Posted on 02-05-2019 09:04 AM
Now that several of the big TV companies will begin integrating AirPlay2 in their TVs (Vizio, Samsung, LG, etc), schools (at least us) will not need to purchase Apple TVs any longer.
Will JAMF be able to 'manage' the TVs?
Posted on 02-05-2019 10:01 AM
This feature is very cool for retail consumers but I do not believe it will be very useful for enterprise/education use. My guess is the Airplay service will be running off internal hardware of the TV rather than a full-scale Apple TV being installed within the board. This would also result in the device not being managed by Jamf because there is no physical hardware signature for the JSS to see(SN,MAC,etc). Just an educated guess, we will have to wait and see when they are released.
Posted on 02-05-2019 10:28 AM
At my last position we had purchased Enzo boxes that attached to TVs in the classroom for our new schools. That device allowed iOS, macOS and chrome OS devices to connect. I would guess that these new TVs will function about the same, mirroring only, without some of the other features an AppleTV provides like digital signage. If they work well and mirroring is your only need, reducing the number of devices needed to mirror is a good thing.
If they are Apple Approved and not a reverse engineering product, I bet Jamf will be able to manage them.
Posted on 02-05-2019 12:26 PM
A number of interactive panel manufacturers that focus on education (SMART, Promethean, Vivitek, etc.) are integrating AirPlay/Casting into their software on their boards at this point (consumer space is just catching up). As mentioned before most of these are just applications that support mirroring and most of these manufacturers have their own remote management protocols/software. Some such as Vivitek support their own digital signage product on the device as well, so it really depends on how you want to approach it cost/software wise.
Posted on 02-05-2019 01:22 PM
Features and quality is probable going to very from brand to brand.
And there has been no word if any of these devices will support iBeacon Discovery.
Or be able to directly stream to the device over a seperate WiFi connection.
It would be great if AirPlay becomes a global standard.
Like any device can discover and use AirPlay out of the box.
And most TV and Projectors have AirPlay built-in.
Right now I haven't herd of any TV running Apple tvOS. So for those 3rd party OSs, it's going to be up to them to choose what and how they support their devices.
LG already have some device management through SuperSign CMS. Who knows, maybe they'll add support for airplay.