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A/V Airplay questions

S

Soultosoul

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 4, 2011
55
2
I'm looking to build a component HT setup. Nothing fancy for now, but maybe add to it later.

Looking at getting a receiver along these lines.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Pioneer...1305663563.p?id=mp1305663563&skuId=1305663563

My thinking is that I can stream my itunes library from my ipad or hook a device directly into the front. My question is this works for music, but will it also work for video (as in can I stream a video from my itunes library to my ipad and then airplay it through the receiver, and into the tv?) Or, am I getting this all wrong.

It appears to me that some of these receivers are marketed as being able to be connected to a network (for Pandora, etc) So can I connect this to my home network and bypass my ipad and airplay? In other words make the receiver another device in my home network?

Thanks for the help
 
boomhower

boomhower

macrumors 68000
Oct 21, 2011
1,570
56
Once you connect the receiver to the network you can airplay directly to it from you idevices. But, it's audio only. If you try a video you will only get audio, video isn't passed through. You'll need to get a Apple TV to airplay video.
 
S

Soultosoul

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 4, 2011
55
2
Thanks for the reply. Couldn't seem to get it straight in my head whether it would play video or not. Was planning on an ATV and receiver but thought this one might work.

ATV option is better anyway since you can do so much more than just play itunes library.
 
B

BandH

macrumors newbie
Aug 17, 2013
12
5
3rd party devices can only AirPlay audio streams. This must be a licensing restriction from Apple as there are many software/hardware options for AirPlay available but none can do video.

That's a shame, as I have had trouble with ATV pulling video from my iTunes movie collection over the lan. Sometimes Apple Homesharing works great, sometimes, the ATV can see the list of movies but when I try to stream they never play. A 3rd party software app to AirPlay video over the LAN (like you can do with audio) would be really useful.

You definitely want to get an A/V receiver that can connect to your LAN. Try to hardwire (Ethernet) if you can. WiFi is ok, but can be more problematic for high bandwidth content.

Many A/V receivers have thrown in a lot of LAN features like AirPlay, DLNA, access to Pandora radio, etc. But as you noted they are all audio-only and quite frankly, the UI sucks.

Best to plan most enhanced features for your home theater around using an ATV and perhaps a HTPC (home theatre computer) connected via HDMI for anything other than audio processing.
 
S

Soultosoul

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 4, 2011
55
2
My video library in itunes is pretty small right now but I've been grabbing some older used DVD's secondhand and ripping them to build the collection.

BandH you say to definately get a receiver that I can hook into the network. Just curious what the advantages to this are (besides the obvious Pandora or other streaming radio type stuff. I don't use Pandora but since I've finally joined itunes Match I will probably use the itunes radio)?

I had planned on building around the ATV but when I was researching receivers I kept running across the ones that were Airplay enabled and got a bit confused. Wasn't finding anything about the video (or lack thereof).

No matter which receiver I get, I'll still an ATV. It just seems like a great product to add to my lineup. I believe it will expand in the near future but I have nothing to back this up, just my own musings.
 
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