It is a cheap way to record Apple TV gameplay videos for YouTube or to make video app-previews and tutorials. The video quality is quite good!

Does recording from the USB degrade the video quality / experience you have on the TV? Yes, it degrades. And the captured video is not a full representation of the frame-rate you have on the TV if you were not recording at all. Thats why I intend to buy the Elgato in the future.

Any good USB-C cable of your choice would do. All Apple TV images that appear in this video were captured using a generic USB-C ta USB-A cable, on my iMac 2013, using QuickTime.

I thought this USB-C cable method would only work on modern computers with USB 3.0 ports… But no! Surprise, surprise! I could record using my 6-year-old MacBook white as well – it has only USB 2.0 ports… But, even though that notebook was upgraded to an SSD drive, it is an old system and the resulting video had much more dropped frames. On the iMac, the captured video was much better.

Learn more

• How to use QuickTime Player:
  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201066

Quick and easy, step-by-step, troubleshooting guide:

The new Apple TV is a hit! And the AirPlay and AirPlay Mirroring got much more stable and faster on the 4th generation device! Even so, problems can still happen, specially with AirPlay. It can be some weirdness on your router, or the iPhone itself… streaming video/screen of the iPhone to the Apple TV involve a lot of technologies.

But don’t worry. Just watch the video and do all the following 9 steps to fix AirPlay problems:

1. Turn OFF the Cable Modem, Router and Wifi
2. On the Apple TV, close all running apps
3. Restart the Apple TV
4. On the iPhone and/or iPad, close all the running apps
5. Restart the iPhone and iPad
6. Turn ON your Cable Modem, Router and Wifi
7. Enable Bluetooth on iPhone and iPad
8. Be sure all devices are using the same Network
9. Keep your devices updated

Putting all devices in the same network and enabling Bluetooth makes AirPlay much easier to work. It is also possible to do “Peer-to-peer AirPlay” from an iPhone or iPad who is NOT connected on the same network, which is useful mostly at offices and schools.

AirPlay Support links

Apple has some very nice and detailed support content about AirPlay troubleshooting:

• Get help with AirPlay and AirPlay Mirroring on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:
  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204291
• Use AirPlay to wirelessly stream content from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch (contains some information about peer-to-peer AirPlay):
  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204289

I hope it helped you!

Which cable/adapter should you buy? Should you go wireless with Apple TV? Here is the ultimate overview tutorial on “Connecting iGadgets to the TV”.

About the adapters: I’ve seen lots of knock-off adapters being sold online… many of them stopped working since iOS 8. I really recommend you to only buy original adapters directly from Apple.

Apple TV in the Classroom / Presentations / VGA Projectors

The Apple TV allows the teacher to mirror his/her iPad to the projector without wires. The absence of cables allows the teacher to freely walk the room while using the iPad and easily hand over the iPad to a student. If students also have iPads / iPhones, they also can engage on AirPlay to show their activities for the whole class on the projection.

But many Projectors only have VGA cables (not the HDMI as the Apple TV outputs). There is great product made specifically for Apple TV that solves this problem: Kanex ATV PRO (HDMI to VGA Adapter). It converts the HDMI output into a VGA + Stereo 3.5mm audio connections.

Check them out on Amazon

• Kanex ATV PRO (HDMI to VGA plus Audio) for AirPlay / Roku 
• HDMI Cable, AmazonBasics, 6.5 feet (2 meters) 
• HDMI Cable, AmazonBasics, 25 feet (7.6 meters) 
• VGA Cable, AmazonBasics, 15 feet (4.5 meters) 

Buying from these links, you are helping me a big deal! Thank you for your support!

Unfortunately, Amazon stopped selling Apple TVs (read about it on  The Verge).

Of course, you can buy Apple TVs directly from Apple and many other resellers.