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jasonforisrael

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 8, 2008
215
0
I was hoping to be able to send video from my MBP to the Mac Mini that is hooked up to my HDTV.
 
It doesn't work between OSX machines. It's a Mac OSX to Appletv only process. There might be third party options out there but not out of the box.
 
My understanding is that AirPlay only works between an Apple device such as the MM or iPad and the ATV. There might be tweaks and such that you can get that allow you to do unconventional things. For instance, on my old laptop I bought AirParrot, which allowed me to AirPlay my laptop that didn't have the proper Intel in it. Anything before 2011 won't AirPlay and my 2010 MBP suffered from this.
 
My understanding is that AirPlay only works between an Apple device such as the MM or iPad and the ATV. There might be tweaks and such that you can get that allow you to do unconventional things. For instance, on my old laptop I bought AirParrot, which allowed me to AirPlay my laptop that didn't have the proper Intel in it. Anything before 2011 won't AirPlay and my 2010 MBP suffered from this.

You're talking about Airplay mirroring specifically. Older macs can still airplay video or music through iTunes or with 3rd party apps like Beamer.
And with XBMC, you can also airplay to a mac as well.
 
You're talking about Airplay mirroring specifically. Older macs can still airplay video or music through iTunes or with 3rd party apps like Beamer.
And with XBMC, you can also airplay to a mac as well.

Well that is the benefit that I see to AirPlay. I believe that any Apple product (or even PC) can connect to an Apple TV to play music, I mean I have it setup on my grandparent's Dell.

I have never heard of Beamer though. Nor have I used XBMC, but that does sound like a handy tool.
 
Well that is the benefit that I see to AirPlay. I believe that any Apple product (or even PC) can connect to an Apple TV to play music, I mean I have it setup on my grandparent's Dell.

I have never heard of Beamer though. Nor have I used XBMC, but that does sound like a handy tool.

Just like iTunes, Beamer allows you to stream video directly to an Apple TV. The advantage with Beamer though is that it works with all file formats.
 
You can buy a program called AirServer that allows you Mac Mini to mirror the display from another Apple product just like AirPlay Mirroring to an Apple TV. I have been using it in my classroom to mirror what's on my iPad 2 to my Mac Mini since January and it works flawlessly.

Here's the link: http://www.airserver.com/Download
 
Do you mean like just .mkv or any video/audio file that isn't compatible? Because that sounds great. Also, is it free?

Any file format. It will live convert the file as it streams it over Airplay to ATV. It's seamless and works very well, as if you were doing it through iTunes directly. You can even use your Apple TV remote for playback controls, just like with iTunes. Only downside is you can only play one video at a time, but I'm sure they'll add support for a queue in an update.

Not free though. You can try it out free (http://beamer-app.com) but it limits you to the first 15mn of a video until you pay to unlock it. Well worth the price if you ask me.
 
I've often wondered why this isn't possible myself. I have a Mac Mini in the study and an Apple TV in the living room and occasionally I want to play music from speakers in both rooms. Initially I did this by playing from iTunes on the Mini, which works fine, but required running back and forth to change music. Then I found Remote which works pretty good, but.... used Airport Express's are relatively cheap these days, so I've disconnected the speakers from the Mac Mini and attached them to an Airport Express. Now I can Airplay to both rooms from The Mac Mini or one of our MacBooks. To get system sounds to play over the speakers on the Express click on the speaker icon while holding down option (only works in ML) and you can select the express from there. I believe Airparrot was the idea before ML.

Ideally, I would like to be able to play directly from my iPhone to multiple locations. Couldn't a program running on the Mini manage this, which I believe was the OP's question. I suppose a software implementation of a receiving device might exposes too many secrets of the Airplay technology??
 
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