MacBook Pro 2023 not screen sharing/airplay or displaying onto my iMac

While the Late 2013 iMac supports Target Display Mode using Thunderbolt input – which seems to be just about the only type of input that you didn't provide – Apple placed restrictions on the video source. These restrictions mean that your 2023 MacBook Pro, and all other recent Macs, are too new to use any iMac as a Target Display.

See the bad news here: Use your iMac as a display with target display mode - Apple Support

You also cannot use your 2013 iMac as an Airplay Receiver for AirPlay to Mac – a lower-quality method of using a Mac as a display. Your iMac, and the version of macOS it runs, are both far too old.

See the bad news here: Continuity features and requirements for Apple devices - Apple Support

skboone1 wrote:

To make sure the ports were working I attached the hdmi from my Samsung tv into my MacBook Pro and it worked perfectly.

• USB-C to HDMI and Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapters are generally one-way. They work when the USB-C or Mini DisplayPort end is plugged into the video source, and the HDMI end is plugged into the monitor. (As when you hooked up your Samsung TV to your MacBook Pro.). They do not work in the other direction (to take HDMI output from your MacBook Pro and convert it to Mini DisplayPort output for a display).
• 2013 iMacs support Target Display Mode, but do not support it using Mini DisplayPort input. All iMacs that have support for both Thunderbolt and Target Display Mode require Thunderbolt input. Thunderbolt 1 and 2 have the same connector as Mini DisplayPort, but the signals are different.
• Apple sells a Thunderbolt 3-to-2 adapter. That would be useful if you were attempting to reuse an old 27" Apple Thunderbolt Display, but even though the combination of that $50 adapter and a $30+ Thunderbolt 1 or 2 cable would deliver a Thunderbolt signal to the iMac, it would not let you reuse the iMac as a display.
• That's because Apple placed restrictions on Target Display Mode such that no Mac released after 2019, and no Mac running anything later than Catalina, supports using any iMac as a Target Display.

skboone1 wrote:

I can use airplay on the imac and screen mirror to my macbook pro but I am trying to get it the other way around.

It won't work the other way around with the software built into macOS.

• The 2023 MacBook Pro is new enough to support being an AirPlay Receiver for AirPlay to Mac.
• The 2013 iMac isn't.
• Macs were able to AirPlay to Apple TV set-top boxes a long, long time before they got the ability to be AirPlay Receivers. Your iMac, in effect, sees the MacBook Pro as being an Apple TV set-top box, and it knows how to send video to one of those, even if it doesn't know how to be an AirPlay Receiver itself.

See also the note in the Continuity Support article where it says:

"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."

"MacBook Pro 2023 not screen sharing/airplay or displaying onto my iMac"

-------

Using iMac for an External Screen:

Make sure all requirements are met, depending on your model...

1. Go Here: Use your iMac as a Display with Target Display Mode - Apple Support
2. What it Reads: