Apple TV gets an update to iOS 5 with Airplay Mirroring. If you have the new iPhone 4S or iPad 2 and Apple TV 2nd Generation, you can enjoy this feature where you can surf the internet from your iPad 2 to your TV, share photos to your TV, watch videos, play Hulu Plus TV Shows or Movies to your Apple TV with your iPad 2. Hulu Plus is a subscription base per month of $7.99.
Mirroring is something that you would see what’s on your iPad 2 or iPhone 4S directly to your TV via Apple TV 2nd Generation. Which means, what you see on your Home Screen is what you get.
Surf the Internet on your TV
If your Apple TV has the latest iOS, iOS 5, then you can use the Apple TV together as an extension of your iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, and only for the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. iPad 1 and iPhone 4 isn’t compatible with Mirroring through Airplay.
iPad 2 and iPhone 4S has the ability to mirror your home screen with either the HDMI Cable or the VGA Cable, however, with Apple TV; you can leave the HDMI Cable or VGA Cable in a storage and use your Apple TV to display anything you like, including surfing the internet with Safari Browser wirelessly. No cables needed and hassle free. All you need is your iPad 2 or iPhone 4S to be on the same wireless connected via Wi-Fi as your Apple TV. Your iPad 2 and Apple TV also need to be on iOS 5. You can only display one iDevice at a time, so if you want to surf the internet on your iPhone 4S to the big screen TV, then the next guy with an iPad 2 can hijack your TV by displaying a Movie or what not from your Apple TV. You can put a password in Airplay if you like to prevent Airplay jacking.
Enable Mirroring to Apple TV, HDMI Cable or VGA Cable
Apple TV could also be an extension of your games by mirroring what you play to Apple TV, making Apple TV to emulate a game console. To enable Mirror Out feature on iOS 5, open the Multitask bar by double clicking your Home Button or if you have Multi-gesture enabled, do a four finger slide up while in the Home Screen and slide to the right where you will see the Controls for Music and next to the Next Track button, you will see a TV Box with an up Arrow. Click on that, select your Apple TV and slide the Mirror to ON.
To enable Mirror for your iPad 2 or iPhone 4S using HDMI or VGA Cable, just plug in your Cable and turn on your TV and it will Mirror automatically. Mirror is to mirror everything on your screen, including game playing. I would recommend highly of Real Racing 2 HD where the game is made for Dual Screen Racing. Map of the Track, Laps Time, Elapse Time, Lap Counter, and your Position will be displayed on your iPad 2 screens, while the race itself will be displayed on your TV.
Watch Hulu on your Apple TV
There is no way to watch Hulu straight from Apple TV unless if you jailbreak your Apple TV. You can use your iPad 2 as an extension of Hulu to your Apple TV, which works the same and the quality is pretty good, even the sound is great. Even if you put your iPad 2 to sleep by closing the Smart Cover Lid, it would still play Hulu through Apple TV. Hulu Plus needs to be downloaded, and once that’s done, play any TV show or Movie and click on the TV Box with the up arrow button and that will play through your Apple TV.
Technically you can do the same feature with Netflix, and the steps are the same as above for Netflix and other Streaming Media sites.