Add AirPlay to older Macs
Stream to Apple TV, and add some great extra options
SKILL LEVEL
Anyone can do it
IT WILL TAKE
10 minutes
YOU’ll NEED Second- or third-gen Apple TV, Mac with Core 2 Duo, OS X 10.6.8 or later, AirParrot
AirPlay is a technology created by Apple that lets you stream the display signal from your Mac to your second- or third-generation Apple TV. As well as beaming movies and music from iTunes, more recent Macs let you use AirPlay mirroring to extend or duplicate your Mac’s desktop to your TV. Mirroring can be really useful, letting you show presentations, slideshows or movies on a big screen without the need for wires; or you can use your HDTV as a second computer monitor, again without wiring. Older Macs, however, can’t stream AirPlay video out of the box, because Apple restricts mirroring to newer models, citing hardware requirements.
AirParrot is an inexpensive app ($9.99) that unlocks the ability to mirror audio and video over AirPlay on a wide range of older machines, and it even offers features that Apple does not. It lets you, for example, mirror a specific app to the TV while still using your Mac desktop as normal, and also lets you set variable video quality and framerates so you can tailor the connection. On older, less powerful Macs, this means you
AirParrot unlocks the ability to mirror audio and video over AirPlay on a range of older machines
should still get good results by dropping the data rate down a little. There’s nothing to stop you using AirParrot even on an AirPlay-compatible newer Mac of course, to take advantage of these extra features. OS X’s AirPlay features and AirParrot’s can coexist on one machine, though you can’t use both at the same time. Hollin Jones