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Chewey_Delt

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 27, 2016
4
0
So, something very strange recently happened. I have a late 2010 Macbook Air. I was under the impression that this model was incompatible with AirPlay to an Apple TV because it didn't have the proper hardware. At some point since upgrading to El Capitan, I've now noticed that I can stream audio to my Apple TV (3rd generation) from iTunes or basically anywhere and, far more importantly, it seems like all YouTube videos now give me the option to stream to my Apple TV using AirPlay.

So, this is awesome and all. But here's my question: is there any way to get this to work system wide? The AirPlay button does not show up in the menu bar. When I go in to Display, unselect the the "Show mirroring options..." box, and then reselect it, I see the AirPlay icon for all of like a half second before it displays again. Is there any way to go deep into some system files or something to get this to always display? Is there any other way to get mirroring system wide?

I had long ago given up on this until suddenly AirPlay started working on YouTube. Anybody have any idea what's going on and how I can take even more advantage of this?
 

JTToft

macrumors 68040
Apr 27, 2010
3,447
796
Aarhus, Denmark
AirPlay display mirroring is very different from simple AirPlay audio streaming. Your MBA indeed is too old for display mirroring. See this support article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201343

Audio streaming is supported all the way back to practically ancient Macs, I think, so that's nothing new. As for the YouTube thing, the AirPlay button being included directly in the player in Safari is a relatively new thing (with El Cap, I believe). It's always been possible, though, in a roundabout way.

If you aren't aware, you can also play any sound at all from your Mac via AirPlay. Option click the sound icon in the menu bar and choose your AirPlay device as the sound output instead of your internal speakers.
 

Chewey_Delt

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 27, 2016
4
0
If it's too old for display mirroring, then why is it that YouTube can be streamed via AirPlay to my Apple TV all of a sudden?
 

JTToft

macrumors 68040
Apr 27, 2010
3,447
796
Aarhus, Denmark
If it's too old for display mirroring, then why is it that YouTube can be streamed via AirPlay to my Apple TV all of a sudden?
- Unless I'm misunderstanding what it is that is working for you, streaming a single video is different from display mirroring. AirPlay Display allows you to view your entire desktop on the Apple TV, in either mirrored or extended mode. Your machine is too old for that.

For reference, AirPlay Display looks like this and behaves just like if you had the TV connected via HDMI (although at decreased performance, of course):

Screen Shot 2016-03-29 at 23.14.39.png
 

Chewey_Delt

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 27, 2016
4
0
- Unless I'm misunderstanding what it is that is working for you, streaming a single video is different from display mirroring. AirPlay Display allows you to view your entire desktop on the Apple TV, in either mirrored or extended mode. Your machine is too old for that.

For reference, AirPlay Display looks like this and behaves just like if you had the TV connected via HDMI (although at decreased performance, of course):

View attachment 623832
That definitely answers my question. I suspected there might be a software workaround to mirror my display since I had always been under the impression that no video streaming would work. But apparently it's just full mirroring that won't work. Thanks a bunch for clearing that up!
 
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