Mountain Lion AirPlay Mirroring (iMac to AppleTV) Not Working

Mountain Lion successfully installed on my iMac.


AppleTV sucessfully networked with my iMac (at least where iTunes and iPhoto are concerned.)


But AirPlay icon is NOT appearing in my menu bar. Any clues as to why this is?


In System Preferences, I've checked "Show mirroring options in the menu bar when available" but still nothing.


Below is a screenshot of my menu bar. Thanks in advance!




User uploaded file

Posted on Jul 25, 2012 9:13 AM

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1,096 replies

Aug 10, 2012 12:38 PM in response to jcetheredge

Same issue with my 2010 Macbook Pro. I agree that Apply should have made this well known.


But I just tried Air Parrot on my 2010 Macbook Pro and it seem to be the solution. Worked great and has some nice features. I'm displaying this on my Apple TV as I type. You can display certain apps only or mirror the whole screen. Now, why can't Apple do this with Mountain Lion?????


It says it will do the same with Windows computers. We are considering this at work for a nice conference room solution.

Aug 10, 2012 1:46 PM in response to jcetheredge

Ok so I hate being ripped off as much as the next guy, but is everyone telling me that they didn't bother to check Apple's website to see what the specifications for Mountain Lion were? I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't happy about the reality of the situation but it was pretty clear on Apple's website what Apple Hardware would be compatible for Airplay with Mountain Lion. It was even listed in several articles I read about Mountain Lion before and after it was released. With that said Apple should have placed some type of disclaimer in their advertising for this. I'm in agreement that it ***** and that they should come up with some work around for it but the New OS is pretty good for $20 with or without airplay. If anyone has tried Air Parrot and it has worked successfully or unsuccessfully I'd appreciate some feed back to see if it's worth getting for my Early 2009 I Mac.

Aug 10, 2012 2:10 PM in response to Swyhart54

Hi @Swyhart54,

I'm using AirParrot (current version 1.4.3 (1431)) since MaxOS 10.6 with no problem on my MacBook Air i5 late 2001.

Now with MacBook Air mid 2012 and MacOS 1.8 AirParrot still working 100% with AppleTV (my is 2nd Gen.).

Offcourse, when you enable audio, when playing HD video you got some struggling (but some times).

But I suggest to buy AirParrot only if you need extended display. If mirroring is all you need, use Mountain Lion native AirPlay feature.

Hope this help you to decide!

Aug 11, 2012 7:06 AM in response to codyporche

Cody,


They did. If you'd read


http://www.apple.com/osx/specs/


and


http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5404


and


http://www.apple.com/osx/whats-new/features.html


and


http://www.tuaw.com/2012/07/26/mountain-lion-101-airplay-mirroring/


and


http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/07/mountain-lion-cord-cutting/


and a plethora of other sites that tell you what you need.


This disucussion thread goes over all the reasons why you can't have it, and what you can do to get it, albeit with a tax on your CPU, because your CPU doesn't have the GPU to handle it natively, which is why Apple restricted it to particular platforms.


I need to get off this thread.


-colin.

Aug 11, 2012 9:36 AM in response to Colin Neeson

They did warn, but people upgrade older machines too. I have a Mid 2010 MacMini which only doesn't meet requirements of Mirroring based on age. Mirroring requires 2.3ghz i5 processor. I have 2.4ghz core 2 duo. On top of having more then enough processing power for this feature I'm running...


Nvidia Gforce 320M 256mb graphics

Main HD is a 256GB solid state drive

8GB of Ram


My Macmini outperforms the stock Mid 2011 MacMini (which runs mirroring on ML) in every catagory.


Good thing for me that I haven't paid 20$ just to get iMessage on my computer.


Workaround for upgraded systems please!!!

Aug 11, 2012 2:51 PM in response to Colin Neeson

Under Specs:

http://www.apple.com/osx/specs/


I have a Mid-2010 2.93 i7 with 12 GB of Ram and 1G Graphic Card. Purchased it in 2011. It's just over a year old and you're telling me I now have to look at specs to see if my mac is capible of running new software???



Under Support:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5404


Typically I only go to support if I'm having issues with a product. Too little too late - I upgraded it!



Under What's New:

http://www.apple.com/osx/whats-new/features.html


I had to read it twice to find "Mid-2011 or newer", and I knew what I was specifilly looking for (it's the grey little number 1 after Air Mirror)! Why did Apple decide to hide it with a fine print disclaimer that it's not going to work on the majority of the macs out there!



Why are you HIDING IT!!!



I would have upgraded to Mountain Lion regardless to stay current with the OS regardless. For $20 it's a great deal. But Air Mirror was really the only feature I was looking forward too.


I'm mainly upset that Apple was not up front with us on Air Mirror. When you advertise this great new feature you're going to have on your mac running Mountain Lion, and find out later when you're wondering why the Air Mirror icon doesn't appear on your screen.....you know what comes next. You can go to support, but too little too late (see what I meant).


I almost went out to purchase the HD Apple TV prior to ML just to run this feature. Glad I didn't (you would probably have seen more postings from me if I did).


I understand that the next generation macs will be faster and have better technology (i.e., Retina Display), that's technology. I would even understand if my mac was 5 years old and some features didn't work. But to not be able to support a product after 1 year, that's rediculous!


Just be up front like the iPhone, it won't support flash - we as consumers may not like it, but we know what we're buying and getting ourselves in to when we make the purchase.

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Mountain Lion AirPlay Mirroring (iMac to AppleTV) Not Working

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