MBP screen goes to black with extended desktop browser window on full-screen, didn't with Mavericks

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Level 1

127 points

MBP screen goes to black with extended desktop browser window on full-screen, didn't with Mavericks

Hi,

Since upgrading to Yosemite, my computer screen goes to black when I use the extended desktop in AirPlay with (3rd gen) Apple TV after going to full-screen from a browser window that has been dragged onto the tv screen. It didn’t do that on Mavericks. I could drag a browser window over to the Apple TV, click on the button to make it full-screen and my MacBook Pro would remain totally accessible. I could click on any other window on my Mac, open up new browser windows, Finder windows, etc and not lose the full-screen on the Apple TV (in most cases. There were a few websites where the full-screen wouldn’t hold.)

I am thinking it may be how my screen resolutions are set up and the black screen is the Mac being unable to use that resolution. I noticed that the current setup for the two screens (by gathering the windows) was 1080p for the tv and my usual for the MBP (1280x800). I tried changing the resolution for the tv to “best for display" but it didn’t help; I still got a black screen on my MBP when going full-screen on the tv. I also have tried some other resolutions on my MBP but haven’t found one that doesn’t cause it to go to black yet.

I tried mirroring. That did as it should, going full screen on the tv also made my MBP go full-screen with the same content. I don’t want to do that. I want to be able to use my MBP regardless of what is going on in that second screen. (I will accept that I can’t have different audio on the MBP…)

I read some threads on the problem that Yosemite has also introduced, that Home Sharing isn’t recognized with Apple TV for some people. (That seems to be the case with me too except that 1) when the Apple TV goes into screensaver mode, it shows pics from my iPhoto library. (They may be from the old cache… though the two database files in that folder are dated after I updated to Yosemite so I would think they are updated correctly.) 2) I can drag a window over to the Apple TV. Would I be able to do that if Home Sharing wasn’t working? I haven’t tried using iTunes to show content on the Apple TV. The setting for computer on the tv offers my turning Home Sharing off so it thinks it is on though when i go to Computers in the top menu, it wants me to turn on Home Sharing. iTunes has Home Sharing turned on… THAT is a whole other problem but worth mentioning…

One other change is that I can now control the audio level on the tv with my Mac. I couldn’t do that before with Mavericks. In both situations the audio output is on Apple TV.

So, how can I get my MBP screen to not go to black when the tv is showing full-screen like before?

Many thanks.

Cheers,

John L

Mac OS X (10.0.x), 2011 15" MBP Quad core, 2.0/500/8

Posted on Nov 5, 2014 9:31 AM

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Answer 1

lipwak Author

Level 1

127 points

Nov 18, 2014 2:56 PM in response to lipwak

I was hoping that with the 10.10.1 update that this issue would be fixed. I may have discovered what is happening though.

I tried doing the above with the C-Span site. It worked! My MBP screen didn't go black and I could click on things there and it wouldn't lose the full-screen on the Apple TV. Good.

I then tried the RT USA feed where I first noticed this. Going full-screen on the tv made my MBP screen go black. SO, I am assuming this is a RT problem.

Am I right? (I have written them and hope to hear back.)

I also noticed that when clicking on the "computer" icon on Apple TV's menu, it tells me to turn on Home Sharing even though it is on. I indulged. I turned off home sharing in iTunes and turned it back on. Apple TV said it couldn't find my home library. OK.

I then played a movie, choosing the Apple TV on iTunes and it played!

So, Apple TV IS seeing my iTunes library so Home Sharing must be working even though Apple TV doesn't think so. Right?

I guess I'll ignore the message that says it can't find my home library and just do what I want to do. It would be nice if this was fixed though.

Any ideas from others?

Cheers,

John

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Answer 2

lipwak Author

Level 1

127 points

Dec 11, 2014 4:54 PM in response to lipwak

I have discovered a work-around. I use Slim Boat, a lightweight browser for the Mac. I then turn on the extended desktop/AirPlay. I drag the rt.com US feed from a Slim Boat window over to the tv. I then make it full-screen.

For whatever reason, doing that does not black out my MBP screen like it would if i used Safari or Firefox. I don't know if this is a bug in Safari and Firefox or Slim Boat or how rt.com codes it html.

The only downside is that the frame-rate isn't entirely smooth and my MBP fans are running. CPU use is only 15% but apparently that is enough to cause the fans to kick in.

Any thoughts on this? This used to work; my MBP screen wouldn't get blacked out when going to full-screen on the tv before Yosemite so maybe an OS update will fix it.

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