I want send both audio and video output from my Apple TV to my iMac. I have a cable that connects HDMI to USBC but I don't know how to get them to communicate with each other. Any and all help will be appreciated.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Apple TV 4K, tvOS 18
I know some gamers use a capture device to stream their games. Black Magic makes one, and there are many cheap ones if quality doesn't matter. I do a lot of video editing and I seem to remember trying that on an ATV and it worked. I can't remember if HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) was an issue or not, but many consumer broadcast devices use it. It looks to make sure the end destination of the signal is a TV or some other display device, and not a recording device. I don't have a lot of experience with it, but the Black Magic capture device that's around $100 is extremely good. (it's common in pro video environments) Trying it for your purpose is a bit of an experiment on your part. You might want to do some more research on that.
I know some gamers use a capture device to stream their games. Black Magic makes one, and there are many cheap ones if quality doesn't matter. I do a lot of video editing and I seem to remember trying that on an ATV and it worked. I can't remember if HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) was an issue or not, but many consumer broadcast devices use it. It looks to make sure the end destination of the signal is a TV or some other display device, and not a recording device. I don't have a lot of experience with it, but the Black Magic capture device that's around $100 is extremely good. (it's common in pro video environments) Trying it for your purpose is a bit of an experiment on your part. You might want to do some more research on that.
The iMac can do HDMI-out via Thunderbolt (USB-C connector), but it has no direct method for HDMI input. The iMac can’t act as a ‘dumb’ monitor with speakers. The “just viewing” that you describe is not supported.
Most content that is available on the Apple TV box, is available on Mac via apps or via browser. You can view most of the content on the Mac without using an Apple TV box.
To confirm what @Rudegar points out any content you view or subscribe to on the Apple TV almost certainly has an equivalent app to view the same content on your iMac. All of them, Apple TV+, Netflix, HBO, Paramount+, Peacock, etc. have apps for your iMac that you can login to with your subscription credentials. Even most games.
What you think may be available isn’t. We volunteers deal all the time with users wanting to use their iMac as a second monitor for their laptop or Mac Mini. It simply isn't possible for the reasons stated by @Rudegar.
Of course someone will come along with some weird piece of hardware or software claiming you can do it but the results are universally unsatisfactory.
There are no inputs for video signals on computers out of the box
you need to purchase some external box (tv tuner, streaming mixer or the likes)
and software installed on the computer to display such input, this is the case for all computers with all
operating systems really
but why do you need to? pretty much all the content apps on appletv box can be accessed by apps or using a web browser on any computer
sorry what you wish to accomplish is not possible with any computer or operating system (windows, linux, bsd..) out today, without a third-party streamer / capture box to translate the live stream into something an app that comes with the said box on the display on your computer.
these forums are user helping other users like yourself, it's sort of going
to a physical apple store and asking other customers there advice
you can suggest apple make things like that possible by using their feedback channel
Bottom line? You can’t use your iMac as a display for your Apple TV. It is simply not supported and there is no app to make it work.
You just have to accept reality.
Sorry - my response was deleted or blocked or something. You can search for Blackmagic Ultrastudio Recorder 3G. My link was not allowed, probably. I got mine on eBay, otherwise looks like the price went up retail to $140.
The Blackmagic app that gets downloaded is really more for capture and editing rather than viewing, although you can watch in the capture window.
Watching a DVD is basically opening a file. There are protocols for watching a DVD. Copy protection is built into DVD watching that satisfies the industry. Streaming video real time from an outside source is not done the same way a local file is transferred and simultaneously played back. There’s other protocols and industry permissions standards put in place.
I’m actually thinking of getting an ATV just for watching live TV on one of my
monitors. Going through all the gymnastics of streaming to a computer and the work around isn’t worth it, but I do prefer the remote over dealing with a bunch of apps on my Mac. Too much effort to find and download them, plus the ATV UI mirrors my other ATVs. I get what you’re doing and the frustration of unsatisfying answers is understandable. It just feels logical, but the industry has conspired to not make it allowable
You don’t.
Thank you for your input. I searched for it and it appears to be something designed for saving streamed content to a computer and then editing it with a video editing application. It looks interesting but I don't need any of that. I just want to view the content on my computer. They have a great many products for managing video content and the cheapest thing I could find is also a great deal more expensive that $100, like nearly 10 times that much. Unless I am looking at the wrong thing. Perhaps you could provide a link? Thanks.
I can watch DVD movies on the computer using my DVD-RW external drive so iMac is capable of accessing and steaming audio/video content from an external source through the USB-C ports. It makes me wonder if perhaps there is an app available that exploits that capability for other purposes such as my purpose.
Yes I do naturally realise I can stream from my iMac but I have my reasons for wanting to stream from the TV4K and monitor with the computer.
It all seems silly to me for the reason I mentioned in a previous post. The Mac can in fact access and stream the video and audio on a DVD using the external drive connected to a USB-C port. Presumably that is because the computer recognises it as a drive. Nevertheless it does demonstrate video can in fact be streamed from an external source using the USB-C port so there must be some kind of workaround solution. I doubt it would need a piece of hardware but rather some kind of app that accesses the ability to stream from a port, drive or not.
I don't ... what?
How can I send Apple TV output to my iMac?
