Apple TV questions (3rd gen)

[MacFan782040]

Hey Guys,

Santa brought me an Apple TV (3rd/current gen) for Christmas!

I have a Macbook Pro from 2010 (MacBook 7,1) still running 10.6.8.

I've figured out Airplay in iTunes, and from my iPhone 5. Also, Airplay mirroring on my iPhone is pretty cool!

But I have a few questions:

1. Can I Airplay mirror my Macbook screen to my TV? Or do I need a 2011 or later Macbook? Do I need to get Mountain Lion?

2. Can I Airplay my entire computer sounds? (ie: Playing Spotify/YouTube/etc. and hearing it in my living room.

3. About the Optical Out... Right now I have a stereo RCA (red/white) to mini-jack cable going from my TV audio out to a pair of decent speakers with a mini-jack input. It works well, but I need to have my TV turned on to hear. Are there any work arounds besides getting an adapter that causes lip sync issues?

4. Can I stream my photos/Quicktime movies on my mac to the Apple TV? I have iPhoto '09...

5. Is there a "now playing" option? Like right now I am listening to music Airplayed from my iTunes on my Mac and just the screensaver is on the TV. Where can I go that will show the song and album art, or I can't?

Okay that's it for now.. thank you !!

 

[davidinva]

Nobody chimed in on this? I have an older Macbook than yours (April 2008) running 10.6.8 also. Also got half of an Apple TV for Christmas (in the form of a $50 gift card). Works fine on my iPad (3G) and iPod (5G). Spent $10 on AirParrot and it is working fine on my Macbook so far. Mirrors the screen on the Macbook and video works mostly and should be fine when I switch from DSL to cable internet. iPhoto slideshows work well and video taken with my small digital camera also looks good. My TV is a 720 instead of a 1080 and that probably helps. AirParrot has a strange trial period (20 minutes, I think), so I just went ahead and spent the $10. So far so good.

 

[mic j]

Nobody chimed in on this? I have an older Macbook than yours (April 2008) running 10.6.8 also. Also got half of an Apple TV for Christmas (in the form of a $50 gift card). Works fine on my iPad (3G) and iPod (5G). Spent $10 on AirParrot and it is working fine on my Macbook so far. Mirrors the screen on the Macbook and video works mostly and should be fine when I switch from DSL to cable internet. iPhoto slideshows work well and video taken with my small digital camera also looks good. My TV is a 720 instead of a 1080 and that probably helps. AirParrot has a strange trial period (20 minutes, I think), so I just went ahead and spent the $10. So far so good.

Warning: your milage may vary with AirParrot. And going form DSL to cable will have no effect on it. It's all about home network speed/bandwidth and processing power (CPU) of the computer you are working with. It's fine with simple screen stuff and youtube.

I strongly urge the trial and really challenging it with what you want to use if for...before buying.

 

[Rushli0n]

Hey Guys,

Santa brought me an Apple TV (3rd/current gen) for Christmas!

I have a Macbook Pro from 2010 (MacBook 7,1) still running 10.6.8.

I've figured out Airplay in iTunes, and from my iPhone 5. Also, Airplay mirroring on my iPhone is pretty cool!

But I have a few questions:

1. Can I Airplay mirror my Macbook screen to my TV? Or do I need a 2011 or later Macbook? Do I need to get Mountain Lion?

2. Can I Airplay my entire computer sounds? (ie: Playing Spotify/YouTube/etc. and hearing it in my living room.

3. About the Optical Out... Right now I have a stereo RCA (red/white) to mini-jack cable going from my TV audio out to a pair of decent speakers with a mini-jack input. It works well, but I need to have my TV turned on to hear. Are there any work arounds besides getting an adapter that causes lip sync issues?

4. Can I stream my photos/Quicktime movies on my mac to the Apple TV? I have iPhoto '09...

5. Is there a "now playing" option? Like right now I am listening to music Airplayed from my iTunes on my Mac and just the screensaver is on the TV. Where can I go that will show the song and album art, or I can't?

Okay that's it for now.. thank you !!

1. To use AirPlay, yes I believe you need Mt Lion and a relatively new Mac

2. With a newer Mac, I believe it would airplay the sounds as well. It does on an iDevice, so why wouldn't it on a Mac

3. I am confused by this question. You say you have don't want to have your TV on, but you mention lip sync issues. I am guessing you want to just AirPlay the audio? Personally I just have an optical out from the ATV going to my surround sound and that hasn't caused any issues.

4. Are your Quicktime movies in iTunes? If so just use Home Sharing. I've not tried photos though.

5. I am not sure why you are AirPlaying music from your Mac to your Apple TV. If you use the Home Sharing feature, you can view all your music by going to Computer > Music. If you want to see the album as it's playing just turn off the screen saver feature in the Settings.

If I can put the content in iTunes (music, videos), I would always use Home Sharing to play the content on the ATV. AirPlay for me is more for sending stuff from an iPad/iPhone to the ATV.