Q: Mountain Lion AirPlay Mirroring (iMac to AppleTV) Not Working

I just found out that you can airplay to AppleTV via iTunes!! Using a a late 2009 iMac here! At the bottom right of the iTunes, you can find the icon for airplay! Click and select AppleTV. Ok, it's limited to iTunes for now, wondering if any other apps supports this!

Here in Australia,  Apple was prosecuted for miseading claims re the ipad 3. Apple originally claimed the iPad 3 was 4G ready , when it wasn't compatible with Australia's only 4g network.

Clearly, Apple hasn't learnt their lesson.

perhaps another prosecution is needed  to improve their marketing tactics.

Spent $10 on Airprrot, works a treat. Too easy for a 3rd party provider, but too difficult  for Apple.  Go figure

It seems Apple are less than honest when it comes to new OX's. I upgraded to Lion with the promise of cloud computing and storage in the sky. This may be true for emails, calender etc (the same as you get from Google or any other provider) but for storing/transfering documents I need to buy an iphone or ipad - better stick with my 25GB Skydrive from MSN.

Now I've fallen for it again and upgraded to Mountain Lion with the promise of airplay mirroring on my new Apple TV bought for the purpose - WRONG! Apparently my iMac is too old (2010)

Apple your turning sour!

ATTENTION MORONS!!

It's in the App Store description at the bottom in plain English!:

"AirPlay Mirroring works with Apple TV (2nd generation or above), iMac (mid-2011 or newer), Mac mini (mid-2011 or newer), MacBook Air (mid-2011 or newer) and MacBook Pro (early 2011 or newer)."

You only have yourself to blame for not reading the description. Its not even fineprint! Take some responsibility for once morons.

In anycase, there is a 0.5s lag anyways whether you use iPhone, iPad or a Mac, so its not like you can really use your device in real time, its mainly for presentation etc.

If you really really need to project stuff onto the TV, get a thunderbolt to HDMI adapter + cable for like $25 bucks off eBay.

Besides, normal iTunes Airplay functions still work fine eg. streaming music, videos, photos, whatever.

Pre-Sandy/Ivy bridge models (2010 or below) don't have QuickSync!!! NOT APPLE'S FAULT!!!

The reason AirPlay Mirroring doesn't work for Mac models 2011 or below is because those models don't have the Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge Intel CPU's, which have QuickSync Technology that AirPlay Mirroring relies on for it to work. Arrandale (2010 or below) Intel CPU's lack this QuickSync technology, and hence no AP Mirroring.

NOT APPLE'S FAULT. NOT INTEL'S EITHER. It just the way it is unfortunately.

"But why can AirParrot do this?"

I suspect its heavily software based and accelerated, which means not as good performance than if it was hardware accelerated OR more power consumption and less battery life for your device.

Sure, I bet Apple can easily implement software accelerated AirPlay Mirroring solutions to Macs without Sandy or Ivy Bridges, but they would be prone to the problems above and that means even more idiot consumer complaints who can't read the description and don't know jack about technology.

You're right, airparrot is a good program, but it is extremely expensive, for me this apple's policy is'n right! what do you things abaut this?

beside wrote:

 

I admit I'm running a dated Macbook Pro (think 2008). I've never ran into issues with AirPlay from any other device and am quite surprised that ML doesn't support old MacBook Pros. Having my Macbook Pro hooked up via 2 wires to my TV was something I was eager to avoid, thus the purchase and upgrade but unfortunately I came upon this thread too late. Sadly, even AirParrot can't solve what I want it to do without sluggish results for video streaming.

See... here's proof!

AirParrot is software based and hence is slower than the hardware acceleration that Intel QuickSync technology provides.

QuickSync is only available on Macs with either Intel Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge processors eg. 2011 models or above... AND A5 chips or above also have some kind of QuickSync technology as well.

you seem to know what you are talking about Tony ...I got sucked into the ML / Apple TV upgrade without reading the fine print ...but there was a lot of hype about the mirroring and nowehre in the video presentations etc was there ant mention of the non compatibiliy with older machiens even 2010 Macbook Air ..

but another issue maybe you can shed some light on ...after reverting to dispay port mirroring via dvi / HDMI adapter which had been working perfectly prior to ML I find i can no longer mirror properly to my TV ....via HDMI ....must be changes in the coding around this becaue the dispay port icon no longer appears in the top menu bar like it used even when this option is checked ....I used to mirror sucessfully to my (new) TV at 1080p 60hz but now cannot at all.

...so after a lot of hassles and very long support call to apple ...wasting money on apple tv .... i can nol onger use one of my most commonly used features at all ...HDMI mirroring to my TV ..

also had very buggy issues trying to get I message working properly ...as i see reported elsewhere ..still not fuctioning as hyped...

I have come to enjoy my apple procucts so much that these setbacks are surprising and major let down ...lost productivity etc

Trevor  ..NZ

i have an imac late 2008 a macbook pro late 2008 an iphone 4 ,i just purchased apple tv and none will mirror, i have spread the word of apple for many years but no more they have let us down big time on this

Unless I'm mistaken, the OP is saying that they were sold an AirPlay solution that doesn't exist, by an Apple rep?

If that's the case, I would suggest taking it up with the Apple store that sold them the false dream.

Now if the OP just went out and bought an ATV before ML and hoped that it would all work because it works for others, then I have little sympathy. If they bought it after ML was released, without reading about the system requirements first, then I have even less sympathy. I knew that AirPlay mirroring wasn't available on all platforms, before ML was released, so I'm really suprised that anyone can complain that their setup isn't supported.

But again, if an Apple rep told somebody that if you buy x and y and then you can do z, when it's wrong, then I would be in an Apple store kicking up a stink. If you can't easily get to a store, I suggest calling one of their support numbers and doing the same.

Yes! Agreed to all the

comment it very disapointed, where waited to long and buy Atv3 then it's worthless.

Were the Mac requirements in the "App" description? Yes. Were they ever mentioned in the hype leading up to the release or the media on Apple's Mountain Lion promotional material? No. I think everyone was so familiar with the new OS features and the requirements Apple posted on the ML page that we just bought they app figuring Apple had informed us of everything we needed to know. But that was not the case. They had to have known this was going to happen. Gee, I wonder if any Mac users will be upset if we get them excited about AirPlay Mirroring and then slyly let them down with a quiet mention that they need a new Mac to Mirror just as we release it?

None of the other OS features are worth upgrading for, by the way. Who needs notifications on their computer? So now my iPhone, iPad and computer all should signal me at the same time? The more my computer becomes just like my iPad the less likely I am to buy anther computer. I certainly will not buy another Mac laptop if there is a chance it can't handle the latest OS update features a years after purchace.

Google here I come. . . . Maybe.

I've been using Air Parrot for several months and have been pleased with the product. I upraded to ML thinking that AirPlay would be an improvement only to find it's not available. If AirParrot has worked well on my 2010 MBP then why are we denied AirPlay? I too feel cheated and now I see why some people choose to jailbreak their products.

Yep - I just did the same thing that many others have...buy the upgrade expecting airplay to work on my 2009 imac. 

Shame on you apple...so much for customer loyalty.

This is basically extortion trying to get your existing customers to buy more hardware...

Time to re-think your strategy!!!!

Here is a link that Eivndposted:

http://www.cultofmac.com/178460/the-real-reason-why-macs-before-2011-cant-use-ai rplay-mirroring-in-mountain-lion-feature/

Just like L Tony said, you need to read all documentation before buying. Is was well explained on the technical specs that Airplay mirroring will only work on 2011 and newer Macs. Even websites like Macworld, Cult of Mac and others explained this as well. ML has being a great upgrade for me but I do have loved to have the Airplay Mirroring function. Maybe in a feature upgrade...who knows? Don't be mad at something that was well explained and commented well before ML was released.

Have good one!!