Q: UHD TV showing blank screen when Apple TV is selected on iMac
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Aug 8, 2016 8:22 AMby Diana.McCall,First, are you able to mirror the display when not trying to watch the video?
Second, have you tried using the AirPlay icon in the on-screen video player itself, not the one in the system menu bar? When you use that, it sends the URL of the video to ATV and it streams the video direct from the site.
Third, are you using a VPN or unblocker to access the internet from the Mac? If so, ATV may not be able to access the same server as the Mac.
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Aug 8, 2016 8:36 AMby UrbanKaos,Nothing will come up on the TV at all that it showing on the iMac even though the Apple TV is selected on the iMac and the icon is blue, as soon as 'Apple TV' is selected, the TV itself goes blank, it won't show anything.
I tried the MovieTube website but no Airplay button comes up for that, I use Google Chrome and tried with Safari too, i've also tried some other websites but again, no Airplay button shows up.
I'm not sure what the VPN or an Unblocker is exactly, i'm not 100% with all of this kind of thing, how would I check exactly?
The sound has come up on the Apple TV though, I tried a video before from the iMac and the sound came through on the TV, but no audio, but i'd like to be able to watch movies and other videos from various websites on the TV, or even using the Apple TV as an external monitor so I can move the webpage over to the TV, but again, as soon as I click 'Apple TV' on the iMac, the TV itself goes blank.
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Aug 8, 2016 8:44 AMby UrbanKaos,Ah, I use Hola! on Chrome, so i've turned that off, and also turned off the adblocker I used...
When I play a movie on MovieTube, and select Apple TV, the sound goes from the iMac, and plays on the TV, but there is no picture on the TV, just the sound, and I didn't click anything on the website itself to do with the Apple TV as there is nothing there, I just clicked play, and then selected Apple TV in the bar (icon blue), but again, there is just sound on the TV, and there is nothing to do with Apple TV etc on the website itself.
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Aug 8, 2016 8:56 AMby UrbanKaos,I've just played a music video from my iMac which is a mp4 file and played it through Quicktime and that played to the TV fine, video and audio... but other videos I have on my iMac and AVI and FLV, and for some reason they won't play through Quicktime, only VLC, but VLC doesn't have that Airplay option like Quicktime does...
But the main thing is getting my TV to mirror my iMac, which it isn't doing, it says on the Apple website about mirroring your iMac to the TV
- From the same AirPlay menu, choose either Extended Desktop or one of the mirroring options under "Use AirPlay Display To."
But I don't have this option, mine shows as below, once Apple TV it selected for 'AirPlay Display', there is no choice to use as extended desktop or mirroring... but i've also tried moving windows to the sides of the screen to see if it does go over to the TV but it doesn't, so i'm not sure what's going on, so it will play video/audio fine when playing a video on Quicktime, but it won't mirror my iMac, or use the TV as an external monitor which is what I want it for.
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Aug 8, 2016 10:14 AMby Diana.McCall,Have you checked all the items here Use AirPlay to display video from your Mac on an HDTV - Apple Support, especially related to the Mac firewall?
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Aug 8, 2016 12:53 PMby UrbanKaos,Yep, i've done these steps:
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Security & Privacy, then click the Firewall tab.
- Click the lock icon, then enter an administrator name and password.
- Click Firewall Options.
- Deselect the option “Block all incoming connections.”
- Select the option “Automatically allow signed software to receive incoming connections.”
The steps here don't show on my iMac though, step 2, there is nothing on there to do with Extended Desktop or any mirroring options.
- Click the AirPlay icon
in the menu bar, then choose your Apple TV under "Connect To AirPlay Display." The icon turns blue when your Mac is using an AirPlay display. - From the same AirPlay menu, choose either Extended Desktop or one of the mirroring options under "Use AirPlay Display To."
This is all that comes up...
I can play some videos from my iMac via Quicktime Players, but I can't play most of my movie files which are avi and flv, they won't play on Quicktime, but that isn't a problem as I use Plex anyway, I have the app on the Apple TV which fetches all the movies I have on my Hard Drive....
The thing I want to do is the mirroring or use the TV as an external monitor, so I can mirror a webpage on the TV, or drag the webpage to the TV... MovieTube for example (http://www.movietubenow.biz/) it only plays the video on the website, so i'd like to display this website on the TV, again, via mirroring or used as an external monitor, but whenever I click Apple TV in the settings above (Display settings), the TV goes blank straight away, but sound comes through the TV, so even though Apple TV is selected, it's picking up the sound, but no video, it isn't acting as an external monitor, and it isn't mirroring the iMac, it's just taking the sound....
Again, I don't have any option to select whether I want the Apple TV to mirror the iMac or use as a extended desktop, i'm not sure why these options aren't showing...?
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Aug 8, 2016 1:40 PMby UrbanKaos,As soon as I click Apple TV in the Display window for Airplay, the whole screen should refresh shouldn't it, and another window should come up with more display options, but I get nothing, as soon as Apple TV is selected, nothing happens, all that does happen is that the Apple TV goes from the menu to a blank screen.
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Aug 8, 2016 6:10 PMby Diana.McCall,OK. It sounds like you're properly configured, but for some reason unable to initiate a video connection. I think that once you crack that you should have all the possibilities. Now, you were able to AirPlay a QuickTime video, using the AirPlay icon in the player, correct? So AirPlay does work, only not in general. Could try going to YouTube using the browser and try to AirPlay a video from there? If that works, we know that some internet videos get through. But you cannot mirror the desktop, which should be easy.
There's a bunch of third-party programs that are known to interfere with AirPlay. Have you ever installed any of Duet Display, AirParrot, Air Display, Splashtop, iDisplay, or Screen Recycler Driver? And if so, have you fully uninstalled them using the original installer. Just deleting the files may not remove all traces of the programs.
Let me explain about playing video in a website. The browser creates a video player object on the page. Once AirPlay is working, that player will have an AirPlay icon, and you can send the video to ATV, without needing mirroring. So, unless you really, really want to see your desktop on the big screen, you probably don't need mirroring or extended desktop. Most video playback can be handled with basic AirPlay, which is much more effective because the ATV streams the video directly, while mirroring converts the screen buffer to live video and transmits that to ATV.
By the way, regarding VPN, etc., you would know of you were using them, since they are used to avoid country restrictions on video content.
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Aug 9, 2016 3:58 AMby UrbanKaos,Thanks a lot Diana, it was Duet, as I used that to use my iPad for the same reason but recently sold my iPad but didn't remove the app as I paid for it so kept it on the iMac, I uninstalled it though and Airplay now works perfectly on the Apple TV, thanks again for your help!
