If you own a Mac and an Apple TV, you likely spend a great deal of time streaming content from your computer to your TV, through Apple’s set-top box. Apple has made this quite easy, starting with Mac OS X 10.8, with AirPlay Mirroring. Yet this can be glitch when streaming long-form content, such as movies, and is not the most practical solution; in addition, you might still be rocking Mac OS X 10.7 or lower.

If you’re looking for a much better choice, give Beamer a try. This new tool allows you to wirelessly playback many video formats on your Apple TV by simply dragging it and dropping it into the program’s main window. This software is smart, automatically detecting your Apple TV without any need for setup, meaning that you’ll be enjoying your favorite video content in no time.



Beamer supports AVI, MOV, MKV, MP4, WMV and FLV, therefore no lengthy video conversions should be needed for you to kick back and enjoy much of the (legal) video content available out there. While DVD rips are currently not supported, you can simply drag any VOB file from the VIDEO_TS folder on your favorite DVD disc. Subtitles are now supported as well, however surround sound support is not yet built into this version, which might be quite a blow for those using home theater setups with surround speakers, but support will likely be added in a later version.



Beamer is as of now Mac-only, yet the makers have not ruled out developing a Windows version sometime in the future. Priced at $12, or £12 for our dear UK readers, it is definitely not out of reach for those who enjoy playing back content from their computers on the big TV screen on a daily basis, however it might be quite hefty just for casual users. A trial version is available, which allows video up to 15 minutes long to be streamed; it has no time limit, therefore you might not need to pay for this software if streaming short content is all you need.



Looking back a few years ago, wirelessly streaming content between your everyday computer and a TV was a nightmare; now, it is a simple as dragging and dropping. The times sure have changed!