Apple TV

Apple TV & Mac

Since wireless became a way of life, the introduction of the Apple TV saw mac geeks from around the world, including myself, become hooked onto the fact that it was now possible to stream movies, music & photos through the wireless universe in our homes from our iTunes, iphones & ipads straight to our TV’s.

Now yes, there are a number of media servers available around, heck you can even use your PS3 as a media server, although I don’t advise it as the streaming speeds are slow. Which isn’t an issue with the Apple TV. The streaming speeds are second to none, you can access & download youtube videos, tv shows, music & movies directly off of the integrated iTunes software and all of this straight from a gadget that’s no bigger than a block of cheese. A black mouldy piece of cheese!

And now, with the introduction of the new operating system ‘Mountain Lion’ for mac, as well as the new IOS7, you can now ‘mirror’ your entire computer, iPad & iPhone’s contents to your TV.

Before the mirror add-on, integration between your apple devices was still on point what with being able to swipe through your photos on your iphone whilst viewing them on your tv or playing music through your iTunes on your computer, but now, the option of being able to completely view all your contents from your computer or phone is just simply marvelous. Reasons:

I want to show everyone this wonderful photo slide show I put together.

I want to type a letter so that everyone can see what I’m typing.

I want to see my facebook and twitter feeds up close!

The biggest of all though is no stupid third party apps! The reasons are endless and truth be told, it’s easier viewing youtube this way rather than using the youtube you’ll find in your Apple TV device.

Now how do we make this work. Simple, make sure that all your devices and Apple TV are on the exact same wireless network. A little ‘Airplay Mirroring’ icon will appear either at the top of your  computer screen or simply pull up the shortcut menu on your iPhone or iPad. Click it, select Apple TV and let the mirroring begin!

The only drawback, is it’s price. I’m sure you could find another type of media server for R300, but it’s not Apple and the integration between devices is seamless. So for these ‘advantages’, you’ll be looking in the region of about R1200 which is not THAT bad!

Now even though I mentioned it’s amazing streaming speeds…my only issue, streaming video that I recorded using my phone is still something to be desired.

Nevertheless, I’ve never been happier and cannot wait to see what the geniuses at Apple come up with next…the iWatch…?

http://www.enca.com/show/tech-report