Squirrels, the company behind the popular AirParrot and Reflector apps, has just released AirParrot Remote – a new app that allows you to control AirParrot 2 from your iPhone or iPad. It adds new features to AirParrot 2 and allows you to easily control what’s being mirrored or streamed from your computer to Apple TV, Chromecast and Reflector-enabled devices from the palm of your hand.

AirParrot Remote lets you stream media files from your computer, build playlists, begin presenting your computer screen, and even preview your computer’s desktop before mirroring to make sure you’re sharing the right content.

Added keyboard and mouse controls let you change between applications on your computer without touching it.

The main features include:

• Build Playlists: easily build playlists containing files found on your computer. You can queue files for continuous playback.
• Remote Control: in addition to controlling AirParrot 2, AirParrot Remote also allows you to control the keyboard and mouse of your computer.
• Live Previews: View your computer desktop on your phone or tablet before you begin mirroring.
• Easy Pairing: Connect AirParrot Remote to any computer on your network running AirParrot 2.
• Familiar Interface: The AirParrot Remote interface closely mirrors its desktop counterpart.

The app is available from the App Store for $6.99.

AirParrot Remote requires the AirParrot 2 application running on your computer. You can download AirParrot 2 from here.

Also read:

• Review: AirParrot – taking AirPlay Mirroring to the next level
• AirParrot 2: the ultimate companion app for Apple TV 4
• AirParrot 2 for Mac and Windows released

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If you got a new Apple TV but you find native AirPlay mirroring in OS X too limited or you own a Windows or Chromebook machine, you may want to check out AirParrot 2. It’s the go-to app for all of your mirroring and streaming needs.

AirParot 2 allows you to wirelessly send your Mac/PC screen or media files to Apple TV. Among the main features are:

• Specific window or app mirroring
• Ability to mirror to multiple devices simultaneously
• Ability to stream audio around the house to AirPlay-enabled speakers
• Mirroring support to Apple TV, Chromecast and Reflector
• High-quality streaming for video and audio files (5.1 Surround Sound, 1080p mirroring)
• Compatibility with every mirroring-enabled generation of Apple TV

Check out our review of AirParrot.

Related articles:

• Pangea releases five tvOS games with support for 3DTV
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• VLC coming to the new Apple TV
• tvOS not coming to Apple TV 2 and Apple TV 3
• How Apple is fixing what’s wrong with console gaming today

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

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We’re hearing from some developers that iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan use a new AirPlay encryption, which is not compatible with older Apple TV firmwares and software mirroring solutions like AirServer and Reflector.

In iOS 9 and El Capitan, Apple TVs running firmware version older than 6.2 appear as an audio only destinations:

In order for AirPlay to work, both iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan require Apple TV running firmware 6.2 and newer, meanwhile the latest jailbreakable Apple TV software version is 5.3.

People with jailbroken Apple TV’s running 5.3 will need to upgrade to 6.2 or newer to continue using AirPlay.

Of course, if you’re using a jailbroken Apple TV, you may choose not to update to iOS 9 or/and El Capitan and keep AirPlaying your content to the Apple TV.

Some developers told us they are re-implementing the encryption in their software to be ready for the final iOS 9/El Capitan update.

It is expected that iOS 9 will be released in mid-September. OS X El Capitan will launch sometimes in October.

This Wednesday, Apple is hosting an event where it is expected to unveil a next-generation Apple TV, which is rumored to be be thicker and slightly wider than the current-generation model and feature Apple’s A8 chip, a new, “drastically improved” remote with touchpad, more on-board storage, an improved operating system with support for Siri voice control and a long-awaited App Store.

Read more on Apple TV 4: 

• Apple TV 4 specs and price revealed
• Apple TV 4: big focus on gaming and Siri, support for Bluetooth game controllers
• Apple TV 4 will cost $149-$199, available in October

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

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With Reflector 2, you will be able to broadcast your Android phone or tablet screens to your Mac and PC. And since Chromebooks support Google Cast, you can do the same with them, too.

Reflector 2 is the result of years of experience with screen mirroring and sharing. It’s a completely rethought and redesigned application containing a number of game-changing features.

With this launch, we’re excited to announce Reflector 2 as the world’s first Google Cast mirroring receiver for Mac and Windows that doesn’t limit device connections or require a subscription .

Just like with iOS devices, now you can record the Android displays too and even record multiple displays simultaneously.

Reflector 2 brings many other recording improvements, like the ability to add voice-over while recording the screen, which should be a boon for vloggers.

Reflector 2 also brings better device management on board. You can select devices and set preferences directly from the menu bar or even via an iPhone app. Also, when you have multiple devices connected, Reflector 2 now lays them out perfectly for best productivity.

You can read more about the update here and more on Reflector here.

Reflector 2 is a paid update and existing users should receive a mail with a discounted price. New users can purchase Reflector 2 or download a free 7-day trial.

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Most of you, Apple TV Hacks readers, are probably familiar with AirParrot, a little pice of software for Mac, Windows and Chrome OS that takes AirPlay mirroring to the next level. AirParrot lets you wirelessly mirror your Mac, PC or Chromebook’s screen to your Apple TV, all without any additional hacks or jailbreaks.

You can read our full review of AirParrot here.

AirParrot is brought to you by Squirrels, the developer of other popular apps – Reflector and Slingshot.

Partnering with Squirrels, we’re giving away three Super Prize packs! Each will contain:

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Squirrels, the company that took AirPlay mirroring to the next level with AirParrot, has just released AirParrot for Chrome OS that adds wireless display mirroring to any Chromebook.

According to the developers, AirParrot is the only mirroring solution available for Chrome OS devices that allows mirroring the entire screen (not just a tab or a specific application) to AirPlay receivers like Apple TV and Reflector.

The Chrome OS launch of AirParrot includes features not seen in Mac and Windows versions. Entering a Quick Connect Code or IP address allows users to connect to destinations when networks might not support discovery. Recently connected devices also appear at the top of the receiver list if they are available.

Like AirParrot for Mac and Windows, the Chrome OS version can still find devices automatically if networks support discovery.

AirParrot for Chrome OS is believed to be a great tool for business and educational purposes:

Wireless screen mirroring is an advantage for anyone using Chromebooks in large groups. There’s no need to move around, find the correct cable and input or locate dongles. Simply select the destination and begin mirroring.

AirParrot is a great tool in the classroom. Students can share content with the entire class, and most classrooms already have the equipment needed to do so. Adding AirParrot to the mix increases engagement and understanding.

When a Chrome user begins mirroring, the username will appear with the stream. It eliminates confusion and it’s also a deterrent for users who might want to stream inappropriate content in front of large groups.”

AirParrot is available in the Chrome Web Store for individual purchase at $9.99. Anyone wishing to purchase the software can search for “AirParrot” in the store and download instantly. A free seven-day trial is available. The trial is tied to a Google user account and will move with the user as he/she logs in to different devices.

AirParrot for Chrome OS can also be purchased in bulk through the Squirrels sales team.

Read our review of AirParrot for Mac and Windows.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

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Netflix comes on top of my “Apple TV-uses” list but AirPlay mirroring is a close runner up. The flexibility it provides is unlimited as you can show off almost anything on your HDTV with just a tap – it can be movies, games, webpages, presentations and what not. Though this works great if you are an Apple-only guy, for a person with a Windows PC or an unsupported Mac, this feature is fairly out of reach and that is where this post comes in.

Thanks to AirParrot from Squirrels, you will be able to AirPlay mirror your Windows laptop or an old Mac incompatible with Mountain Lion or those who just don’t want to get that free upgrade to Mavericks (and why was that again?). Squirrels are the same guys who earlier turned every screen into an Apple TV with their Reflector app.

AirParrot has been around for quite some time now and many of you might remember the in-depth review we threw in earlier. In case you missed that, here is what umOuch had to say about AirParrot:

In the end, AirParrot is a great option for work or entertainment, the home or office, the shed or your bathroom. It opens up a world of possibilities to your laptops and desktop computers. For me, I am all things XBMC and and therefore I am all things media, so my interest was in streaming movies, shows, and music and AirParrot handled it all. I then ran PowerPoint, Keynote, Chrome, and even iMovie: AirParrot knocked it out of the park. You haven’t lived until you have edited a movie on a 55 inch screen.

Read the complete review.

But that was a couple of years ago and things have changed since. Though Squirrels have pushed out many updates in the interim, it still stands to be seen, how well AirParrot has managed to age. Their changelogs look great on paper but let’s see how AirParrot of 2014 performs in my following tests.

Set up and getting connected

Once a 3MB file is downloaded, you only need to open it once to enter the license code for activation. Now on, you’ll have the green parrot icon on the tool bar: right click -> select Apple TV. That’s all, your Windows or Mac computer is now Airplay mirroring to the Apple TV.

I am not going to disgrace you with an elaborate how-to guide, which involves only 4-5 clicks. But here is a video on that and you can download AirParrot from here.

Generally, we see intermittent loss of connection plaguing many Wi-Fi based services and content streams. But for an app dealing with such heavy broadcasting, I was surprised not to see even a single episode of lost connection from AirParrot during the test period. So far so good!

General navigation with AirParrot

I started with something really easy. I just browsed through various folders, menus and Settings on my computer without opening any files except some basic text files. Not surprisingly, the stream was crystal clear and without any lags whatsoever.

Browsing with AirParrot

Then came the turn of the thing I do most – surfing the internet. Double click Google Chrome and I browsed through certain simple blogs, then some news sites with picture & flash content and finally reached YouTube. Once again, AirParrot delivered perfect streams and it seemed as if I was using my mouse and keyboard directly with my HDTV.

Viewing photos

A Picassa slideshow of my college tour was next on the menu because that seemed like something I could really view on my TV at times. The results were again impressive, with smooth visuals and no dropped frames.

Powerpoint and Keynote

Though I won’t be using this for myself, it might be helpful for many who have the projector connected to an Apple TV at their office or classroom. In my test, the presentations came out in bright colors and clarity and so did the light animation effects as seen in the above image. If you’re looking for an app for presentation purposes, you can be assured that AirParrot will serve it.

Watching movies with AirParrot

For me, this is the only reason I purchased AirParrot and to be honest, I was a little skeptical about how it would handle my 1080p movies. Getting my hard disk full of films to show up on the big screen hasn’t been very easy till now.

The results were out of the world! I was almost sure that I will have to tweak the quality of the video from Preferences to have a decent show but AirParrot seems to smoothly deliver even 1080p videos without any hiccups. And this is where AirParrot won me over.

The best thing is that I can just bring my wireless mouse into the living room and browse through the huge library of movies on my hard disk, right on my TV and play it with a click. I have never felt so comfortable.

iMovie and Photoshop

Initially, I thought of ending the review by the movies section, but the results I got made me to push this further. I started with some photo editing (Gimp) and I knew that would go smoothly. No surprises there.

Next is the time for iMovie. The video editing progressed as smoothly as possible but when I started to render the movie, AirParrot showed the first signs of fatigue. Yes, as a reviewer, I finally had something to complain. Though playing back the rendered 1080p movie brought back the charm, I still had something to cling on.

Gaming with AirParrot

I am not much of a hardcore gamer but I knew I was going to win this round. So I borrowed Hitman Absolution from a friend and fired it up. The results were quite what we expected. The game was lagging and dropping frames all over the place. I tried reducing the frame rates and quality, but the game was still unplayable.

Just for the sake of completion, I loaded some flash games from the Google Chrome Web Store and AirParrot was back on its feet and bouncing.

Final scorecard for AirParrot

Why to get AirParrot on a new Mac?

The AirPlay Mirroring feature has been encoded directly into OS X since Mountain Lion. So if you have a new device, you’ll of course be able to make use of that. But if you have an old Mac that doesn’t support OS X 10 or for some reason don’t want to upgrade to a newer version, you can very well get AirParrot to enable AirPlay from Mac to Apple TV.

But even if you have a new Mac running Mountain Lion or Mavericks, AirParrot still seems to be a great buy because of these features:

(Click to enlarge)

Our favorite is undoubtedly Specific-app mirroring. This means that you can show the screen of only one particular app on Apple TV instead of showing the entire screen. So you will be able to mirror your Business Report keynote to the projector for your boss, while you play Blood and Glory on your Mac, at the same time.

UPDATE: Specific-app mirroring, our favorite feature on AirParrot for Mac, is now available on Windows too thanks to this huge update. Now you can mirror a movie from your PC for your family to watch, minimize it on your computer and have a Skype chat with your client, simultaneously.

The Verdict

AirParrot is like having a 50-inch monitor for your computer. If you have a Windows PC or an old Mac and an Apple TV, you’re missing out on a lot of fun and potential by opting against AirParrot. As seen from our tests, you’ll be able to mirror anything except hardcore games from your computer to the HDTV and enjoy them from the living room.

Get AirParrot for $9.99 or if you don’t want to take my word for it, you can very well get a free trial here.

Happy mirroring!

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Thanks to popular apps like AirServer and Reflector, the limited realm of AirPlay receivers has been vastly expanded to include Macs and Windows PCs. X-Mirage is the latest player in town and it comes with in-built media controls, the ability to mirror multiple devices and to record the screen. We browsed through the features earlier, but here is a closer look into how it works with the Windows ecosystem.

Once I had the 22 megabyte exe file downloaded, it took less than five clicks to install and get started. X-Mirage runs idle in the background while your laptop or desktop’s name starts popping up in the AirPlay menu on iPhone or iPad. Choose it, start mirroring and what you get is a very good quality and almost lagless stream. In my testings, both the visuals and the sounds were crystal clear, in sync and real-time.

I was curious about the multiple display mirroring boasted by the developers and connected three iOS devices to my windows PC. Surprisingly, I was able to get the feeds of  Table Tennis Touch, LIMBO and YouTube videos, all without any stutters. The sounds of the streams are clubbed, but irrelevant ones can be muted with the media controls.

With just a click on the record button, I was a able to save a good quality HD video of a Fruit Ninja session. This feature will surely come in handy for app reviewers in making videos, for developers to showcase their works and for YouTubers to broadcast tutorials, fixes or gameplays.

A small but very useful feature of X-Mirage is the in-built media controls. If you’re AirPlaying a movie or music to the PC, you don’t need to reach for your plugged-in iPhone or get your iPad from the next room, just to pause the video or change tracks.

In the end, X-Mirage delivers everything they claim with proficiency and yields powerful results in terms of output quality, features and usability. If you don’t want to take my word for it, you can avail a 7 day free trial here or else get the license here for $16.

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Apple has created the awesome platform of AirPlay to get your iOS device displays into Apple TV‘s large screen. But the major drawback has always been the lack of AirReceiving enabled devices. There are some great apps, like AirServer or Reflector, that mirror iPhone and iPad screens to your Mac, and now there is a new app called X-Mirage that does the same job, but promises to take AirPlay to the next level.

In addition to the basic mirroring capability, X-Mirage supports simultaneous display of multiple devices (similar to AirServer and Reflector), turning any game into an exciting multiplayer tournament. The one-click recording is similar to Reflector‘s and helps to capture all the content on the screen, perfect for showing off your apps or slideshows. Click the red dot, perform with your iPhone or iPad, tap the dot again and there you have it, the HD video ready to be uploaded or showcased.

Personally, my favourite feature would be the separate media control bar on X-Mirage. If you’re playing a video or music on your device while mirroring, you needn’t pick your device and browse to change tracks or pause/play. Just use the Media bar on X-Mirage. It’s really handy and works like charm.

If you’re still not convinced, head over to this link and download a 7 days free trial. If things go well, you can subscribe for the premium version or even apply for their huge discounts. Also, be sure to share your experience with X-Mirage as comments below.

Yes, X-Mirage is pretty much similar to other clients like AirServer and Reflector, which lets you turn your Mac or PC into an AirPlay receiver. So what is the need of a new one? According to the developers, X-Mirage is the best tool of its kind, made to overthrow others with its easy handling and most user-friendly design. Well, all developers say that about their products. Don’t worry, we’re doing a comprehensive review of X-Mirage and also a comparison between these three popular apps. Stay tuned to know the results.

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Just a week after updating its Reflector app, Squirrels has updated AirParrot for Mac to version 1.5.3. Here is what’s new:

• AirParrot now disables the “mirror displays” option in OS X while using Extend Desktop to prevent frozen AppleTV images

• “Hide Notification Center” preference now only appears for users on OS X 10.8 and later

• Resolved an issue that could cause an “Encoder Unavailable” error with latest Apple TV OS update

AirParrot is a little program that can run on Mac OS X or Windows and that allows a user to stream movies, watch TV, play music, or even run XBMC on an Apple TV. It works by wirelessly mirroring your Mac or PC’s screen to your Apple TV, all without any additional wires, hacks or jailbreaks.

Check out our review of AirParrot.

AirParrot is available from here with a single machine license for $9.99 USD and a 5-machine license for $39.99 USD. 10 minutes trial version is also available.

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