My biggest problem with accumulating hours of video content on my mac is the inability to watch those shows on the TV.

The obvious solution is the AppleTV but it has its own set of imperfections – everything has to be played via iTunes, which is problematic because it means having to encode hours of video content to the right format just so iTunes can manage it. Also, the newer AppleTV isn’t available in Singapore yet.

So I’m stuck watching videos on my 15-inch laptop screen which isn’t the most ideal way to consume media especially when I have a 50-inch TV sitting in my living room.

Enter McTiVia. This device’s main selling point is the ability to wirelessly bring everything on your Mac to your TV. (That’s what it says on the box).

We had a review unit and I set it up on my 2010 Macbook Pro, in hopes of getting the videos on my laptop to big screen.

There are 4 ways to connect the device to your TV. But as a Mac user who has a phobia for manuals, I settled on the easiest “purely wireless” connection. If you have the ability to navigate around the task of  setting up client modes and managing your device via IP address, you can go ahead and tinker, pretty much like any Access Point-Client setup of any non-Apple routers in the market. For me, I didn’t think it was necessary.

In the box is the said device, power adaptor with changeable plugs, 2 screw-on antennas, an installation disc and a Quick Installation Guide. It says to connect the device into the HDMI port of my TV and plug in the power adaptor.

I looked again through the box just to make sure and I’m certain it didn’t come with a HDMI cable. Great. Luckily, I have one lying around. After the connections are made, install the software, reboot and you’re good to go.

Usage is pretty straightforward. Click on the MirrorOp software, which is the device’s multimedia desktop receiver of choice, connect to the device’s wifi signal and after a few seconds, my desktop came up on my TV. Brilliant.

Watching videos means finding your file on your Mac, opening it with Quicktime or VLC and hitting Fullscreen. There is a slight lag between what you see on your Mac and what shows on the TV. That’s not a major issue since I’m not looking for real-time mirroring of screens anyway. If I’m going to watch shows, I’ll start the video then sit on my couch.

Video quality is decent, of course this really depends on what your file’s resolution is compared to your TV resolution. I tested with a 720 × 400 video on a corresponding 1080p screen. It looks slightly pixelated but acceptable. Frame rates were fine, nothing looked out of place but my system had nothing else running the background and my Macbook Pro was less than 3 feet away from the device. Your mileage may vary depending on your setup.

I think this is a good device for anyone who wants to watch content on their TV screen. Yes, you are actually mirroring your entire desktop so you can technically use it for presentations or you can even run your mac headless, by just connecting say a Mac Mini to it. But if you do, you don’t need the McTiVia.

Overall, the McTiVia not a bad alternative to the AppleTV since its not available here yet and you don’t need to encode any of your files just so iTunes will accept it. The McTiVia does one thing (mirror your desktop) and does it well.

We’d recommend it if you know exactly what you want it for. For me, it was simply about having the ability to watch video streamed from my Mac to my living room TV wirelessly.

The Good:

Easy to set up. Connect device to HDMI, install software and you’re good to go.

Small footprint so it doesn’t take up valuable real estate on your TV console. (Pic below shows actual size in my average-sized hand)

Does it’s job well.

The Not-so-good:

Slight lag in video if something interrupts your Mac. Like the annoying Activation Reminder that pops up asking you to register online. Clearly everything works without activating so I don’t understand why this nags you every few minutes.

Exiting the software blanks out your desktop screen with a blue screen. You’ll have to reset your wallpaper and reposition your desktop icons every time.

Doesn’t come with a HDMI cable. It would be fine if the box indicated but it doesn’t. If you want plug and play, you’re out of luck if you don’t have a spare one lying around at home.

iheartapple recommends: Buy if you need it. It’s not the most elegant solution, but there’s not a lot in the market to choose from.

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