT LEAST a wireless N router as streaming of video can get choppy if it's using available wireless bandwidth from your network. I had an issue with my AppleTV at home streaming from my iPad when both the AppleTV and the iPad were running wirelessly. I connected my Apple TV directly to my router and it ran much smoother. I would suggest that you run Cat5 to the AppleTV and have them hooked directly to the router.

Nathan Parker · March 2014

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/576303#Comment_576303

I'll chat with our music director and see what outputs are on there. I think he owns the projectors since they're not permanent structures. He brings them to the church when we have events.

For the wireless network, we'll be running at least AC bare minimum. Our current wireless router doesn't penetrate the sanctuary. We're looking to upgrade to AC for the longer range. If this one still doesn't penetrate, we'll either link two AC routers together or our new ISP said they can put us in a pro-grade wireless drop and link it straight into the router over an Ethernet backend. ]

We're looking at switching ISP's to a new provider that not only will reduce our bills less than half, but these guys are excellent in terms of service and network installations. They just "get it" and can look at any situation and get us going exactly how we need it.

I don't think we'll be streaming large video amounts and just static Proclaim slides with text and images. Mainly just the lyrics to our choir's songs.

Our router is (and the new one will be) in the church office down the hall from the sanctuary (quite far), so I don't see us being able to extend Ethernet cables that far without being a hassle. Ideally, if these were permanent fixtures, I'd install direct video cables (VGA) from the projectors into the back sound box so I could just plug in my projector and go with it (that's how it was done in the last church I served in). Since these aren't permanent fixtures, and running VGA cables all over the sanitary could be a hazard (we have a lot of elderly people and some in wheelchairs or walkers that could easily trip), I'm hoping using the Apple TV and rigging it all wirelessly will allow us to shoot for the next best thing. :-)

Thanks!