Mersive Solstice vs Airtame

What’s the difference between Mersive Solstice and Airtame? To help you choose the best solution for your school or office, we want to give a fair comparison between the two.

Both Airtame and Mersive Solstice are streaming solutions for business and education environments. The main differences lie in the user experience, the way each product performs digital signage, and that Mersive Solstice offers network-based device management, while Airtame offers a Cloud-based platform.

Mersive Solstice device compared to Airtame device

Highlights

Airtame costs only $299 while the lowest priced version of Mersive Solstice costs $799.
Every Airtame comes with customizable background functionality and can display websites and dashboards. Mersive Solstice offers welcome screen branding which is only included in the Solstice Enterprise edition that costs $1,299.
To work, the Airtame device is inserted into a TV. Mersive Solstice can use either a host PC with Solstice display software for Windows or a Solstice Pod device.
Mersive Solstice has iOS mirroring support both in Solstice software and Solstice Pod. Airtame doesn’t currently provide mirroring functionality for Android mobile devices, but does have Airplay mirroring for iOS devices.

Oh, by the way, we’re always happy to tell you more about Airtame.

Let’s find a time to talk ☎️.

Airtame and Mersive Solstice: devices and software

Airtame is a small device that you plug into a TV. It can be powered through a power adapter or through a USB port on the TV it is plugged into. You then use Airtame software to mirror your device or devices to the TV.

Airtame allows one user to mirror a screen to multiple Airtame-enabled TVs as long as they are connected to the same WiFi network. Airtame mirrors screens in full HD video at 30 frames per second.

Mersive Solstice works in one of two ways. You can either buy a software license to install on a Windows computer or you can buy the Solstice Pod, which is an integrated software-hardware console. Any of these are then connected to your TV or projector as the receiving device. Both options are much bulkier compared to Airtame. Both PC with Solstice Software and the Solstice Pod also require an external power source.

With Mersive Solstice, any number of users can share content simultaneously on the same screen. With Solstice multi-room, which is included in Solstice Enterprise Edition, participants can share content across multiple Solstice-enabled TVs on the same enterprise network. Solstice offers streaming performance at 1080p and 60 frames per second.

Mersive Solstice streaming multiple users

Connectivity

Airtame is compatible with Windows, Mac, Chrome OS, and Linux. People with iPads and iPhones can enjoy AirPlay iOS mirroring. Airtame also offers presentation apps for Android and iOS. Using the mobile apps, you can stream static content, such as images and PDFs, stored locally on your mobile devices or on cloud-based services, be it Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.

Mersive Solstice installs on Windows PCs that run Windows 7, 8 or 10. Both Solstice Display Software and Solstice Pod offer full desktop and application window streaming, iOS and Android mirroring.

Starting with version 2.2, Mersive Solstice does provide support for Apple AirPlay discovery. One of the limitations of Solstice’s AirPlay support is that it doesn’t support YouTube, which is why you won’t be able to stream YouTube videos if you are using Solstice through Airplay. Airtame’s AirPlay iOS mirroring does support YouTube and video streaming in public beta.

Mersive Solstice supports cross-platform

Administration

You can manage all your Airtames from the Cloud using Airtame Cloud, which is a free platform that allows you to manage and monitor all Airtames from one central place. You can edit all device settings remotely from Airtame Cloud either for individual devices or for multiple devices at once. For example, you can change the background of your Homescreen on all your Airtames at once.

Airtame does not have a stream moderator option. To switch from one presenter to another, the presenter who is currently streaming needs to press “Stop” button on the screen to end their stream and the next presenter needs to click “Start” to begin theirs. Other Airtame features include Pin Code Connect for 4-digit password protection before starting a stream, auto-reconnect, and an on-screen notification box reminding you you’re streaming.

Mersive Solstice allows unlimited simultaneous users to connect with WiFi or Ethernet to the same screen. Each user can share multiple streams on one display. Users have full control of screen layout and can look at one or multiple things on the screen at the same time. There are various modes that allow both sessions controlled by certain presenters and “equal access for all” sessions. When equal access settings are enabled, any participant has full control of anyone else’s participation in the session.

Mersive Solstice offers management software called the Solstice Dashboard for Enterprise Edition for their higher end enterprise options. Most likely, you will need an IT specialist to configure Mersive Solstice on your network, especially if you plan to use it with multiple screens.

Mersive Solstice network management interface

Welcome screen customization

Airtame’s Homescreen lets you display a custom logo or image as the TV’s default background. The surprising factor here is that the Homescreen is actually a web browser, so you can also use a URL to show a website to share a KPI dashboard, a calendar, or even a slideshow using a tool like Google Slides. With [Airtame’s 3.0 product update](https://blog.airtame.com/airtame-3-0/), there are 4 new overlays to choose from, two of which offer custom text formatting.

While Mersive Solstice offers some welcome screen customization you can use to brand your office, it is only available in the Enterprise Edition, which costs $1,299.

Mersive Solstice welcome screen compared to Airtame live dashboards

Pricing

A single Airtame costs $299. The cheapest version of Mersive Solstice costs $999. Solstice Enterprise Edition has a one-to-many management dashboard, customizable welcome screen, comprehensive 3rd party integration API, emergency messaging and traffic encryption, costs $1299.

Bottom Line

Airtame and Mersive Solstice are different solutions that serve their own purposes and come at different price points. Airtame works best for users who want a friendly and sleek user interface with the extra perk of doubling as a digital signage solution. That is, you can customize your default background with any Airtame, including backgrounds that consist of live websites, such as KPI dashboards. With the free Cloud platform, you can manage an unlimited number of Airtames remotely.

Mersive Solstice offers an unlimited number of users to stream unlimited number of items to the same screen. It has various modes, including a mode with a moderator and “equal access for all” mode, so if you need some kind of moderator system, Mersive Solstice might be a better fit. Additionally, if Android mirroring is important to you, Mersive Solstice offers this. You can use Mersive Solstice by plugging either a PC host or Solstice Pod into a TV. Both of these options are much physically heavier than Airtame making the look and feel a bit bulkier.

More comparisons:

We aim to be as objective as we can in this article to give a fair comparison between Mersive Solstice and Airtame.