How you can ditch your Displaylink adapter using a Apple TV

Ren · 10-23-2013, 05:39 PM

CPU usage is around 1% additional at 720P on static screens like outlook. Video takes a larger hit at around 3% using mplayerX playing a full 1080P bluray rip around 30 gigs.

In my experience, this actually seems like less thank the displaylink process. I think airplay uses GPU acceleration to encode the video it sends so it doesn't need to use much CPU. One quirk I did notice was quickly switching displays with mplayerX several times fast causes it to stutter and requires a restart of the movie. This is all on a i7 2.3Ghz mini.

So far so good! Tempted to buy 2 1080P IPS displays and a apple TV 3.

kingsapo · 10-23-2013, 07:16 PM

Awesome, thanks for posting that info! That CPU usage isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be - definitely less than what DisplayLink would use in similar situations.

Ren · 10-23-2013, 10:30 PM

Just ordered a refurb apple tv 3rd gen from the apple store for $75. The displaylink adapter is going on craigslist....

emmgee · 10-24-2013, 12:24 AM

Can you share the details of the networking? I use my MacBook Pro at home and at work. I have gigabit at home and could easily put an Apple TV on my home switch but at work I would think I'd have to have a dedicated switch that was on its own network. My company wouldn't allow the ATV on the corporate LAN.

Ren · 10-24-2013, 01:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emmgee

Can you share the details of the networking? I use my MacBook Pro at home and at work. I have gigabit at home and could easily put an Apple TV on my home switch but at work I would think I'd have to have a dedicated switch that was on its own network. My company wouldn't allow the ATV on the corporate LAN.

Everything is wired on my home gigabit network, but the Apple TV is only 100mb ethernet. I monitored the bandwidth usage on my Mac when airplaying and believe it or not it's only around one megabyte a second at 720p.

I think the reason wired is better isn't because of bandwidth but less latency and no dropped frames. If the computer is wired and the Apple TV is wireless the experience is better, but not amazing. I can't wait try full 1080p.

One quirk I noticed is that when I was watching a full screen YouTube video on my main display the Apple TV would stop mirroring after 10 or so minutes. I'm guessing it's som kind of activity timer. Hopefully I can get around it.

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10-23-2013, 05:39 PM	#1
Ren Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 8	CPU usage is around 1% additional at 720P on static screens like outlook. Video takes a larger hit at around 3% using mplayerX playing a full 1080P bluray rip around 30 gigs. In my experience, this actually seems like less thank the displaylink process. I think airplay uses GPU acceleration to encode the video it sends so it doesn't need to use much CPU. One quirk I did notice was quickly switching displays with mplayerX several times fast causes it to stutter and requires a restart of the movie. This is all on a i7 2.3Ghz mini. So far so good! Tempted to buy 2 1080P IPS displays and a apple TV 3.

10-23-2013, 07:16 PM	#2
kingsapo Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 5	Awesome, thanks for posting that info! That CPU usage isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be - definitely less than what DisplayLink would use in similar situations.

10-23-2013, 10:30 PM	#3
Ren Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 8	Just ordered a refurb apple tv 3rd gen from the apple store for $75. The displaylink adapter is going on craigslist....

10-24-2013, 12:24 AM	#4
emmgee Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 2	Can you share the details of the networking? I use my MacBook Pro at home and at work. I have gigabit at home and could easily put an Apple TV on my home switch but at work I would think I'd have to have a dedicated switch that was on its own network. My company wouldn't allow the ATV on the corporate LAN.