Mac Pro AirPlay Mirroring

[WhiteIphone5]

Why cant the Mac Pro's do Airplat mirror to the apple tv? i know about air parrot, so no need to tell me about that. I mean officially why not? can the 12-core model do it? Just wondering, maybe its a hardware issue? if someone knows please post back, im very interested.

 

[Intell]

It's a hardware issue. Because their logicboard design is from 2010, they lack the needed hardware h264 encoder known as Intell QuickSync.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

Just download AirParrot. It works just as good.

 

[WhiteIphone5]

It's a hardware issue. Because their logicboard design is from 2010, they lack the needed hardware h264 encoder known as Intell QuickSync.

makes sense. Thank You! sucks that a computer worth more than 3K cant airplay due to logic board design. Oh well. Cant wait for the new one

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Just download AirParrot. It works just as good.

i know about AirParrot, im just wondering why Apple hasn't supported it officially.

 

[mcnallym]

Even if Apple had updated the Mac Pro with Sanybridge-EP Processors when they became available, you still wouldn't get the AirPlay Mirroring on the Mac Pro.

The feature as developed by Apple relies on Intel QuickSync technology which is found in the integrated GPU section of the CPU.

To get a Xeon with Quicksync you have to drop down to an E3 class Xeon. The E5 doesn't have the GPU, so doesn't support QuickSync.

The E3 series don't support enough PCI-E lanes, and don't support Dual CPU configurations ( Not that the Mac Pro 2013 Cylinder does either ), so even if Apple had a 2013 logic board/CPU in the for sale now Mac Pro with E5 Xeons you still wouldn't have AirPlay on the Mac Pro yet.

Personally don't count on the 2013 model supporting it either, as I don't believe that Ivybridge-EP has GPU in it either.

 

[ActionableMango]

Except third party software does it just fine, so clearly the "hardware limitation" is a flimsy excuse.

 

[Intell]

Except third party software does it just fine, so clearly the "hardware limitation" is a flimsy excuse.

It can work by using just the CPU, but it can get extremely CPU intensive with higher framerates or at 1080p. Something that Apple and some end users do not find acceptable. That is why Apple only allows it on computers that have Intell's QuickSync hardware encoder. The hardware limitation is a valid excuse. Most pre-2008 Macs have difficulty when using AirParrot when doing anything but sitting idle.

 

[ActionableMango]

It can work by using just the CPU, but it can get extremely CPU intensive with higher framerates or at 1080p. Something that Apple and some end users do not find acceptable. That is why Apple only allows it on computers that have Intell's QuickSync hardware encoder. The hardware limitation is a valid excuse. Most pre-2008 Macs have difficulty when using AirParrot when doing anything but sitting idle.

I stand by my opinion that it is a flimsy excuse. They could simply have Airplay switch to software decode/encode if an appropriate Mac Pro is detected. Extensive CPU use is nothing to a Mac Pro.

Besides, doesn't the 5770's AVIVO support H.264 transcoding? I believe it does, in which case there actually is a hardware H.264 transcoder in 2010 and newer Mac Pros.

Give us the choice. Bring the Apple family together. Don't make me run off to buy $10 software that shouldn't be necessary.

 

[pastrychef]

Lack of QuickSync is indeed a a valid excuse. Contrary to popular belief, Apple is not out to screw everyone.

From wikipedia.org:

"Quick Sync has been praised for its speed. Eighth Annual MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Video Codecs Comparison showed that Quick Sync is comparable to x264 superfast preset in terms of speed, compression ratio and quality (SSIM); tests were performed on Core i7 3770 (Ivy Bridge) processor. A benchmark from Tom's Hardware showed that Quick Sync could encode a 449 MB, four minute 1080p file to 1024×768 in 22 seconds. The same encoding using only software took 172 seconds but it is not clear what software encoder was used and how it was configured. The same encoding took 83 or 86 seconds GPU-assisted, using a Nvidia GeForce GTX 570 and a AMD Radeon HD 6870 respectively, both of which are contemporary high end GPUs. Unlike video encoding on a general-purpose GPU, Quick Sync is a dedicated hardware core on the processor die. This allows for faster and more power efficient video processing."