How to Watch HBO on an Old Apple TV
If you’ve been following the HBO drama lately – and I’m not talking about Westworld – you may have heard that owners of older Apple TVs will lose their ability to stream HBO shows soon. While obsolescence is a fact of life in technology, it seems like a silly move because why can’t hardware powerful enough handle new coding techniques? but that’s the way it is. If you own a second or third generation Apple TV – models released in 2010 and 2012, respectively – you will soon lose the HBO app.
This “soon” is important as the HBO Go and HBO Now apps were first scheduled for April 30th. Since then, HBO has extended the sentence to May 15, a slightly generous move but not delaying. inevitable for a very long time. Come on that fateful Friday and your ability to stream your favorite shows (easy way) will disappear, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you are SUNNY. There are several techniques you can use to keep yourself in the loop for a while in High Service episodes.
Is it time for an upgrade?
There is a workaround, but it will cost you the convenience of using the dedicated Apple TV app. If that violates the terms of the deal, I recommend grabbing a snack and updating your Apple TV. Yes, I know: buying new hardware to support the software looks like you are contributing to a rigged system. But that’s how life works, isn’t it?
Want the latest ray traced video games to look great? Either pay for a streaming service that costs you a month and potentially forces you to outbid the game on a new platform, or spend a small fortune updating your system. Want some crazy augmented reality technology that lets you paint animal faces on your body? Refresh your phone. Etc.
I hate forced updates, but you can buy a new Apple TV with a little savings right now. They’ll usually set you back $ 149 for the regular version or $ 179 for the one that supports 4K streaming. Unfortunately, Apple’s Education Discount does not apply to Apple TV, and you won’t find any models in the repair store right now. However, if you’re careful, you can sometimes save around $ 10 by buying your Apple TV from another seller. Sign up for the Slickdeals pricing alert and stay patient.
You can also just publish on eBay or Craigslist an Apple TV – even the fourth generation – for about $ 100-120. However, I don’t think the savings are worth it. The newer Apple TV isn’t that much more expensive, even if you go for the 4K version. And this is what I would recommend if you go the upgrade path: even if it’s too much for your needs right now, it will be future-proofed for a 4K TV that you probably end up buying, and this is the best. a way to make sure you’re not disturbed again if your favorite app stops running on your 5-year-old Apple TV HD. If you’re already paying $ 150, there’s nothing to ask for another $ 30.
If you don’t want to buy a new device to use HBO
There is another simple solution to get HBO content on your old Apple TV, but it is not as simple and beautiful as the dedicated app. If you have decent Wi-Fi, just use AirPlay to stream the HBO app or browser from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
First, make sure that AirPlay is enabled in the “Settings»> «Airplay» on the Apple TV and your Apple TV is on the same Wi-Fi network as your device.
If you’re using an iPhone or iPad, open HBO Now or HBO Go, start any show you want, and click on the share icon – it looks like a TV screen with a triangle at the bottom. Select Apple TV as the AirPlay target and a pop-up with your show should appear on the screen. The process should look something like this (awesome voice announced in the movie not included):
If you’re using a Mac, you should be able to open HBO in your web browser (I’d use Safari) and AirPlay content right from the video playback controls . Otherwise, you can also just mirror your Mac’s entire screen to Apple TV – your choice.
Another option for the third generation Apple TV
Individual users To Reddit dfjdejulio shared this advice on getting through HBO content on Apple TV application of the third generation:
“They’ve really added the 3rd generation AppleTV app. It turns out if you subscribe to HBO as an AppleTV “channel” that runs on third-generation devices. (We still have the old one in our guest room.)
I’m sure it will work until Apple stops updating 3rd generation (which they still do) and for a few years after that.
The second generation, I think, was just unlucky. “
If you’re an HBO subscriber using an Apple TV, this news may give you some headaches and frustrations as you have to reconfigure your setup , but it’s worth investigating now if you want to keep watching network shows nonstop. As the members ofa masked terrorist group say: tick-tock.