Airplay Mirror is useful for reading comics 'n stuff though.
If you have a Macbook - buy an app called Camouflage from the App Store:
https://apps.apple.com/de/app/camouflage/id445264274
This can automatically put an image overlay over all your icons on the desktop (any app you'll start after that will be put on top of the image, so you are basically covering up all the icons on your desktop with an image). Then set up an Apple-Script like this one to be triggered with a key combination (Quicksilver for Mac (
https://qsapp.com/ ) can do that and is a great alternative to Spotlight (doesnt interfere with Spotlight) as a Launcher as well).
Code:
tell application "System Events"
get name of every process whose name is "Camouflage"
if result is not {} then
tell application "System Preferences"
reveal pane id "com.apple.preference.general"
end tell
delay 0.5
tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences" to tell window "Allgemein"
click checkbox "Menüleiste automatisch ein- und ausblenden"
end tell
quit application "System Preferences"
tell application "Camouflage"
quit
end tell
else
tell application "System Preferences"
reveal pane id "com.apple.preference.general"
end tell
delay 0.5
tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences" to tell window "Allgemein"
click checkbox "Menüleiste automatisch ein- und ausblenden"
end tell
quit application "System Preferences"
tell application "Camouflage"
activate
end tell
end if
end tell
save as a .scrpt make it executable (chmod +x), bind it to a keycombination (that isnt used by anything other on the system, on MacOS thats usualy keycombinations with crtl+ another key).
You have to rewrite the script above (window "Allgemein", checkbox "Menüleiste automatisch ein- und ausblenden" ) if you are not using the German version of MacOS. But what it basically does, is to check if Camouflage is running, and if not, it starts it, and it ventures into Mac System settings to tick a checkbox, that also hides the Mac menubar (will still scroll down on hover over).
So as a result you have an entirely cleaned up screen (image oiverlaying the Desktop icons, menu bar hidden).
If you launch the script again, it will untick the checkbox in system settings, so the menu bar comes back, and it will quit Camouflage, getting you back to your normal desktop.
-
With that cleaned up screen, you might want to launch a cleaned up Google Chrome window in the middle of your screen, which you can do like that:
Code:
do shell script "/Applications/Google\\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\\ Chrome --incognito --app=https://www.comixology.com/my-books/ --window-size=900,680 --window-position=233,0"
tell application "Finder"
set screenSize to bounds of window of desktop
set screenWidth to item 3 of screenSize
end tell
tell application "System Events"
set myFrontMost to name of first item of (processes whose frontmost is true)
end tell
try
tell application myFrontMost
set windowSize to bounds of window 1
set windowXl to item 1 of windowSize
set windowYt to item 2 of windowSize
set windowXr to item 3 of windowSize
set windowYb to item 4 of windowSize
set windowWidth to windowXr - windowXl
set bounds of window 1 to {(screenWidth - windowWidth) / 2.0, 45, (screenWidth + windowWidth) / 2.0, 45 + (windowYb - windowYt)}
end tell
end try
(Applescript code to be saved as an .app)
That launches a Google Chrome incognito window on
https://www.comixology.com/my-books/ which is 'minimalized' in appearance.
You could then proceed to Airplay Mirror your Mac to you TV (f.e. using the Android .apk linked above and an Android Box under your TV), then use a "use your phone as a mouse" app like:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.necta.wifimousefree
to sit closer to your TV and use your smartphone phone as a trackpad. Works beautifully.
-
Why thats useful.
Any 55" TV currently has enough vertical resolution and hight that you could use it as a comic book reader for a full size page, without flipping the screen by 90° or anything like that. Its actually very, very usable for that usecase.
Tips:
- Use cmd+ (revert with cmd-) on your Google Chrome browser window to set resolution to 200% - if you own a Macbook with a retina display, this will result in a sharper image, that then gets captured and airplayed as a 1080p image to your TV. This is for services, that will scale images to fit screen height or width in Chrome - because scaled size on the TV will be the same, but the resolution (image fidelity) will have increased.
- Go into Energy management on your Mac and set it to never sleep, while plugged in in case thats needed.
Looks like that in the end (this is me using comixology.com (but this works with any online comic service):
if you drag the window size to fit the comic page (scaled to fit height) exactly.
You could also drag it double wide for double pages, if you'd like to, like so:
Also, The Android Wifi Mouse app (for your phone to be used as a trackpad) I've linked above currently doesnt seem to have an 'all black' mode (which definitely is preferable, if your phone has an OLED screen, while you are using it with its screen enabled as a touchpad, for a long time) - but an older version of the app (3.9.2) has.
You can source that from here (
https://apkpure.com/wifi-mouse/com.necta.wifimousefree )
-
So thats a usecase, where screen mirroring finally makes sense for once.
(If you dont want to build a HTPC) (You are sitting closer to a 55" (or larger
) screen, so smaller UIs dont matter, and you are using it for image browsing - so the few miliseconds of lag dont come into play that much. Also as you are mostly clicking onto one part of the screen to advance an image - the less than ideal 'phone as a trackpad' experience doesnt matter much either. In fact its pretty 'good enough'.
Also - as you have seen by now, using an Android TV Box, and a Macbook (Air) is much, much more preferable, than using a an Apple TV and a Windows laptop.
(Always invest more money into the 'PC' like device (Laptop), because thats where you want the 'smarts' of a fully fledged OS and a good UI. Android Box under your TV could be comparatively cheap and dumb as a rock (as long as it is android
) and can till be controlled and automated from a Laptop (Mac in my case) - no problem.
-
So finally found a usecase, where Airplay screen mirroring actually makes sense. Is what I'm saying.
Used and tested on a 55" LG 4K OLED. Screen door effect is no issue at all. With 8K screens probably even less so.
Airplay will be limited to 1080p in our scenario (using that Android .apk) - but image quality (using 200% page size in Chrome) is more than good enough for this to be a viable usecase. (If you dont have to sit on the floor in front of your TV. For a furniture buying guide, refer to youtube..
)