Great Site for Free TV links and Guides for Disabling Cable TV Subscription

Trying to figure out how to use my Apple TV with an existing HDTV television.

When the time came for the mandatory switch from analog to digital cable subscription almost a year ago and due to the fact we were not watching much cable TV, we decided to disconnect for awhile.

I have been researching the best way to use Apple TV and airplay with our TV.  I stumbled across this great site which provides a great guide for this switch:  disablemycable.com

On this site is various guides and helps outlining using antennas for local channels, using streaming boxes (like Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, etc)  and a page with buttons (links) to all the free TV sites.

I plan to test this out with Safari on my iPad using airplay to connect to the Apple TV that will be used with my HDTV.

http://disablemycable.com/remote-control/

As I work through some of the details and tests, I will post any interesting observations at that time.  In the meantime, if you use Apple TV with your existing TV without cable subscription, you may find this site a very useful central place to find all the free TV programs quickly.  Enjoy!

Update:  We got the TV and Apple TV up and running yesterday.  Have all the devices: ipads, iphones and even my Apple Watch working as "remote" to access the wonderful Apple TV menu that has all the buttons one might need to find some free programs, movies and tv series to watch.  I am finding it is pretty nice to be able to watch a program on my time and not tied down to watching a program during a certain time period.  I suppose recording programs is an option for those who continue with cable, but as most have pretty busy lives the Apple TV option works okay too.

The website above would be okay for those streaming boxes that might not have all the menu options and links programmed into their menu setup or for running from a Mac laptop using Airplay and mirroring techniques.




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Digital Photo Albums for My New iPad Mini 3

I generally use Apple iPhoto to create my photo albums to print.  I have traveled extensively over the past fifteen years and thought it would be nice to save some of my photo albums in digital format to view on my new iPad mini 3.

You can easily save the books in a suitable compressed pdf file format to load onto your iPad.  To do so, bring up your photo album project in iPhoto.  View in All Pages format.  Then click on the first page of the album while holding down the control key on your keyboard.  You should see a list of additional popdown menu options.  Select the Save as book option.  Give your album a name and safe to your hard drive.

I normally transfer pdfs to my iPad via iTunes file transfer method into GoodReader and then from there I use the "Open in .... " option to put directly into my iBooks on my iPad.  That works great and doesn't require syncing via iTunes.

Alternately, you can drag the pdf photo album file into your itunes ibooks and then sync your ipad using iTunes after you select the album and your other books to be synced again.

Once in iBooks you can organize all your photo albums into a category you create - say "My Photo Albums".

Now, you will have a digital copy of your printed photo albums to view on your iPad or iPhone.

I spent one summer making slide shows and albums of old family photos that were stored on DVDs.  Looks like now, most computers don't have DVD players and in an effort to have that archive of those family treasures, I am now proceeding with a digital version that can be stored on my old iPad.  Rather than selling my old iPad for a few dollars, I have opted to keep it for digital photo books and cookbooks.

I can also use my iPad in remote mode with Apple TV to view these albums on my big screen TV without having to load a DVD into a player.





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How To's for Apple TV - Viewing Photos from iPad or Laptop

How to Setup Your iPad and/or Mac Computer or Laptop to View Your Photos on Your Apple TV

Connect the Apple TV to your wireless network, by following the next steps:

1. Connect your Apple TV box to your HDTV input connection on the back of your TV via a HDTV cable.
2. Using the remote (that came with the Apple TV). Aim at the white light on the black box, make sure it is un-obstructed view.  Select Menu
3. Use the right arrow on the remote's dial to move to Settings.
4. Press the middle of dial to select WiFi Set Up.
5. Then using the down arrow, select the Network Configure WiFi from the list of options.
6. Select the name of your wireless network and press the middle of the dial to select it.
7. If you don't see the name of the wireless network, select Other and then using arrow key, select Submit and enter password if needed.  Select Menu to go back to the screen saver.

Now for the iPad2 Setup -- for viewing photos from your camera roll and albums stored on your iPad, you will need to do the following:

1. Select the Settings icon from the iPad2.
2. Then select WiFi.  Make sure your device is connected to the same network.
3. To activate Apple TV on your iPad, Tap on the home button twice and swipe towards the right.  You should see the iPod orange icon and the controls for the music player and sound controls.  Look closely and you will see the Apple TV logo which is a box with black up arrow, next to the player controls.
4. When you click on this icon, you will be able to switch to and from your iPad, your network, and also the Apple TV and other devices.  Select Apple TV.
5. Now press the home button once, and select the Photos icon from your iPad.  You should be able to select or make sure that the Apple TV is selected from this app.  By clicking on an album and photos you should see these on your display connected to the Apple TV black box.  You can operate a slideshow, swipe photos and such from your iPad.  These will be mirrored (by using Airplay) onto your display.

NOTE: When you have finished viewing your photos on your Apple TV from your iPad, you will need to switch back to your network to resume using the iPad device with your other apps that require wifi.  However,  when connected via Apple TV you can actually play your music through your TV speakers, along with mirror any of the apps or games from your iPad to the Apple TV.
NOTE:  iPad 1 users will find AirPlay playback will be limited to certain system apps such as Photos, Music, Videos, Safari (for embedded videos), YouTube and FaceTime, along with a few other third-party apps.

You can listen to music and watch movies and videos from your iPad and other output devices. Your content is stored on your iPad, which you use to drive playback to any of the other screens or speakers in your house. The advantage is that you could start watching a movie at home using AirPlay streaming to your HDTV and then when you need to leave the room, you can switch the display back to your iPad and watch it from there. This also works for your music.
Another example -- you can output the Scrabble board from your iPad using Airplay to an HDTV, and then use the free Scrabble Tile Rack on other iOS devices for a local multiplayer Scrabble game.

To connect your Laptop to Apple TV you will have to follow these steps:

For those users NOT running Mountain Lion System software on their laptop or Mac computer. 

1. Run iTunes application on your computer, turn on Home Sharing under the Advanced Menu option. You will have to enter your Apple ID and password.
2. Using the Menu button on your remote that operates your Apple TV, select Computers tab and you will be able to select the Name of your shared library. 
3. You should be able to share or listen to  your iTunes music library or run Photos application on your computer and run a slideshow or view photos from the computer that are now displayed on the TV connected to the Apple TV box.

NOTE: As long as you leave Home Sharing on your computers, then they should be accessible under the Computer Tab of Apple TV.  Your computer does not have to be on to access this option and the photos to be displayed on your TV via the Apple TV box.  Movies and videos that you wish to watch must be stored in your iTunes library on your computer in order to play on your Apple TV. These must be playing on your computer and then they are played on your Apple TV if the Apple TV is selected from the Airplay drop down menu.

If you have Mountain Lion System and a computer with the right processor, it is much simpler to use the Airplay option available with that system to view your photos and mirror your computers screen.

1.  If your Mac supports Airplay Mirroring, an Airplay Mirroring menu appears in the menu bar when an Apple TV is on the same network.  Turn on the Apple TV options in the pop-down airplay menu.   Note: Airplay must be turned on via Systems Preferences&Displays
   From this systems preference, you can also set the mirroring resolution to be the matched to the computer's screen or the Apple TV's screen. 
2.  Once this option is enabled, you should be able to run any app or program to mirror what you see on your computer.

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