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Q: On tvOS, unable to airplay full screen videos from macbook when extending the desktop

After upgrading to the latest tvOS, a lot of browser based video streams are unable to go full screen. This happens when I have extended the desktop. Only the left quadrant of the video is visible, the rest goes white screen.

 

I have tried turning on / off overscan.

Tried changing the resolution.

The only thing that works is when I switch to mirror my desktop and then go to full screen, which it works, but then I can only watch the stream and cannot do any other tasks.

AppleTV 2, tvOS 10

Posted on Sep 24, 2016 9:42 PM

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Q: On tvOS, unable to airplay full screen videos from macbook when extending the desktop

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  • by Diana.McCall,

    Diana.McCall Diana.McCall Sep 25, 2016 8:07 AM in response to boacons
    Level 5 (4,323 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 25, 2016 8:07 AM in response to boacons

    Hi. When watching video in the browser, you should be able to use basic AirPlay, instead or mirroring or extend screen. If you turn off AirPlay in the main menu bar, then access the video, there should be an AirPlay icon in the video player controls that will send the stream to the Apple TV. Below is a short description of the AirPlay video modes.

     

    Video AirPlay works in two modes. Basic AirPlay just sends the video URL to Apple TV which then streams it directly. This usually works best since there's no double transmission. You're using basic AirPlay when the video player on your device goes black. On a computer, you do this using the AirPlay icon that appears in the controls of a screen video player object, in the browser or other app.

     

    The other mode is Mirroring, which generates an H.264 video stream from the device frame buffer and transmits it over WiFi to Apple TV. This video compression inherently limits resolution, and may have trouble with fast motion. When you puit the iPad or iPhone video player into full screen mode, mirroring automoatically switches to basic AirPlay, and it seems to be impossible to prevent that from happening. On a Mac computer, you access this mode from the AirPlay icon in the main menu bar. It lets you mirror the main display, or create a new display, extending the desktop. But remember that the data sent to the Apple TV is always being converted to a live video stream. Actual display frame buffer pixels are not transmitted, as they are to a directly connected monitor.