Stream Music and Movies across Your Home - iConnected: Use AirPlay, iCloud, Apps, and More to Bring Your Apple Devices Together - page 66

pop-up menu in the Displays system preference, wait for the screen to refresh, and then make sure
the Overscan Correction option is checked to optimize how the Mac's screen fits on your TV screen.
Then change the AirPlay mirroring option back to Off to resume normal Mac screen display (other-
wise, your current screen stays mirrored to the Apple TV).
A Day in the Life:
Streaming Music and Movies
It's a Sunday and you're checking e-mails at your computer. In your inbox, you find an an-
nouncement for a new album from your favorite band. You duly download it to iTunes and be-
gin listening while you complete your weekend correspondence.
Before heading to the kitchen to wash up, you click the AirPlay button ( ) in iTunes
and select your AirPlay speaker in the kitchen so your music continues to play in another room.
The album features a bonus video track that you notice when accessing the album on your
iPhone. The video is a little too epic for the small screen, so you head to the living room, play
the video on your iPhone, and then use AirPlay to stream it to your Apple TV and watch it from
the comfort of your sofa.
Friends come over for lunch so, while you're entertaining, you use iTunes on your com-
puter to play your new album and you use Airfoil to send the audio stream to speakers dotted
around your home.
A friend has a home movie from your school days stored on her iPad, so you give her access
to your Wi-Fi network while everyone gathers around the TV. She sends the video via AirPlay
to your Apple TV, controlling playback from her iPad.
Slingbox and Other Streaming Alternatives
An Apple TV is the center of AirPlay video streaming, but there are additional purchases you can
make to extend your viewing. For example, Slingbox sells a small box called the Slingbox that, when
used with the $30 SlingPlayer software on your iOS device, lets you stream TV from your cable or
satellite provider to your iOS device. (By itself, a Slingbox and its subscription service lets you watch
your TV over the Internet from other locations, such as a hotel room while you are traveling.)
The Slingbox software also allows you to control playback on your box from your iOS device so
you can switch channels, record content, and play content.
Elgato offers a similar product called EyeTV (yeah, it gets confusing when you throw the Apple
TV into the mix) as well as options for satellite viewing and streaming over the web.
In both cases, the main benefits are obvious: You can watch your home TV service from any-
where you get an Internet connection, whether while on vacation, at a friend's house, or in the office
(if you have a lenient boss). Although these products are a great option by themselves, they can add
more capabilities to your AirPlay network, too. By using a device like the Slingbox or EyeTV, you can
effectively stream content from a TV in one room to your mobile device and then to another TV via