Apple TV rocks!

[pjdowns]

Interesting, how does Airplay work?

[julesd68]

Interesting, how does Airplay work?

Very simply!

Here is the navigation on your mac -

system preferences > hardware > displays > then switch on 'airplay mirroring' option and also tick 'show mirroring options in the menu bar when available'

Then switch on Apple TV. Click on your new mirroring icon in menu bar and select Apple TV. Your desktop screen will then be streamed directly to whatever monitor your Apple TV is linked to.
So then you can watch whatever you like on your mac, put it into full screen mode and then enjoy it on your TV. There are some options on the menu bar to adjust the display preferences such as resolution and refresh rate.

To get the smoothest playback you need a pretty good broadband connection IMO since you are downloading to your mac and then streaming to the Apple TV.

You might get smoother playback still if you actually download the programme you want to watch off i-player or whatever first, and then stream it to the Apple TV.

[pjdowns]

Hi Julian, thanks for this heads-up I'll give it a go

[pjdowns]

Very simply!

Here is the navigation on your mac -

system preferences > hardware > displays > then switch on 'airplay mirroring' option and also tick 'show mirroring options in the menu bar when available'

Then switch on Apple TV. Click on your new mirroring icon in menu bar and select Apple TV. Your desktop screen will then be streamed directly to whatever monitor your Apple TV is linked to.
So then you can watch whatever you like on your mac, put it into full screen mode and then enjoy it on your TV. There are some options on the menu bar to adjust the display preferences such as resolution and refresh rate.

To get the smoothest playback you need a pretty good broadband connection IMO since you are downloading to your mac and then streaming to the Apple TV.

You might get smoother playback still if you actually download the programme you want to watch off i-player or whatever first, and then stream it to the Apple TV.

Hi Julian,

I had a go and it doesn't appear to work for me. Do you have to have the latest OS installed? I am currently running Lion as it is the latest OS I can install on my machine (Late 2006 iMac).

Paul.

[julesd68]

Hi Julian,

I had a go and it doesn't appear to work for me. Do you have to have the latest OS installed? I am currently running Lion as it is the latest OS I can install on my machine (Late 2006 iMac).

Paul.

I found this article which suggests you can only use it with 2011 models onwards - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5404

[pjdowns]

I found this article which suggests you can only use it with 2011 models onwards - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5404

Damn, looks like I need to get me a new iMac … wifey will be pleased