Dear BTT community, I’m on day one of my trial with BetterTouchTool, and I’m hoping for some advice on a challenge I’m trying to solve:
Goal: I want to watch videos in the Apple TV app on macOS but have them open by default on my external monitor instead of my MacBook Air’s internal display. Currently, when I start a video, it always goes fullscreen on the MacBook screen. I’d like to move it to the external display in fullscreen with a keyboard shortcut.
What I’ve tried: I’ve set up a shortcut in BetterTouchTool to:
Send fn + F to TV.app (this is the fullscreen toggle shortcut in macOS 14.7 with German localization),
Pause for 0.2 seconds,
Move the window to the next monitor,
Send fn + F to TV.app again to re-enter fullscreen on the external display.
However, this sequence doesn’t work while the Apple TV app is in fullscreen. Instead, I just hear a short sound, and nothing happens. It seems like macOS restricts moving native fullscreen windows between monitors.
Question: Is there a way to use BetterTouchTool (or any other method) to move a fullscreen video from the Apple TV app to a different monitor? Any ideas or creative solutions would be much appreciated! Thanks so much!
You would prefer TV.app use the external monitor when it is available?
There may be a setting in TV.app for a preferred playback screen. I cannot currently test.
Look at the settings for "Spaces." (Mission Control in Desktop & Dock) I believe that fullscreen player windows may initiate their own space. I think you can make a new space and assign it to your external display. Then assign TV.app to that space. There is also a setting for "Displays have separate spaces."
Another problem could be DRM. You didn't say if you can play content on your external display. Depending on your display it might not be eligible for streaming content playback, (for copy protection.)
Try moving your Menu bar to the second screen and see if TV follows it. Doesn't help much if you want to watch and work at the same time. I remember scripting to switch the primary screen using cscreen.
(If your on an Intel mac you can look for cscreen on Homebrew, but it will also need Rosetta.)
There can be a problem detecting displays.
Try in Terminal: System_Profiler SPDisplaysDataType
Thanks for the advice, it really helped! I set up a second space on my external monitor/projector and assigned the TV app to it. While I’d prefer only the video to display on the monitor/projector (without the app window), this setup is still a step up. Surprisingly, it didn’t require BTT, which I had considered buying just for moving full-screen windows to other spaces.
Apologies for not including all the details initially. DRM wasn’t an issue, and both displays are recognized correctly. I also don’t want to move my menu bar to the second screen, as that would shift everything on my desktop over. When presenting, I prefer my desktop contents to stay off the big screen.
Off topic, but I’m curious how home cinemas handle this. Ideally, the projection remains completely black until the movie starts: no mouse pointer, no menu bar, no notifications, no wallpaper.
TV.app is not AppleTV, it is a desktop version that acts more like Safari than a media app. A proper media app doesn't rely on the mouse. Most of us navigate content on our viewing screen using remotes or keyboard.
