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What to do with your old Apple TV

Updated October 2026

You bought a new Apple TV 4K and the old one went into a drawer. If your cameras record to a Synology NAS, that old box can run a live wall of every camera on a spare TV or monitor, in the hallway, the kitchen or the garage.

No spare Apple TV, but a spare television? An Android TV stick does the same job.

Which old Apple TVs work

NasCam runs on the Apple TV HD (2015) and on every Apple TV 4K (2017, 2021 and 2022), on tvOS 17 or later. Those are the models people retire when they upgrade, so the one in your drawer probably qualifies.

The quick test: if the home screen has an App Store icon, it works. For the exact model, open Settings → General → About.

The Apple TV 3 and older, the small black boxes from 2012 and before, have no App Store. They cannot install any app, so they cannot run a camera wall either.

What the wall looks like

NasCam has two wall layouts. Top 10 puts two large cameras in the middle with four smaller ones above and below. Press and hold a camera to move it, so the front door and the driveway get the big spots. Grid shows every camera at the same size.

From the wall, open any camera full screen, or step into its recorded events. The event timeline is marked with the motion and AI detections Surveillance Station logged, so you can check what set off the driveway camera at 3am from the same screen.

An Apple TV 4K handles H.265 cameras and a full grid more comfortably than the Apple TV HD. If tiles stutter on the HD, give the cameras a lower-resolution secondary stream in Surveillance Station.

Where to put it

• By the front door. See who is on the step before you open it.
• In the kitchen. Keep an eye on the garden or the children playing at the front.
• In the garage or workshop. Watch the drive while you work.
• On the desk. An old monitor next to your work screen makes a quiet second display.

Any screen with an HDMI input works. A computer monitor is often the better choice: it uses less power than a television and nobody needs it for films.

Set it up in ten minutes

1. Connect the Apple TV to the screen with HDMI. Use Ethernet if a cable reaches; Wi-Fi works for a few cameras.
2. Install NasCam from the App Store on the Apple TV. It is free to install.
3. Sign in to your NAS with its local address, for example 192.168.1.20, port 5000, and a DSM account. The account needs Live View permission, and Playback permission for recorded events.
4. Pick a layout, Top 10 or Grid, and arrange the cameras.
5. Turn off the screen saver. See the next section.

For a screen in a shared space, give it its own DSM account. Limit that account's Surveillance Station privileges to the cameras you want on the wall, and leave out the one pointed at the back garden if that is nobody else's business. NasCam shows only what the account may see.

The full walkthrough, with ports and remote access, is in How to watch Synology cameras on Apple TV.

Keep it on screen

Out of the box, an Apple TV starts its screen saver after a few minutes without a button press and then goes to sleep. For a wall, change both:

1. Settings → General → Screen Saver → Start After: Never.
2. Settings → General → Sleep After: Never.

Check the screen too. Many TVs sold in Europe switch themselves off after four hours without a remote press, to meet energy rules. Look for Auto power off, Auto standby or an Eco setting in the TV's menu and turn it off. Computer monitors do not do this.

If you would rather not run it all day, leave the defaults. Wake the Apple TV with the remote and open NasCam when you want to look.

What it costs

The hardware is the box you already own. NasCam is free to install, and the free version shows camera 1 and each camera's 3 most recent events. That is enough to test the setup on your own NAS.

A wall of more than one camera needs NasCam Pro, which unlocks every camera and the full event history. It is a low-cost monthly subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase. Your price is shown in the App Store.

What it does not do

• No pan, tilt and zoom control.
• No two-way audio.
• Synology Surveillance Station only. It is not a general RTSP viewer.

What you need

• A Synology NAS on DSM 7 or later, with Surveillance Station 9 or later and your cameras added.
• An Apple TV HD (2015) or any Apple TV 4K, on tvOS 17 or later.
• A screen with an HDMI input.
• A DSM account with Live View permission, plus Playback permission for recordings.

Full details are on the setup page.

Questions