Beamer is an application for OS X that lets you send video in any common format to the Apple TV for playback.
Screen Mirroring over AirPlay works great in general, but the video quality is a lot less reliable than when you're streaming a movie using Beamer (or iTunes for that matter). The video stutters every now and then. You may find this acceptable when watching a YouTube video, but it's very distracting when you're immersed in your favorite film or TV-series.
Beamer offers smooth playback and consistent quality, because it builds a buffer of video to prevent stuttering. Beamer also enables playback control (pause, fast-forward, etc.) using the Apple TV remote and you can still use your Mac for other tasks while the movie is playing.
Beamer supports all common file formats including AVI, MOV, MKV, MP4, WMV and FLV. Embedded subtitles and subtitle files are also supported; however, surround sound is not supported as of yet.
The application can be purchased at the link below for $16. A free trial with a 15 minute time limit is also available for download.
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Comments (8)
Comments are closed for this article.
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Thomas Hough - January 20, 2013 at 2:17am
Can not pay for this - therefore can not download and use it. Makes me wonder if it is worth buying if the company can not get the buying right.
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Jack black - January 17, 2013 at 7:42pm
Without jailbreak apple tv is dead
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Patri Filo - January 15, 2013 at 8:19pm
I found this app by accident and let me tell you its awesome, drag and drop thats it! I was afraid it would not work with my Raspberry Pi/XBMC media box but to my surprise it worked!
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carlos - January 15, 2013 at 2:39pm
do i need a macbook airplay capable to us this app?
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chriskat - January 15, 2013 at 10:17am
ive used Beamer for a couple of months on my macbook and it really is as easy as drag and drop, i have'nt found a format yet that it wont stream....
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iPlex - January 15, 2013 at 3:51am
Got one word for you guys: Plex.
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TofuBot - January 15, 2013 at 7:04am
Plex requires a jailbreak to work on Apple TV. Beamer doesn't.
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iPlex - January 15, 2013 at 4:43pm
Beamer app resides on Mac/iPhone/iPad/iPod and sends video to TV via Airplay protocol, no need to install beamer app on AppleTV. Plex does the same!
Keyword here is Airplay!