Use Apple TV to make your HDTV a wireless second monitor

Do you remember when we told you Apple has an AirPlay Mirroring application for Mac OS X in development? It would allow you to wirelessly mirror what is on your Mac’s display to an Apple TV and a connected HDTV. While we are unsure if Apple plans to release the app, thanks to “AirParrot” we might have a half decent solution in the meantime. AirParrot is available now for $9.99, and it allows a user to mirror a Mac’s screen (OS X 10.6+) to a television through an Apple TV. Unfortunately, it is not a perfect solution yet…

TUAW went hands on and noted the app does have a few shortcomings. Most notably, the app cannot prevent AppleTV from sleeping during mirroring, and the H.264 compression “does not translate well to Apple TV resolutions”:

AirParrot is still in its early days. As yet, there is no subsampling (i.e. you cannot just pick a portion of your screen to mirror) and no audio mirroring. Stability can be a bit iffy as well and the developer is still working on a way to keep the Apple TV from going to sleep while mirroring.

David Stanfill of Napkin Studio, the maker of AirParrot, is also working on an AirPlay Mirroring receiver for Macs that allows you to mirror an iOS device’s display on a Mac’s display. Early work on that project can be seen in the video below, and Stanfill told TUAW he will still have to get approval from Apple:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=153kZl8pt74]