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.

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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The post How to watch Super Bowl XLIX live on your Apple TV 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

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

iOS users have long been using AirPlay Mirroring to broadcast their photos, songs, movies and even dual screen games to the HDTV via Apple TV. But now, a new app called AirBrowser claims to bring web browsing to your 50 incher, which can be royally enjoyed from the couch using your iPhone or iPad. Though we have seen AirWeb, a similar browser, before, AirBrowser pushes the experience still further.

AirBrowser promises to use the native resolution of your television to stream websites, so that the pages are always shown in full screen – and that means, no black pillars of plain mirroring on the sides.

Another decent feature is that it automatically loads the desktop version of the site, instead of us requesting it every time, like on Chrome.

Once the site shows up on the television, your iPhone or iPad effectively turns into a control pad, where you can pan to move the cursor and use gestures to navigate the page. In addition to the routine omnibar and sharing options, multiple tabs, history and bookmarks can also be accessed from here.

During our hands-on session, the visuals were crisp and the controls executed exactly as advertised by the developers.

However, many including me, are still not much into the habit of surfing on our HDTVs, other than for satisfying a few minutes of curiosity. But if you do like idea or your work requires you to show off websites on televisions or projectors, AirBrowser seems to be a good option to look into.

AirBrowser costs $4.99 and you can get it from the App Store here.

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