Need a replacement for Beamer, must work on M1/Big Sur

1

Beamer has been my go-to app for streaming a file from my Mac to my AppleTV.

Unfortunately, the app immediately crashes on Big Sur (or maybe just on M1 Macs, I’m not sure which), the developer has been unresponsive (their ‘support’ link on their website leads to an expired page, and their Twitter page is idle since September 2018).

Without getting into something like Plex, I am looking for an app that can basically take any video file and send audio and video to the AppleTV.

Any recommendations?

(x/p to TidBITS Talk)

2

VLC has an Apple TV app that works quite well. I use it frequently when I want to stream a video file to my Apple TV. I don’t have a M1 Mac, but it should work.

3

I can’t comment on M1 compatibility but Airflow works for me on Big Sur.

4

What a shame, Beamer was an excellent app. I still use an Intel Mac as my home server so I’ll be sending any videos there.

I’ll be watching this thread eagerly for an alternative for my M1.

5

I knew that VLC had an AppleTV app but I wasn’t aware that I could stream a file to it from my Mac. Thanks, will have to check that out.

6

Airflow works fine.

TidBITS folks suggested JustStream and Elmedia Player which are both part of Setapp, so I already have access to them.

JustStream is menu-bar only, which I didn’t like.

Elmedia Player works pretty much just like Beamer. The UI is kind of ugly, IMO, but it’s “fine” so I’ll probably go with that since I already have Setapp. Otherwise I think I’d buy Airflow. Still might.

Update

Yup, bought Airflow.

Elmedia… is just not a company that I really like, so I’d rather not use their apps. Even when “free”.

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7

Good to see you solved it.
For completeness I think Infuse also does everything needed.

8

Using JustStream and it’s stable, but missing Beamer right now

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9

I switched from Beamer to Infuse a few years ago.
Works much better for me.

10

Can you send a video file from your Mac to Infuse on your AppleTV? That was my primary use for Beamer, just sending a “one-off” video to watch on the AppleTV.

11

It works using shares - so I have a folder full of home videos / legal downloads that infuse pulls rather than pushes.

12

Gotcha. I can definitely see the usefulness of that, but it’s not what I used Beamer for. I could see that as a useful alternative, but not a replacement (sort of like a hammer and a screwdriver - one is not ‘better’ than the other, each is just more suitable for some tasks than the other).

13

Yeah agreed, Beamer became more of a ‘hassle’ when my Apple TV and Mac mini moved to separate rooms.

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