Build quality, hardware, size, and price

Even though it’s a few years old, no one can deny that the apple tv 3rd gen looks amazing. It measures 23 millimeters in height, and 100 millimeters square. In fact, it’s has such a small form factor that you can easily place it on your TV without worrying about it taking too much space. If you check the back of the device, you’ll notice there are several ports. These include optical S/PDIF, HDMI, Ethernet (10/100 Megabits), and a micro USB port. However, according to Apple, this port is for diagnostics only.

The Apple TV also features a dual band 802.11n Wi-Fi, meaning that it can effectively connect to 2.4 GHz and also 5GHz networks. If you’re curious about the apple tv 3rd generation price, you can currently get it for as little as $59. The apple tv 3rd generation Amazon may be cheaper, so be sure to check its price on Amazon as well.

Setup and control

You can easily control the Apple TV via its sleek and small, yet very thin aluminum remote. Even better, the remote is very simple to use, features a central Select button, but also a 4 way cursor pad that you can use to navigate through menus.

It’s possible to also use the Remote application for your iPad or iPhone. With it, you can control your Apple TV from your tablet or phone. What’s great about the app is that you don’t require line of sight, since it works over Wi-Fi.

To set up the Apple TV, you just have to plug in the soft-touch power cable and then hook it up to the HDMI port of your TV. Keep in mind that Apple doesn’t provide an HDMI cable, so you should get one separately. Next, all you have to do is enter your Apple ID and password. Once you do that you’ll be taken to the home screen.

Interface

What many will love about the Apple TV is the fact it has one of the simplest interfaces you’ll ever find on a media streamer. The icons on the home screen are large, therefore easy to navigate through. It’s important to mention that the top row is dedicated to Apple Services. You cannot delete them, but you can reorder them. The Apple TV runs on TVOS which works very smoothly. Even though it’s a bit old, the Apple TV 3rd gen has hands down one of the best operating systems ever put in a streaming device.

Content and AirPlay

The reason why people get an Apple TV is to consume content and there are many ways for them to do that. You can use apps, but you can also use AirPlay. AirPlay allows you to beam content from your Mac, tablet or smartphone to your Apple TV. This means that almost any content you can watch on your smartphone can also be beamed to your Apple TV.

If you want, you can also use AirPlay’s Mirroring function. As the name suggests, you’ll be able to send what you see on your laptop, tablet or smartphone to your TV. This can be very useful if you want to watch a movie with your friends or someone else.

Apple movies and TV

One of the best things about the Apple TV is that you can rent and also purchase TV shows and HD movies from Apple’s collection. In fact, Apple has the second largest collection of content (Sky Now ranks first) you can choose from, so no matter what TV show or movie you want to see, there’s a good chance Apple has it.

If you want, then you can also watch content you purchased from another device. Dolby Digital surround tracks are also supported by Apple (where available). Therefore, if you’re into surround sound, then just plug your Apple TV into an audio video receiver and enjoy it! One thing to bear in mind when purchasing live shows from Apple is that its version is usually a day behind the live broadcast.

Photos and iCloud

With photographs from your Mac, iPad, and iPhone going into iCloud, you can easily view them on your Apple TV at any given time. Not only that, but all the content you uploaded, such as your shared streams, photo stream, movies, etc can be accessed from the interface. Based on your internet connection, the content can be viewed pretty fast.

You may also have photographs that have yet to be uploaded to iCloud. If that’s the case, then you can use AirPlay to view on them your Apple TV.

Apple music

By using the music app, you can easily browse through the music store to play any songs that you may have purchased. If you have an iTunes Match subscription, then the songs you ripped from CDs are also made available.

Summary

If you’re the type who wants to have access to all his favorite TV shows and movies at any given them, time you certainly need to buy apple tv 3rd generation. Its impressively simple interface, great functionality, amazing build quality, but also low price make it a solid choice for anybody looking for an affordable, yet top quality streaming device.

The post A quick look at the Apple TV 3rd Generation appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Ever since Chromecast was released though, the market has changed quite a bit. Now we have a lot of streaming devices we can choose from, with the most popular ones including the Amazon Fire, Roku, and the Apple TV.

However, Google has released version 2 of their dongle and now you can get the google chromecast 2 which promises amazing performance at the same price. Some of the new features include screen mirror, but also gaming mirroring, and content aggregation.

Design and setup

While the original Chromecast looked very much like a stick, the second generation seems to shy away from that design. The 2nd gen features a round chassis that can be connected to your television’s HDMI port. In fact, the google chromecast 2 is also a cross-platform device, meaning that it has support for both Windows and iOS devices. The broader compatibility together with its low cost makes it by far one of the most attractive offers for anyone looking for a high quality streaming device.

As it was with the original Chromecast, the setup process for the latest iteration is basically the same. You just need to attach the power cable and then install Chromecast on your laptop, tablet or smartphone. At this point you’ll just need to power up the application and then follow the commands on the screen to connect the device to your Wi-Fi network and finally pair it with your chosen device. Once you do this, you’ll be able to start streaming.

The new app

Even though the setup process is simply the same, the second generation Chromecast runs a fully redesigned app. According to Google, their app now acts as a sort of hub for all your digital content needs. So the way it works is that it pulls content from every app that you have installed on your device and then makes it possible for you to stream it.

This is very useful, since no more will you need to access each app individually in order to stream your desired content from it. You can therefore watch videos from Vimeo and Netflix alongside with videos recently added to the BBC iPlayer, for instance. Better yet, the google chromecast 2 also features a cross platform search function. What this means is that you can search for content from all other apps installed on your device, making the Chromecast 2 a truly all in 1 entertainment hub.

Large number of apps supported

One thing you’ll certainly love about the google chromecast 2 is the fact that it supports a wider range of applications. In terms of entertainment, Spotify is by far the best addition. If you used the 1st gen Chromecast, you probably know that it didn’t have Spotify support. The 2nd Gen Chromecast also added support of productivity apps, including Polaris Office and Google Docs. Another great addition is the ability of streaming web pages from tabs opened in Chrome. Thanks to this new functionality, you can now easily stream content from unsupported apps onto your TV. Lastly, google chromecast 2 supports some basic Android games (such as Wheel of Fortune for instance).

Streaming quality

According to Google, it seems that their latest Chromecast iteration is able to stream video a lot faster thanks to the added Fast Play feature and especially the 5 GHz Wi-Fi network support. As you may already know, the newest 5 GHz frequency allows the Chromecast 2nd Gen to connect to other devices a lot faster. If you had the first Generation Chromecast with its 2.4 GHz, you probably noticed that sometimes it would get jittery when streaming content.

Now when it comes to the Fast Play feature, it’s certainly a nice addition. The way it work is that it starts to cache content (that you’re likely to watch) in the background. Based on what Google said, thanks to this function you’ll be able to stream content about 80 percent faster.

Google Chromecast comparison (1stGen vs. 2nd Gen)

We wanted to compare the two Chromecasts and so we pitted them against each other. The results were as expected: the second generation was a bit faster. In our tests, we used a 55 inch Sony TV while streaming content from BBC iPlayer, Vimeo, and Netflix on a Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphone and a BUT Home Hub router.

We tested both devices on the 2.4 GHz frequency and were surprised to find out that the 1st generation Chromecast loaded between 2 to 5 seconds faster than the second generation. We then changed the frequency to 5GHz, but unfortunately no speed or picture quality improvements were noticed. In terms of loading times though, Chromecast 2 was faster.

While the device is truly impressive, it cannot yet stream 4K content unlike other competitors, such as Amazon Fire TV and nVidia Shield TV. While there is not too much 4K content out there anyway, the lack of 4K support doesn’t make the device future proof.

Should you get the Chromecast 2?

Well, if you currently have a first generation Chromecast device, then you certainly should not buy it. Its main selling point is the new app and improved application support. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a streaming device, then by all means get it.

Compared to all other options on the market, the Chromecast 2 is by far the most affordable choice. Not only that, but it offers functionality that is usually found in devices at least twice as expensive. Even if you’re an iOS user, we still recommend this device especially if you’re on a budget.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, the Chromecast 2 is one of the best valued streaming devices you can currently get. While it’s not terribly original, it does its job of streaming content extremely well.

The post An honest review of the Google Chromecast 2 appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Running Plex on an Apple TV prior to tvOS isn’t something new – people have been running custom Apple TV apps like Plex for years by using custom markup languages and JavaScript combined with simple DNS trick.

Now, that Apple offers customers an Apple TV App Store and Xcode to developers, Plex has released official Plex app.

To run Plex (Player) on Apple TV 4 you need to have the latest Plex Media Server running on a Mac, PC, Linux, FreeBSD or a NAS that can transcode. More info can be found on Plex Support.

Here is my video showing the new Apple TV app with Plex Server running on a NAS.

Also check out: Infuse 4 for Apple TV 4: first look (video)

You can find more videos on my YouTube channel AskUncleDave.

Note that DRM-protected content (such as video from the iTunes store), ISO disc images, and VIDEO_TS folders are not supported in Plex for Apple TV.

Plex app is free in the Apple TV App Store.

Also available in the Apple TV App Store is Simple X – a third party client for Plex Media Server. It can browse and play videos from Plex servers both on the local network and remotely. However, it does not currently support Mucis or Photo sections in Plex.

Also read:

• Apple TV 4 hacked to run a web browser
• New Apple TV hacked to enable app folders
• MAME emulator running on Apple TV 4
• AirParrot 2: the ultimate companion app for Apple TV 4
• Official Plex app for Apple TV released
• 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.

The post Plex on Apple TV 4 explained (video) appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Don’t you love it when best things get even better? Well, our favourite AirPlay browser for Apple TV – AirBrowser, just got a major update and we’re loving it.

You might remember that we did a comprehensive review of AirBrowser last year, when we were blown away by its ease to get connected, intuitive interface and tutorials, lag-free surfing, Mac-like gestures, multi-tab support and custom features.

We were surprised at how satisfactory the browsing on the 50-inch HDTV was and concluded it as below:

I have used a couple of other AirPlay browsers as well as some normal iOS browsers over AirPlay. But, unlike others, AirBrowser seems to concentrate on just this one thing, to the point that there is no standalone browsing. And such a focus surely shows through in its execution, as AirBrowser is noticeably faster, powerful and more intuitive now, than what I saw back in July.

In short, AirBrowser is the most premium experience I’ve ever had with any AirPlay browsers.

In this review, I’ll be focusing on the new additions to AirBrowser, namely the AdBlock and YouTube optimizations.

Ad-blocker on AirBrowser

Anybody who has used an ad-blocker addon on their Mac or PC would know how pleasant the whole experience becomes. Websites load much faster, you have less distractions, browsing consumes less data and the content display is much neater.

If you are coming from such a surfing scenario, AirBrowser will feel right at home from now on. Tap on the gear icon in the left bottom corner and toggle AdBlock on.

YouTube experience with AirBrowser

Similarly, below you can see YouTube loaded on Safari over AirPlay mirroring to Apple TV, versus the AirBrowser version. It is obvious why one might want to choose the latter.

Besides, while playing YouTube videos, a navigation bar and media buttons show up on your iOS screen, which just simplifies the whole YouTube experience. You can seek, play, pause and scrub, even while playing videos fullscreen, without messing around with the cursor.

The verdict

After checking out this update, we have no choice but to stand our ground. We previously throned AirBrowser as the best AirPlay browser in the App Store and now, it’s just grown better.

An app backed by an active developer team who pushes out frequent improvements, and delivers extremely well on what it promises, is surely worth recommending. So if you are searching for a browser for your Apple TV, don’t look any further.

Get AirBrowser now for just $2.99 (usual $4.99) thanks to their App Store promotion.

Also be sure to take a look at our full review of AirBrowser.

The post AirBrowser – The best AirPlay browser for Apple TV gets even beter (review) appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

I have a YouTube channel where I upload gameplay videos of the games I find interesting. But it has been a bit idle recently thanks to the dearth of good screen capturing softwares. I have been researching to find an ideal one, but most of them are directed towards Mac. As a PC user, I finally got the desired results with AirServer.

I had heard about AirServer before, but it filled the headlines some time ago when it gained Miracast support and enhanced performance features on PC. This is why I decided to give it a try.

AirServer is now called AirServer Universal and it turns your Windows PC into a universal mirroring receiver, allowing you to mirror using AirPlay and Miracast simultaneously to the same screen.

Setting up AirServer

As with most mirroring softwares, the setting up was pretty smooth. Once I downloaded a seven megabyte file, I was ready to start streaming in less than a minutes.

Those who have a firewall enabled will however need to exempt AirServer from its settings, which might be the only hiccup you’ll come across. Don’t worry, the instructions for the same come bundled with the software and will pop up during the setup. Just follow them and you will do just fine.

Mirroring to PC

As for my use, how my iOS screen gets recorded is more important than how it shows up on the PC screen. And that is why I have been coping with the subpar mirroring quality and occasional flickering I’ve had with other softwares, because the final recordings looked good with them. Or somewhere deep within, I believed that there was a limit of clarity one could achieve in such situations.

But the belief was blown to pieces by AirServer as I have been getting excellent results, even with the live stream. The lag is almost negligible and the least of all the apps I have tried.

So if your requirement involves you showing off your app or a mobile website directly on a PC, AirServer should do the trick for you.

Miracast with AirServer

AirServer Universan can simultaneously mirror both AirPlay and Miracast.

The best part is that there is no setup needed from the Android device. Just like you connect your iPhone or iPad to an Apple TV, you can Miracast your WP or Android device directly from the Settings.

As it turns out, not every PC is supported: the Miracast services in AirServer will work on all computers with WiFi adapter which has NDIS6,4 drivers (Windows 8.1). This is not a hardware limitation but a software (driver) limitation.

Check out system requirements for AirServer Universal.

iOS screen recording with AirServer

For me, this is the very reason I bought AirServer in the first place and, fortunately, it din’t disappoint. Unlike other softwares I’ve used in the past, I have more control over how the recording is stored, its resolution, type of audio output, refresh rates, contrast and sharpness, and much more.

I remember turning off 1080p streaming with other clients, but AirServer manages full HD easily even on my ULV processor. The results were stunning and I never experienced any loss of connection, glitches or bugs while recording.

Conclusion

AirServer is undoubtedly the best at what it does.

It can mirror multiple iOS devices simultaneously to your PC screen with ease and elegance. Though I am converting my free trial into a paid license only for its powerful recording features, I am sure its excellence in mirroring makes the possibilities endless for professionals. Especially if you can connect your PC to a projector, thanks to the bring-your-own-device feature, anybody can show off his screen with just a tap.

If you’re looking for the Miracast function, you might want to make sure you have a reasonably recent PC and a supported phone to make use of it. You can just drop in a mail to the ever-friendly AirServer support team to find out if your configuration supports casting feature.

You can check the AirServer website to read more about the features.

AirServer Universal is sold at $14.99 (consumer license), $7,99-$11.99 (educational license) or $19,99 (business license) and you can get it from here.

A free 7 day trial of a fully featured version is also available.

The post AirServer Universal – AirPlay and Miracast receiver for PC [Review] appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Remember the AirBrowser app? We reported its launch earlier this year and, in our hands on look, concluded it as “a good option to look into” for anyone who wants to browse the internet on the HDTV via Apple TV. It’s been a few months since the release and a bunch of updates claim to have manifolded the AirBrowser experience. And today, we’ll see if that claim holds up in our tests.

Spoiler alert: it does!

Air Browser gives you a full desktop internet browser experience, but without a PC. All you need is an iOS device and an Apple TV (or a supported HDMI Cable).

You will be able to surf the web, to watch streaming videos in full screen on your TV, to read newspapers and anything else you normally do with a standard PC or a Mac browser. Pinch to zoom, swipe gesture to navigate through the navigation history, an easy to use multi tab system, bookmarks and more.

Getting Connected with AirBrowser

To be honest, I have never had any difficulties in connecting any AirPlay apps to Apple TV, and AirBrowser is no exception. Even if you’re using AirPlay for the first time, there is an animated step-by-step guide which loads on start up and guides you through this (swipe up the Control Centre, tap AirPlay, select Apple TV and turn on Mirroring). Google loads up immediately on your Apple TV, while the iPhone or iPad is turned into a touchpad.

Browsing on Apple TV with AirBrowser

Not sure if it’s because we’ve been serially downgrading our screen sizes from the 22-inch desktop monitors to 4-inch mobile screen, but thinking of browsing on an HDTV kind of scares us or at least seems like an overdo. But from my experience, after an awkward ten minutes or so, you just start enjoying the full screen browsing and you find it hard to go back. Apple.com has never looked more beautiful and watching 1080p YouTube videos on the 50 inch screen is mesmerizing.

Since you’re seated on your couch much away from the television screen, things just feel normal and clearer, rather than overblown. AirBrowser really adds to the experience by its intuitive controls and if you’re a Mac user, you’ll instantly fall into the slot. Use single finger for moving the cursor, two for scrolling, pinch gestures for zooming and taps to open links. The best thing, whenever you tap on a text field, a virtual keyboard pops up on your iPhone/iPad and you can type on it just like with a physical wireless keyboard.

In our tests, the websites loaded quickly and the cursor movements didn’t show any noticeable lag. The navigation is similar to Macs not only in terms of the gestures, but the capacitive touch screen of your iOS device works so fluidly, that its feel is comparable to the touch pads on MacBooks.

AirBrowser’s custom features

Besides the central mirroring ability, AirBrowser comes packed with a wide range of options which makes it as powerful as most browsers for iPhone.

Note: The first thing you need to do after setting up the app is go into the Settings tab and toggle the Size pages to fit’mode on. Else some websites will load ‘boxed’ instead of full screen and spoils the whole fun.

AirBrowser supports multitabs, meaning you can have many tabs open at the same time. Switching between tabs is as easy as a ‘tap and swipe’.

There is a separate Bookmarks and History manager for the app. Also you can access the recently opened pages via the Grid icon in the app. This will show up as a tab on the TV screen and can be selected directly over there, instead of you looking down into your device every time.

On the iPad/iPhone screen, you do have the options to load the desktop or mobile versions but I highly recommend keeping it to the former. Also, the webpages can easily be shared from here via AirDrop, Message, Mail and more.

Compatibility

AirBrowser is compatible with iPhone 4S and up, iPad 2 and up, and iPod Touch 5th gen. It can stream to Apple TV 2nd gen and Apple TV 3rd gen. If you have doubts as to how well your devices will work with the app, Airbrowser has a dedicated checker app for the same. You can get it here for free.

Verdict

I have used a couple of other AirPlay browsers as well as some normal iOS browsers over AirPlay. But, unlike others, AirBrowser seems to concentrate on just this one thing, to the point that there is no standalone browsing. And such a focus surely shows through in its execution, as AirBrowser is noticeably faster, powerful and more intuitive now, than what I saw back in July.

In short, AirBrowser is the most premium experience I’ve ever had with any AirPlay browsers. If your job involves showing off websites or articles or web pages over AirAplay, the 1080p output of AirBrowser is something you shouldn’t miss. Even for normal home users who’re holding out just because you think HDTV browsing is awkward, should try AirBrowser to realize it isn’t.

Get AirBrowser from the App Store for $4.99

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

The post AirBrowser – The best web browser for Apple TV (Review) appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Demarca, the developers behind some of the most beautiful apps on the App Store is back after Dearest Bialowieza Forest and Nature’s Beauty Wallpapers with another stunner, the Bison bonasus.

Photographer Krzysztof Onikijuk spent some significant time in the wild, capturing precious snaps of the European Bison (Bison bonasus) with his camera. If you’ve never really thought of bisons as magnificent creatures, this “Nature Photography Album” should change that.

“Meet the heaviest surviving wild land animal in Europe – the European bison  – seen thru the lens of Krzysztof Onikijuk, nature photographer from Poland.

This album contains over 100 high quality images of the European bison and other inhabitants of the Bialowieza Forest, one of the last and largest remaining parts of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain.”

The app features support for dual screen AirPlay mirroring: just start the Diaporama mode, find the AirPlay icon and your iPad/iPhone screen will turn itself into a remote to change the pics or pause the show, while your HDTV will start lighting up with some wonderful colors.

Just like Demarca’s previous apps, Bison Bonasus is basically a beautifully executed slideshow of breathtaking photos, coupled with some soothing music in the background. Not only European Bisons, but flowing rivers, snowy woods, Pygmy owls and Hazel hens also take the stage.

Besides, many pics come with quotes by locals, historical notes and photographer comments on how the photo came to be. And on the iOS screen, you can save the pics to your camera roll, share them on social media or fast forward through the gallery of 114 pics.

“It’s as if Krzysztof was painting them, proving that photography really is an art,” says Elzbieta Dzikowska and she couldn’t be more right.

In the end, if you love watching The Discovery Channel or The Animal Planet, this app is going to give you goosebumps.

Get Bison Bonasus from Apple Store for $1.99

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

The post Bison Bonasus – A spectacular app to AirPlay to your Apple TV appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

As I said in an earlier article, Rolocule is the dev team whose iOS games appeal more to Apple TV users than it does to iPhoners. Unlike other dual screen games which just provide alternate HD visuals on mirroring, Rolocule motion games are AirPlay exclusive. These games turn your iPhone into a Wii-like motion controller and are playable only over Apple TV.

Motion Tennis was their first game which was widely popular thanks to its unique and never-before style of gameplay. You can read our full review here. Motion Tennis for Apple TV is currently available for free in the AppStore to celebrate the release of their new game, Dance Party of Apple TV, which we will be discussing in detail today.

Dance Party for Apple TV is surely what it sounds like – A dancing game which can be played with friends at parties, over your Apple TV. But after spending a few hours with it, I can assure that it’s so much more than that!

Basically, each level in Dance Party has an on-screen dancer who steps to custom songs and the users have to mimic his/her moves. Your iPhone or iPod Touch is held in the right hand and the user dances as if he’s seeing his mirror image on the television. The app tracks the various motion sensors on your device, similar to the Wii controller, to find out how well you’re doing.

The game gives you live feedback as Perfect, Good or ‘a red X’ based on your choreo skills and you’re awarded with points. A continuous stream of avatars at the right bottom hints on the upcoming steps so that you can always be in sync with your dance tutor. At the end, all points add up to rate you in stars, along with an approximate count of calories you just burnt!

The game currently provides two free songs and three more can be unlocked via an in-app purchase, with still more songs to come. The Dance section is the single player mode which you can use to better your stars, for practice or for a work out. The Party mode unleashes the actual beauty of the game and literally turns your living room into a disco floor! You and your friends can play simultaneously (or one after another) in front of your TV and clash your dancing skills. An online mode is coming soon while the blind mode for expert dancers, which obviously I haven’t been able to unlock yet.

So coming to the main question – is it any good? Rolocule claims that they have brought highly polished graphics and much more accurate motion engine to Dance Party, as compared to their one year old Motion Tennis game. To be honest, the change is clearly evident right from the beginning.

You might remember me complaining about the physics engine in my Motion Tennis review, but Dance Party instantly feels different. Try messing with the steps and you’ll see that “X” mark thrown at your face while stepping according to the beat is bound to fetch you a Perfect. Of course as time passes you’ll learn to cheat your A7 chip, but that is a sort of necessary evil on all motion controlled consoles.

The songs are great and the steps are simple enough for users to replicate.  Yes after each game, you do feel like you were dancing and the fun just multiplies when you’re in goups. There is no appreciable lag nor any lost connections worth mentioning.

So far, my only complaint with Dance Party is its poor replayability. Once you’re an expert with a song, you can consistently score high with them and your first-time-playing guests will probably lose to you, again and again. Though it would be impossible to randomly animate new steps, I would have loved if the order of steps were a little mixed after each session. However, the gameplay is not too simple like it was with Motion Tennis and getting to that five star rating can take forever. This brings some replayability to the game and it’ll probably be a week until you can get every step perfect in each song. Maybe this issue can be overlooked when more and more songs get added to the library.

Dance Party supports iPhone 4S and above, iPod Touch 5th gen, and Apple TV 2 and Apple TV 3. If you donot have an Apple TV, Dance Party can mirror even to your PC or Mac with the help of third part softwares like AirServer. The game can be downloaded for free from the AppStore with two songs included. If you like what you get, you can buy more songs or unlock an unlimited songs package for 9 bucks.

In short, if you love to dance and have a supported iOS device & Apple TV, there is no game worth recommending more than Dance Party. Get Dance Party for Apple TV for free.

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

The post Dance Party for Apple TV Review – Wii-style gaming! appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

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!

The post Review: AirParrot – taking AirPlay Mirroring to the next level appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

You might remember our huge coverage (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3) of iOS games that allow dual screen AirPlay mirroring with Apple TV, turning your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch into the controller, while the HDTV becomes the game arena. However, there is an app that not only does dual screen mirroring but actually brings motion gaming to your iOS device using Apple TV. Here is a complete review of this one-of-its-kind game, Motion Tennis for Apple TV.

As you might have already figured out, Motion Tennis turns your iPhone or iPod touch into the tennis racket while the grand slam tournament takes place on your television via Apple TV.

Swish your hand in the air and give your wrist some exercise to score aces in this spectacular game. The developers at Rolocule promise “the most immersive tennis experience ever on iOS”. But does it really live up to all the hype? Let’s see.

Getting Motion Tennis connected to the Apple TV

The first thing you need to know before purchasing this 8 bucks game is that you have to own an Apple TV to make any good out of it. Don’t expect to start an idle match directly on your iPhone while travelling or in the bedroom, because there is no provision for an in-device display of the gameplay.

Unlike other dual screen games, AirPlay is not just an optional feature in Motion Tennis, but rather the only way of playing the game – you won’t be even able to have a glimpse of the home-screen without connecting to an Apple TV.

The process of connecting to the Apple TV is as usual and fairly straight forward. Pull up the Control Center -> tap on the AirPlay button -> choose the Apple TV -> toggle on Mirroring.

Once you set up mirroring and fire up the app, you’ll see large banners on the Apple TV and their miniature versions on your iPhone or iPod touch, prompting that the dual screen gaming has been activated. A few taps into the game, a short tutorial and some calibration and you’re holding the virtual tennis racket similar to Nintendo Wii games.  At the same time, the beautiful 80 ft. court pops on your television.

The gameplay

Raise the iPhone above your head to serve the ball and the game starts with a smash. Of course, the automated second player will have the green ball flying back to your side. Use the device just as a bat and thrash it back in any direction or height you want.

As you would expect, your TV avatar would replicate your gestures. Fortunately, you don’t have to do any of the running up and down the court. You’ll be automatically placed at the best positions and all you have to do is decide the side and type of the shot you need to play.

You already know the rules and point system, no surprises there. The real eye popper is the different kinds of shots you’ll be able to execute just using your wrist movements – you can do standard, slice or lob shots depending on the angle at which you hold the device.

Once you score the game point, your performance is measured in stars and, more importantly, you get an approximate count of the calories you just burned while playing the digital tennis. Obviously it is not accurate, but to know that you’re contributing to your health and not just wasting time with silly games, it’s hilariously comforting.

The game has single player, survival and multiplayer modes. The first one lets you rally with the ‘A chip’ of your iPhone and has various difficulty modes. The survival mode is analogous to the endless modes and goes on till you lose a point. Finally, in multiplayer mode you can ask one of your friends to join you in a doubles match against the CPU.

The verdict

To be honest, Motion Tennis scores the most by being unique and nothing like anything else we’ve ever seen – no complaints there. However, the gameplay as a whole feels buggy or, more correctly, a bit automated, at most times. Your digital form seems to play the perfect shots even if you completely screw up the swing or timing. Sometimes you shoot to the right and the ball bounces to the left and gets you a point.

Also, you hardly score any outs or faults while the guys on the other side of the net has plenty of them. Overall, it all seems a bit biased for me.

Motion Tennis is a great app to be showcased when you have some friends over or to test the power of your iDevice – Apple TV combo. But you won’t find yourself playing it everyday nor will it replace your gym.

It sure shows a lot of potential to grow into a more realistic game someday in the future and when that happens, it’ll be undoubtedly a must buy.

Get Motion Tennis for Apple TV from the App Store ($7.99) and try it out yourself.

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The post Motion Tennis for Apple TV: Wii style gaming on your iPhone [review] appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.