HI,
My 2012 iMac has Airplay much to my surprise as it is running Yosemite. On trying this out, it will easily find and connect to my 2020 MacBook Air. I accept the connection on the air and it opens a full screen window.
Unfortunately this is as far as it goes as the window stays black no matter what the settings are on the iMac.
Just wondered if anyone knew what was happening and if there is a solution.
Thanks
kobalt wrote:
Ideally I would like to airplay from Air to iMac to use the bigger screen. Cannot get this to work.
It's not going to work if you are just using the support built into macOS. The 2012 iMac is too old to satisfy the hardware or software requirements to be an AirPlay Receiver for AirPlay to Mac.
You might be able to find third-party applications that will run on that old Mac, and turn it into an "AirPlay Receiver" of sorts. These applications will probably use AirPlay v1 protocol (not AirPlay v2) and allow a maximum resolution of 1920x1080 pixels.
For instance, AirServer for Mac might do the job. AirServer for Mac - System & Hardware Requirements claims that the product runs on any Mac that supports OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) through macOS 14.0 (Sonoma). I believe there are several such applications – and I list this one as a "for instance", not as a recommendation. If you are interested in turning the 2012 iMac into an AirPlay screen, you may want to do your own searches for products (and reviews of products) of this sort.
Here's another one called Reflector 4 that runs on Catalina.
kobalt wrote:
Ideally I would like to airplay from Air to iMac to use the bigger screen. Cannot get this to work.
It's not going to work if you are just using the support built into macOS. The 2012 iMac is too old to satisfy the hardware or software requirements to be an AirPlay Receiver for AirPlay to Mac.
You might be able to find third-party applications that will run on that old Mac, and turn it into an "AirPlay Receiver" of sorts. These applications will probably use AirPlay v1 protocol (not AirPlay v2) and allow a maximum resolution of 1920x1080 pixels.
For instance, AirServer for Mac might do the job. AirServer for Mac - System & Hardware Requirements claims that the product runs on any Mac that supports OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) through macOS 14.0 (Sonoma). I believe there are several such applications – and I list this one as a "for instance", not as a recommendation. If you are interested in turning the 2012 iMac into an AirPlay screen, you may want to do your own searches for products (and reviews of products) of this sort.
Here's another one called Reflector 4 that runs on Catalina.
Your 2020 MacBook Air is new enough to support AirPlay to Mac.
Continuity features and requirements for Apple devices - Apple Support
Your 2012 iMac isn't. However, the ability to AirPlay from a Mac to an Apple TV set-top box has been around for a long time – much longer than AirPlay to Mac, with its ability for a Mac to be an AirPlay Receiver. Thus the footnote
"You can AirPlay to Mac at lower video resolutions from older iPhone, iPad, and Mac models and operating systems if the AirPlay Receiver setting is turned on and the adjacent "Allow AirPlay for" setting is configured to allow AirPlay either for everyone or for anyone on the same network."
What are you trying to AirPlay? Is any of it streaming video that might have DRM restrictions causing the video to blank out? Or does it happen even when trying to use the new iMac as a second screen?
Ideally I would like to airplay from Air to iMac to use the bigger screen. Cannot get this to work.
Out of interest I was trying in reverse as the Air appears in the airplay menu of the iMac I
tried both options: i.e.Mirroring and extend desktop - no video. I just get a black screen on the Air.
Thanks, that's helpful.
i will look into it.
Airplay display with M1 MacBook Air
