RESOLVED: Why is there no AirPlay on Mac Mini?

[dmk1974]

I really like my Apple TV and the AirPlay feature is sweet for sending photos and videos from my iPhone 4.

But why don't they have AirPlay for the Mac Mini? I'd love to replace my AppleTV with a Mini connected to my HDTV, but that's one feature I don't want to give up.

 

[Intell]

Mac OS X doesn't really have AirPlay yet. I use AirServer to give my Mini AirPlay abilities.

 

[dmk1974]

Mac OS X doesn't really have AirPlay yet. I use AirServer to give my Mini AirPlay abilities.

I saw that, but that requires a jailbroken iPhone, correct? Plus you then have to buy the Mac App plus the IOS App as well if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Intell]

I saw that, but that requires a jailbroken iPhone, correct? Plus you then have to buy the Mac App plus the IOS App as well if I'm not mistaken.

No. There is an AirServer app for Mac and iOS. But the Mac one does not require a jailbroken iDevice.

 

[dmk1974]

No. There is an AirServer app for Mac and iOS. But the Mac one does not require a jailbroken iDevice.

Ok, so if I understand correctly, I just need to buy the Mac App and run it on the Mini and then the iPhone "normal" AirPlay will detect and connect to it?

 

[Intell]

Ok, so if I understand correctly, I just need to buy the Mac App and run it on the Mini and then the iPhone "normal" AirPlay will detect and connect to it?

Correct. It will make the Mini show up on your network as a Apple TV type of AirPlay device.

 

[dmk1974]

Well, I bought it and downloaded it. Connected fine. Photos come up perfectly and streaming music was fine though as well. But the videos are really jerky. The audio from the videos doesn't hiccup too much, but the video playback after 10-15 seconds gets choppy.

By comparison, on my AppleTV2, it takes a little time for videos to buffer and then plays flawlessly. AirServer played right away, but had the stutter after a while.

 

[Intell]

Well, I bought it and downloaded it. Connected fine. Photos come up perfectly and streaming music was fine though as well. But the videos are really jerky. The audio from the videos doesn't hiccup too much, but the video playback after 10-15 seconds gets choppy.

By comparison, on my AppleTV2, it takes a little time for videos to buffer and then plays flawlessly. AirServer played right away, but had the stutter after a while.

Videos work fine for me. What kind of network do you have?

 

[dmk1974]

I just figured it out...the videos are now fine. I did not notice that on the Mac that there is actually a buffer bar that fills in the progress indicator. Makes sense compared to the ATV2. Once I let that buffer fill up, even most of the way, the playback was smooth.

This is working pretty well! Thanks!

 

[dmk1974]

One last thing...now that I can do AirPlay on a Mac, is there anything that the ATV2 can do that the latest Mini cannot do? I know the interface of course is a bit different, but as long as I can rent movies through iTunes, watch Netflix and MLB.TV, connect to family MobileMe Galleries, and now use AirPlay via AirServer, I think I'm covered, right?

 

[Intell]

One last thing...now that I can do AirPlay on a Mac, is there anything that the ATV2 can do that the latest Mini cannot do? I know the interface of course is a bit different, but as long as I can rent movies through iTunes, watch Netflix and MLB.TV, connect to family MobileMe Galleries, and now use AirPlay via AirServer, I think I'm covered, right?

Currently, AirServer cannot do the AirPlay video mirroring feature that is on the iPad 2 running iOS 5. That's the only thing that I'm aware of.

 

[Teeohbee]

Yeah that's a massive shame about the inability to use mirroring mode in iOS 5.

I really hope apple introduce an official method for airplay on the mac, as surely it makes sense.

 

[Jugney]

Airserver got mirroring with version 4.0 a few weeks ago.