AirPlay and AirPlay Mirroring add a lot of value to the second and third generation Apple TVs. Paired with a recent iPad or the iPhone 4S, an Apple TV can instantly become a gaming solution and a theater for home movies – and will be amazing when combined with Mountain Lion when it ships this summer.
AirPlay also turns that Apple TV into powerful and extremely portable presentation system that’s a great fit for the classroom or the board room. The only challenge is that the Apple TV’s only output option is an HDMI port, which can be a big problem for connecting to older display technologies including many projectors and computer displays – a problem solved by cable and adapter maker Kanex.
Kanex today announced its new ATV Pro adapter designed for the Apple TV. The adapter connects to the second/third generation Apple TV’s HDMI port and offers a standard VGA port and 3.5 mm stereo mini-jack. The device is compact and doesn’t require a own power supply cable.
That portability makes it a great companions to an Apple TV and iPhone/iPad for mobile professionals that need to make presentations in a variety of different settings – and using a variety of different display options. Add a MacBook Air running Mountain Lion after Apple releases the next generation of OS X this summer, and you’ve got an amazing setup ready to go just about anyplace.
The device also works great for existing presentation solutions in classrooms, conference rooms, and other venues that don’t include HDMI support. At $59, the ATV Pro is almost certainly a cheaper alternative to replacing existing options simply for HDMI support.
Source: Kanex
Image: Kanex
Ryan Faas is a technology journalist and consultant living in upstate New York who has written extensively about Apple, business and enterprise IT, and the mobile industry. In addition to writing for Cult of Mac, he is a contributor to Computerworld, InformIT, and Peachpit Press. In a previous existence he was a healthcare IT director as well as a systems and network administrator. Follow Ryan on Twitter and Google +.
7 responses to “$59 Adapter Connects Apple TV Any AirPlay To Virtually And Display System”
It should includes a battery, for a real portable solution…
Useful for many no doubt, but the number of devices that don’t have any digital inputs in this day and age must be tiny.
Seriously, do you guys not even bother to READ the thing you write before you post them?
Look at the title.
$59 Adapter Connects Apple TV And AirPlay To Virtually And Display System
Won’t there be an issue with the hdcp?
You started with this:
$59 Adapter Connects Apple TV And AirPlay To Virtually And Display System
Now you have:
$59 Adapter Connects Apple TV Any AirPlay To Virtually And Display System
You just need to make it:
$59 Adapter Connects TV AND AirPlay to Virtually ANY Display System.
COM, how about hiring writers who know how to write and proof their own Headings?
I’d much rather have a dongle that offers the exact reverse of this.
A self powered, driverless VGA dongle that outputs any VGA source to AirPlay. Too much to ask for?
Headline Double fail.