AirParrot 2, a little piece of software that lets you wirelessly stream your screen or media files to a variety of media receivers, has been today updated to version 2.5.1. This update resolves an issue when connecting to a Chromecast running the latest Chromecast software update.

Released in November 2014, AirParrot 2 was the first application to enable screen mirroring from a Mac or Windows computer to a Chromecast receiver.

You can update AirParrot 2 by selecting “Check for Updates” from the AirParrot 2 preferences menu. Additionally, you can download the new version from the AirParrot 2 download page.

Read more about AirParrot 2:

• AirParrot 2 updated with support for 13 new languages
• Squirrels releases AirParrot Remote: an iOS remote for AirParrot 2
• AirParrot 2: the ultimate companion app for Apple TV 4
• AirParrot 2.2.1 for Mac brings improved cast mirroring and hardware acceleration

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Squirrels has recently released un updated version of AirParrot 2 for Mac and Windows. The update adds 13 languages to AirParrot 2, including Spanish, French, Japanese, German, Dutch, Korean, Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Italian and Danish.

Users that have their language set to one of these languages in OS X or Windows will see the AirParrot user interface in that language.

This is a free update for all current AirParrot 2 users. To update, simply click the “Check for Updates” option from within the AirParrot 2 menu.

If you do not have AirParrot 2 desktop screen-mirroring app, you can download it in your preferred language from here.

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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.

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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

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Squirrels, the maker of AirParrot, has just added live YouTube streaming to its wireless mirroring and streaming receiver – Reflector 2. Anything that is displayed on iPhone, iPad, Android device, Chromebook or Surface tablet can be instantly streamed to YouTube when connected to Reflector 2.

The update also brings webcam streaming to YouTube, voice-over volume support and a redesigned recording bar. You can check the complete list of new features and improvements here.

This update is free for current Reflector 2 users.

Reflector is a wireless mirroring and streaming receiver that works great with AirPlay and AirParrot. It lets you mirror your content to the big screen without wires or complicated setups. You can also play games, watch movies, demo applications or present from the palm of your hand.

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

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AirParrot for Mac, one of the best AirPlay mirroring solutions out there, has been updated to version 2.2.1 with improved hardware acceleration, cast mirroring and more.

AirParrot for Mac 2.2.1 release notes:

• Hardware acceleration now more intelligently defers to software encoding if performance would be better in software
• Improved Cast mirroring and streaming support, especially on lossy networks
• Added a preference to manually toggle between hardware and software encoding
• Added better support for “Dark Mode” in OS X 10.10 and later
• Miscellaneous bug fixes and stability improvements.

You can download this update by selecting “Check for Updates” from the AirParrot preferences menu. The new version of AirParrot 2 can also be downloaded from here.

Back in June Squirrels released version 2.2 of AirParrot for Mac adding support for audio streaming to 1st gen. AirPort Express and hardware encoding, meaning that AirParrot 2 uses available hardware encoding to capture screens and transcode media files at much lower CPU usage when streaming to Apple TV and Chromecast (OS X 10.9 and greater).

Read our review of AirParrot.  

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

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If you own a Windows PC and an Apple TV, you are not making full use of the duo unless you start AirPlaying from the computer. AirMyPC can help you with just this.

AirMyPC is pretty powerful bringing almost every feature we have seen with other big players, like AirParrot 2. Download a 4 megabyte file and you are ready to get started in under two minutes.

In addition to the usual complete mirroring, AirMyPC also has options to send just the audio or only the video to your Apple TV.

It can also mirror the computer webcam and microphone – no other software can do that.

AirMyPC also brings specific-app mirroring, which means you will be able to send just one window to Apple TV in the background, while doing something else on your PC. El Capitan is bringing a similar feature with web videos in Safari for Mac (AirParrot 2 has this feature, too).

AirMyPC allows you to connect and manage AirPlay to multiple Apple TV devices. It also has a innovative new tool called Education Interactive Tools Suite (optional add-on), designed specifically for the modern classrooms. It lets you to draw, write, type and annotate directly on any open window on your desktop and of course, it gets mirrored to your TV or white screen.

With the Interactive Tools Suite add-on to Draw on your computer screen using the Pen Tool or using one of the the other Shapes Tools (as Circle, Rectangle, Arrows, Chats, Etc.) with opaque or transparent Colors. You will be able to use the Eraser tool, the Color Picker tool, the Opaque tool, Undo tool etc.

You will be able to type text using the Text Tool. You will also be able to save your work to files.

I had a quick hands-on with AirMyPC and found it to be really effective. It had some stutters while AirPlaying HD YouTube videos, but was snappy and responsive for everything else.

AirMyPC is available with a free 7-day trial. Go here to check it out and if you like the experience, you can purchase a license for $14.99.

If you are looking for an alternative app for Windows or Mac, check out AirParrot 2.

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Last Monday at the WWDC, Apple previewed the next major software update for Mac, the OS X 10.11 El Capitan (check out the major highlights). Safari on El Capitan brings a wonderful new feature for Apple TV users: the ability to AirPlay web videos to the Apple TV without sharing your whole screen and in the background.

In Yosemite, you can of course AirPlay your entire browser screen to Apple TV and whenever a web video is played, it will show up in full screen on your television. But as soon as you stop playing video on the Mac, the view on the TV goes back to a pure mirror of your screen.

In El Capitan, you will be able to broadcast a separate web video to the Apple TV. It continues to play while you open new tabs on Safari or multitask with different apps – only the video and nothing else is mirrored to the TV.

Use AirPlay to share web video without sharing your whole screen.
Play video from a web page to your TV with Apple TV — without showing everything else on your desktop. Just click the AirPlay icon that appears on compatible web videos and you can watch your video on the big screen.

If you can’t wait till this fall for El Capitan to get this feature, or you have an unsupported Mac you can check out AirParrot 2 for Mac that features media streaming and specific app mirroring.

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

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So the Super Bowl Sunday is here and everyone is getting their popcorn ready. For those who haven’t been able to get a ticket into the stadium nor have a supported cable subscription, here is huge news: you will be able to live stream SuperBowl XLIX this Sunday and that too for free. It is all thanks to NBC Universal who are broadcasting the whole event for the public to promote their TV Everywhere service.

Not only the game, but also the pre- and post-match shows, a Blacklist episode and even the Half Time program featuring Katy Perry will be available for free streaming.

Unfortunately, no Apple TV channel has sufficient rights to distribute the game and hence, we will have to rely on AirPlay to watch the iconic event on the big screen.

In this post, we will be covering four methods to watch the Super Bowl 2015 on your Apple TV, using AirPlay from different devices.

A. How to watch Super Bowl XLIX on Apple TV using iPad or iPod touch

The NBC Sports Live Extra app can help you there. This official app from NBC will cover the event and it also supports AirPlay mirroring.

Sunday night, fire up the app, choose the game and play the video stream, slide up the Control Center and choose your Apple TV. Now sit back and enjoy the game.

Get NBC Sports Live Extra app from the App Store for free.

This is probably the easiest of all methods. Unfortunately, this service is available only on iPad and iPod touch but not the iPhone, thanks to Verizon’s exclusive broadcast rights for smartphones.

B. How to watch Super Bowl 2015 on Apple TV using Mac or Windows PC

NBC has confirmed that they will live broadcast the entire event on their website, too. You can browse the site on your computer and AirPlay the video from there to the Apple TV. Bookmark this link if you’re planning to use this method.

On a Mac, the AirPlay capability is built right in and you just need to select your Apple TV from the top bar to get things going.

But if you’re on a Windows machine, you’ll need a third-party software to do so. AirParrot is a fairly popular one and also comes with a 7 day trial. You can check out our review of AirParrot or download it here.

C. How to watch Super Bowl 2015 on Apple TV using iPhone

If you’re on a Verizon iPhone, you can download their NFL Mobile app. The app will surely cover the Super Sunday but as you can see in the screenshot above (right), many videos in the app block video playing over AirPlay. Hence, it is unclear if the app will allow broadcasting of the game to your Apple TV. If they do, even non-Verizon users can use it but for a $4.99 subscription.

The best part is that the app will support our favorite Super Bowl ads, too.

The NFL Mobile app is the simplest method for iPhoners but since its availability is uncertain, there is an alternative way: this would be to use the website stream like we did with the computers.

Just use Safari to reach NBCSports. Stream the event and simply turn on AirPlay Mirroring to your Apple TV. If you need a more intuitive experience, you can try AirBrowser, a browser app designed for Apple TV.

D. How to watch Super Bowl XLIX on Apple TV outside the US

1. Those who want to watch the game from abroad can do so by buying an NFL Game Pass from here, but it will cost you $9.99. You will be able to watch the game on your PC or Mac and AirPlay it to your Apple TV (see above).

2. On an iOS device, you can use apps like TunnelBear to VPN your iPhone into a US server, in under a minute. However, this would set you back 3 dollars for the month. Once your device is US-ified, you can follow any of the above (A and C) methods to watch Super Bowl XLIX this Sunday.

3. If you’re residing in a country where a channel is officially broadcasting this Super Bowl, it is likely than the provider has an iOS app which can be used to stream the game and AirPlay to your Apple TV.

Here is the list of various broadcast partners around the world.

E. Sources supporting Super Bowl commercials

Admit it, the ads make the Super Bowl more worth watching and I know that many of you’re wondering if they can be enjoyed on Apple TV. Unfortunately, only the NFL Mobile app will carry these commercials along the game.

Others will have to enjoy them later via this channel on YouTube.

Summing up

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Squirrels has just released version 2.0.1 of AirParrot 2 for Mac and Windows with stability and performance improvements. Each platform received a number of bug fixes.

Here’s the full list of changes:

Mac:

• Resolved a crash when disconnecting from a media stream
• Resolved an issue that causes audio only mirroring to not un-mute if muted
• Resolved an issue that truncated the edge of 720p mirroring on 10.7 and 10.8
• Improved mDNS and device discovery performance
• AirParrot 2 now only prompts to install drivers when required, instead of on launch
• Added advanced logging preference for debugging advanced issues
• Miscellaneous performance and stability improvements

Windows:

• AirParrot 2 now prevents the screen saver from starting while mirroring and streaming
• AirParrot 2 now displays application icons in the “Application” mirroring menu
• Improved mDNS and device discovery performance
• Resolved a crash when disconnecting from a media stream
• Resolved an issue that caused Play/Pause to not be properly set during Media Streaming
• Resolved an issue that caused mute on “Audio only” to not mute audio to a receiver
• Resolved an issue that caused the connection menu to not properly size after launch if the task bar icon is quickly clicked.
• Resolved an issue that causes audio only mirroring to not un-mute if muted
• Added advanced logging preference for debugging advanced issues
• Miscellaneous performance and stability improvements

You can download this update by selecting “Check for Updates…” from the AirParrot preferences menu. The new version of AirParrot 2 can also be downloaded from here.

Learn more about AirParrot 2.

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

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