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sap12690

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 5, 2011
300
1
How do I do the mirroring from my Mac to the apple TV? I cant seem to find where to do it
 
By default it added an icon in my Menu Bar and I just select that and then the AppleTV I want. It's a square with a triangle.
 
This will only work with compatible macs. encoding is a really intense process, but the new CPUs can handle it with a technology called quick-sync. Airplay uses that technology, so it will only work with ivy bridge or sandy bridge CPUs.

If you dont have a supported chip, Airparrot can do airplay mirroring too, but it's much less efficient.
 
I have an iMac, i bought it like 2 years ago

AirPlay Mirroring requires a second-generation Apple TV or later, and is supported on the following Mac models: iMac (Mid 2011 or newer), Mac mini (Mid 2011 or newer), MacBook Air (Mid 2011 or newer), and MacBook Pro (Early 2011 or newer).

2 years is too old.
 
AirPlay just a video is one thing. It's just streaming the data to the AppleTV. Mirroring it has to rendering the entire screen onto the AppleTV. requires more processing power which the older machines just don't support to be done properly anyway. There are 3rd Party Apps out there that will do it but even using Mirroring there is still a lag to what happens on the Mac to the TV. Impossible to plays games on your TV at least.
 
Your iMac lacks the needed h264 hardware encoder that is used to quickly encode the stream for the Apple TV.

Exactly. The technology used in airplay mirroring wasn't around yet. It isn't like apple omitted it purposely. There just wasn't a good way of doing it yet.
 
Blah

I guess I should have read up a bit more. That's the only reason I even upgraded. Pretty disappointing.
 
how much do you think it would be to upgrade a 2010 macbook pro so that I could use air play?
 
I am also not seeing my apple tv 2. Yet I can see it in iTunes and on the iPad. Bought it 9/7/11 so it fits the model range I believe.
 
AirPlay Mirroring requires a second-generation Apple TV or later, and is supported on the following Mac models: iMac (Mid 2011 or newer), Mac mini (Mid 2011 or newer), MacBook Air (Mid 2011 or newer), and MacBook Pro (Early 2011 or newer).

2 years is too old.

Lame! A new mini can do it, but mid 2010 3.2 Quadcore can't??:mad::mad:
 
Lame! A new mini can do it, but mid 2010 3.2 Quadcore can't??:mad::mad:

The new Mini has a hardware h264 encoder. Your machine lacks that and the amount of CPU power needed to encode the h264 stream on the fly results in performance that in not acceptable to Apple.
 
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