AppleTV on the polish market does not have as much to offer as in the USA and in Western Europe. Siri still hasn’t bothered to learn polish and a lot of streaming services are not available. On top of that, it’s pricey (23% VAT) and there is no way to make it works with more than one TV at the same time. This is why I was looking for alternatives.
AirServer
What I was looking for the most was AirPlay support. Unfortunately, there is no open source project supporting it, so no way to turn RaspberryPi into an AirPlay receiver. Most of the Android boxes (like Mi box 4k) does not support AirPlay and as far as I know, there is no Android app that can handle streaming from Apple devices. The only software that supports AirPlay is a paid software. The one I was using and had a great experience with is AirServer.
It has few downsides:
- it does not support DRM so trying to stream YouTube or video from Safari crashes it
- it works only on Windows/Mac (also Xbox, surface hub, Philips TV)
- one machine = one license
But more advantages:
- supports not only AirPlay but also Google Cast and Miracast
- supports multiple connections at once
- can record videos
Slimstick to the rescue
I didn’t want to turn an old PC or Mac into a streaming device because they come in bigger sizes than AppleTV, consume more power and are more expensive.
Fortunately, thanks to the release of the intel atom x5-Z8350 the market was flooded with cheap and tiny Windows devices. One that I got is Kiano Slimstick 2.0 which comes in a form of a fat ass stick that you can plug into your TV (it is not really slim, the name is deceiving).
To sum it’s advantages:
- it’s made by a polish company (I’d rather not log into my Microsoft account on the device I bought on AliExpress)
- I bought it for 299PLN gross (~70€) from MediaMarkt
- it has OEM Windows 10 Home license (which standalone costs ~300PLN/70€)
- it is actually x86 windows
- it even works with 5GHz Wifi
- despite what spec says it supports 4k@30Hz
Bad things are:
- it comes with a 32-bit version of Windows
Bundling it together
There wasn’t much work to do. I set up an admin account without a password so it boots up and logs in automatically. I installed remotemouse so I can turn it off or perform maintenance using my phone instead of having separate mouse and keyboard for it. I also installed an AirServer (which apparently works with 32-bit Windows as well).
One small thing that is actually pretty cool is the boot option to automatically power on when the power plug is inserted. I plugged the stick into one of the remote sockets I have. This way when I want to turn it on I don’t have to awkwardly reach behind my tv to press the power button. I can boot it with the same remote I use to turn lights in my living room.
It does the job well
Overall experience is great.
As I’ve mentioned before it is not able to stream DRM content but it’s not really an issue because Netflix, YouTube, HboGo apps work pretty well on Samsung TV anyway.
The only issue is lagging video using AirPlay. Framerate drop is actually quite annoying and the sound is a little behind the video.
Streaming from iPhone or Mac works really smoothly. Viewing photos this way on family gatherings caught up quickly. It’s also great that my relatives, who still haven’t left Android camp, can participate as well. All of this without a need to install an additional app on either stick or one of the phones.
Splitscreen is also very nice feature. You can simply join the party what makes a transition more smooth than just kicking someone out as it works on AppleTV. And sometimes you just want to compare two things side by side.
Having an option to use Google Cast instead of AirPlay comes handy quite often. When I’m working from home and want to use a TV as the additional screen I can just share chrome tab with New Relic using Google Cast.
The hardware is the main limitation
If Windows is replaced with the 64-bit version it could be possible to install AirServer Windows 10 Desktop Edition (Windows Store version) which according to their website should perform better:
As a result we’ve created a product that can run on even the most challenging hardware such as an Intel® Atom™ x5-Z8300 based Compute Stick without breaking a sweat.
As far as I know, there is no reason why 64-bit version Windows 10 should not work on a Slimstick. Yet I wasn’t able to make it work but I didn’t put much effort in trying. All I did was preparing Pendrive with the 64-bit installer, plugging it in and changing the boot order of devices.
I don’t know why. Secure boot was turned off. I’ve tried plugging installer into both 2.0 and 3.0 USB ports and setting Pendrive as the main bootable device. I couldn’t really dig more into it, but maybe one lazy weekend I’ll try again.
It’s good for streaming
I think that for people interested mainly in streaming who don’t really need a media box this is even a better fit than Apple TV. Sticks market is pretty big. There are even devices released by Intel with m3 and 4GB of RAM, so there should be no problem with getting better performing hardware. There is even dedicated NUC from AirServer promising really great performance.
Also having x86 Windows allows for installing some specific software. One thing that I want to try next is PS4 Remote Play.
It definitely is not a replacement for an AppleTV or any other media box. Windows 10 interface is terrible for living room usage. I can’t imagine watching Netflix on Edge because remote controlling Windows 10 from a coach is a cumbersome task. Having Bluetooth keyboard and mouse always around in a living room is weird and annoying. Remotemouse app is fine to perform small tasks but it quickly gets annoying as well. It misses letters when you type and you can’t use it all the time (for example on Windows UAC screens).
My main motivation to write this was sad fact that I couldn’t find any reviews from actual users of hardware like Kiano Slimstick 2.0