Mountain Lion AirPlay Mirroring (iMac to AppleTV) Not Working

I have a mac mini i purchased last year. I upgraded to latest OS X (I'm running 10.8.2) and for the last couple of months airplay mirroring on both my Apple TVs (one was purchased last year 720p, the other was purchased last month 1080p) was working like a champ. It also worked from my iPad and my iPhone 4s. Now I'm not sure what happened, but over the last week there were upgrades to Apple TV software on both units, and an upgrade to some components of the OS (iTunes being one). Now my Apple TV doesn't see home sharing, and the mac mini says there are no devices detected for Airplay mirroring - what gives? The option in the toolbar for mirroring isn't available since there are no devices detected now. Any ideas?

Mines new but it won't work

Not really, how come airparrot works, even without the upgrade? Yes, apple makes old macs obsolete with their abusive way of offering their new stuff, "just to the new users", thereby forcing users of "old macs" (2 years with a 2000 $ computer, not really old in my opinion) to buy the new macs.

I used to love apple until about the time I got my Mac, it has been getting more and more abusive ever since.

VERY VERY DISAPPOINTED MACBOOK PRO USER

Does not make you look very knowledgeable to come into a 64 page thread without having read all of the foregoing posts.

Airparrot "works" because it uses a totally different software approach to mirroring the video from the computer to a device through Airplay. I've used it and at best it gets a "C" from me but an "A" for effort. It is available to you for purchase and Apple chose not to compete with them. It would certainly not be a wise decision to try to embed it into the OS.

Airport mirroring in the newer Apple devices that support it sounds impressive and wonderful, but it is just the usual Apple marketing tactic of giving a name to another technology that they did not event. They merely wrote a few lines of code to activate the Quicksync capabilities designed by Intel in their latest series of chipsets. You can also get this cabablility if you buy an HP, Dell, Toshiba, Asus, etc. with the same chipset and the manufacturer has included the code to use it. If you have an older HP, Dell, Toshiba, Asus, etc. you do not have access to the feature as it is embedded in the hardware.

There is no "abuse" here, if you want to mirror get AirParrot. If you need faster, better mirroring that works through hardware rather than software get a maching that uses the Quicksync chipset.

That should teach me not believe my eyes in the shop, where a tv in the other end of the room, happily showed the macbook screen. Anyway. got the AirParrot and am semihappy with my 2009 iMac on my 2010 tv using a 2012 AppleTv. But not the usual Apple Experience I have to say...

I see Deggie throughout this 65+ page post calling people stupid and "just buy a new machinE if you don't like it" attitude. He HAS to be an Apple plant to put their desired responses in the thread. I check in every few weeks but not daily like this guy. If you're not an Apple employee let some other people voice their opinions without your sarcastic, rude editorials for Gosh sakes.

People who don't work in the industry often can't buy a new $2000 machinE every 15 months. And what about the business owner who had invested over 20,000 pounds in equipment that already can't get all the new features that would have been very useful to his business? So it's not just "stupid" laypeople being affected.

This guy kept telling me how stupid I was and I didn't know what my computer could do. So I called AppleCare to make sure I wasn't missing something. There were no features I was missing. The rep explained there was some 3rd party software that would do some of those functions but it was "unsupported". And many 3rd party apps are unsupported by the software company as well. If it doesn't work, sorry.

I don't have wireless N with AT&T Uverse so Air Parrot is not an option. (And yes I looked into router behind the router but it appears you can't get any faster than the main Uverse connection...that additional routers mainly helps you get a better signal in parts of the house where the signal is weak, not improve the G speed up to N speed, or keep certain Equipment dedicated to a separate router to keep the network channel from getting too crowded. There's a little disagreement but that is the main consensus, at least).

From looking at many pages of the thread (who's going to read ALL of the pages if they have a life?) there are many complaints about Air Parrot's consistency.

And Apple is so proprietary, not working as universally with other software as much as Windows PC's do, that it's more of an issue when Apple upgrades and you're left behind. And no option to do the traditional method of the HDMI connection to get "wired mirroring", at least with some of the "still fairly recent" Apple iMacs and MacBook Pros.

YesI know...sell your old model for $400, take a $1000 to $1500 loss and don't complain about it. Then buy a new machinE! We heard you the first ...AND 50th time!

Can you show me where I called people "stupid"? And no, I don't work for Apple and I am not an Apple plant. I just try to help people here and have done so frequently. I may have been sarcastic with some people but they appeared to be trolls, not people actually trying to get help.

People who aren't in the industry do indeed buy computers every 15 months; most people in the "industry" do not do so because of budgets.

I don't recall telling you that there was some feature you were missing. I probably did mention Airparrot. And any reasonable person would know that 3rd party software is not "supported" by Apple. Microsoft Office is also not "supported" by Apple. Microsoft supports it.

I have Uverse. My nephew installed Uverse. All of us have 802.11n speed with the 2Wire router. And why do you have a router behind the router? If you have a piece of equipment that does not have N speed it will reduce the speed of your network. But the 2Wire router does support 802.11N. Your main consensu is wrong.

Yes, there are complaints about AirParrot as it so heavily relies on the processor to perform. If you have an older processor it doesn't do so well, a newer one (ironically like the latest Intel processors). It performs better. It pretty much takes over the processor and can turn up the heat on the computer very quickly. This is why Apple chose not to go this route for mirroring.

Not going to get into all the "Apple is proprietary...", etc. ranting. I am assuming no one forced you to buy anything. As far as your "upgrade or you are left behind", and PCs, if you go an buy one of the latest PCs you can indeed get "AirPlay Mirroring". Only it isn't called that, it is called Quick Sync, which is what Intel called it and it is their chipset HARDWARE feature. Apple is not the only company using it. You can read about it from the source here: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/quick-sync-vi deo/quick-sync-video-general.html

Even PCs that are 15 months old do not have access to this feature. You have to buy machines with the latest Intel processors/chipsets.

If you have heard me all these times you should not have any trouble understanding that the only way you can get Quick Sync (Airplay Mirroring) on an older Mac would be to replace the processor/chipset/GPU on your computer. Do you really think Apple should do this for you? Honestly?

So if you need mirroring get someone to help you straighten out your Uverse WiFi situation and buy AirParrot. Or buy ANY computer that has the latest Intel processor/chipset and use Quick Sync. If you get one of the latest Lenovo machines you can also get Thunderbolt.

Seems the app to get is www.beamer-app.com - I'll try it and come back

please help, how do you use this airparrot once downloaded?

Did you install it?

Yes, I did.

http://airparrot.com/support.php?platform=windows#use

Thank you very much! I am a mother of three and hardly have time to sit down infront of a computer to read instructions, so I really appreciate your help.

I am like many disappointed that my older Mac laptop can't airplay mirror to my apple tv, a major reason why I upgraded, but mostly, I'm just glad to know why it's not working, I can get my mind on other things. Thanks apple community.

Just, as Deggie and others have said, install airparrot.

It works great, better, in my opinion, than airplay. Less lag and jittering while buffering. Easy to stream audio and video!!

I have several large 1080P files, which are 10+ GB each, with high bitrate. Airparrot plays smoothly! Makes me smile.

Yes Airparrot is $9.99, but to be honest, after phonecalls with apple, reading too many forums, and trying to understand why my Imac, mid-2010 27" i5, would not work with Airplay with the mountain lion upgrade ($19.99), the purchase was a worthwhile solution to end the search and palm's to forehead (thanks apple for so many near concussions).

What I will say, I am not disappointed I upgraded to ML. I love being able to have multiple desktops, among other great things. When hooked up to a 2nd screen, with four desktops I then have 8. 🙂 What a productivity improver. Merely scroll between desktops. Awesome!!

Airplay not just....working...not awesome. For those reading this, angered by airplay not working. Don't be. Can't change it!

Buy airparrot, forget about the mess, wish poop on apple's shoe, and relax.

http://airparrot.com

🙂 Good luck.