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MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,940
38
Australia
Hi,

I've got an ATV (old), and two Macs which have home sharing enabled; with the remote app I was able to control them remotely and play movies/music, etc., on them, but how can I stream music from them to the iPad -- is that possible?
 

andymodem

macrumors 6502a
Nov 20, 2008
583
108
Baltimore, MD
Hi,

I've got an ATV (old), and two Macs which have home sharing enabled; with the remote app I was able to control them remotely and play movies/music, etc., on them, but how can I stream music from them to the iPad -- is that possible?

I use Zumocast, which is a free app to stream both music or video to an iPad or iPhone over wifi or 3G. Install the free app on your iPad, and there is a download from the website to install on your Macs and you're good to go.
 

abta1

macrumors 6502
Jul 5, 2010
334
11
Paris, France
I use Zumocast, which is a free app to stream both music or video to an iPad or iPhone over wifi or 3G. Install the free app on your iPad, and there is a download from the website to install on your Macs and you're good to go.

I use Zumocast too and it works a treat.

There is also the option of Airvideo which does the same thing but is a paid app.
 

MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,940
38
Australia
I use Zumocast, which is a free app to stream both music or video to an iPad or iPhone over wifi or 3G. Install the free app on your iPad, and there is a download from the website to install on your Macs and you're good to go.

I use Zumocast too and it works a treat.

There is also the option of Airvideo which does the same thing but is a paid app.
I see, thanks guys. I wonder why Apple doesn't offer this functionality? Maybe they will?
 

MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,940
38
Australia
I've got it setup and I like it a lot... however, is there anyway to stream iTunes movies? They show a little lock on them... I'm guessing this is DRM?

EDIT: Yep :/
 

drewc1138

macrumors 6502
Jun 30, 2007
358
1
+1 for Zumocast. I was using AirVideo, but it's broken in 4.2.

Plus, it only does video, while Zumocast does audio, video and "other files", though I haven't messed around with the latter. Also, you can download the files over the network to your device for later listening or viewing (including non-mp4 files).
 

vastoholic

macrumors 68000
Jan 28, 2009
1,957
1
Tulsa, OK
I thought airplay was supposed to do this, no?

looking at the site, I guess no.

Well then I used AirVideo but it can't give you an honest review cuz I never utilized very much at all.
 

Dr Kevorkian94

macrumors 68020
Jun 9, 2009
2,175
76
SI, NY
U could use the macs built in web server just stick a copy of your iTunes library in the site folder and u can acses any thing in your library by use of ur browser. Just search it in the form search to see how to set it up, I can't remember but I did it and it took me like 5 min. It is free with every Mac and works great!
 

MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,940
38
Australia
Thanks for your replies everyone,
+1 for Zumocast. I was using AirVideo, but it's broken in 4.2.

Plus, it only does video, while Zumocast does audio, video and "other files", though I haven't messed around with the latter. Also, you can download the files over the network to your device for later listening or viewing (including non-mp4 files).
Yeah, ZumoCast looks pretty good!
I thought airplay was supposed to do this, no?

looking at the site, I guess no.

Well then I used AirVideo but it can't give you an honest review cuz I never utilized very much at all.
Nah, AirPlay streams from an iDevice to Apple TV.
U could use the macs built in web server just stick a copy of your iTunes library in the site folder and u can acses any thing in your library by use of ur browser. Just search it in the form search to see how to set it up, I can't remember but I did it and it took me like 5 min. It is free with every Mac and works great!
I'm using ZumoCast at the moment and its great, however, I think I'd still run into the same problem with the DRM using the built in web server.
 

Dr Kevorkian94

macrumors 68020
Jun 9, 2009
2,175
76
SI, NY
Thanks for your replies everyone,

Yeah, ZumoCast looks pretty good!

Nah, AirPlay streams from an iDevice to Apple TV.

I'm using ZumoCast at the moment and its great, however, I think I'd still run into the same problem with the DRM using the built in web server.

Nope I watch iTunes bought south park all the time lol
 

fpnc

macrumors 68000
Oct 30, 2002
1,979
134
San Diego, CA
Dr Kevorkian94 is correct, on a Mac you can use Apple's built-in web sharing feature to stream video to the iPad/iPhone/iPod touch. It doesn't require any third-party apps or extensions on either the iPad or the Mac and it DOES work with DRM-protected iTunes Store content. In my hands, it also stream more reliably than any of the third-party apps that run on the iPad (such as AirVideo or StreamToMe). However, the user interface isn't as nice as in the custom-built apps and it does require some setup on the Mac in order to work (you need to create a shared folder and make certain that it links to your iTunes content). It also will not convert video on-th-fly as some of the apps do, the original file must be in a form that is compatible with the iPad.

Overall, if you just want to watch movies that are already in an iPad-compatible format then Mac OS X's web sharing is a good solution. However, it's not so good for short form video or music since it just plays one item and then stops (i.e. no playlist support or continuous -- automatic -- playback from multiple files).
 

MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,940
38
Australia
You're going to run into the DRM problem until Apple releases something official. :D
Mmm, yeah, I've hit that already :p
Dr Kevorkian94 is correct, on a Mac you can use Apple's built-in web sharing feature to stream video to the iPad/iPhone/iPod touch. It doesn't require any third-party apps or extensions on either the iPad or the Mac and it DOES work with DRM-protected iTunes Store content. In my hands, it also stream more reliably than any of the third-party apps that run on the iPad (such as AirVideo or StreamToMe). However, the user interface isn't as nice as in the custom-built apps and it does require some setup on the Mac in order to work (you need to create a shared folder and make certain that it links to your iTunes content). It also will not convert video on-th-fly as some of the apps do, the original file must be in a form that is compatible with the iPad.

Overall, if you just want to watch movies that are already in an iPad-compatible format then Mac OS X's web sharing is a good solution. However, it's not so good for short form video or music since it just plays one item and then stops (i.e. no playlist support or continuous -- automatic -- playback from multiple files).
All right, thanks. Am I able to connect to this web server from anywhere? I.E, even not on LAN?
 

fpnc

macrumors 68000
Oct 30, 2002
1,979
134
San Diego, CA
...Am I able to connect to this web server from anywhere? I.E, even not on LAN?
I've never read of anyone doing that -- streaming protected video over the internet using only Mac OS X's personal web sharing. It certainly won't happen by default. However, with changes to the firewall, a static IP, and some more network "magic" it might be possible.

It is, however, pretty easy to do over a local network.
 

MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,940
38
Australia
I've never read of anyone doing that -- streaming protected video over the internet using only Mac OS X's personal web sharing. It certainly won't happen by default. However, with changes to the firewall, a static IP, and some more network "magic" it might be possible.

It is, however, pretty easy to do over a local network.
Mmm, sounds too tricky for me. Maybe I could use an iPhone/iPad app which can connect to my Mac and just watch them that way :p
 

fpnc

macrumors 68000
Oct 30, 2002
1,979
134
San Diego, CA
Mmm, sounds too tricky for me. Maybe I could use an iPhone/iPad app which can connect to my Mac and just watch them that way :p
What's your upload speed from your ISP? Normally, uploads are a LOT slower than downloads. If so, then you're not going to get very good performance when trying to stream content out from you Mac at home and over the internet. For example, the last two ISPs I had only supported uploads at about 350Kbps, while my download speed over my cable modem was up to 20Mbps.

At 350Kbps video has to be HIGHLY compressed or at pretty low resolution (or both). It's certainly viewable, but the quality won't be anywhere near what it could be over a LAN connection.
 

MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,940
38
Australia
What's your upload speed from your ISP? Normally, uploads are a LOT slower than downloads. If so, then you're not going to get very good performance when trying to stream content out from you Mac at home and over the internet. For example, the last two ISPs I had only supported uploads at about 350Kbps, while my download speed over my cable modem was up to 20Mbps.

At 350Kbps video has to be HIGHLY compressed or at pretty low resolution (or both). It's certainly viewable, but the quality won't be anywhere near what it could be over a LAN connection.
Would the same apply to ZumoCast? If I used it remotely?

I have 128KB/s upload, 3.7MB/s download. How could I have it so I can stream my movies at a high download speed? I'd have to have them on the cloud entirely wouldn't I?
 

fpnc

macrumors 68000
Oct 30, 2002
1,979
134
San Diego, CA
Would the same apply to ZumoCast? If I used it remotely?

I have 128KB/s upload, 3.7MB/s download. How could I have it so I can stream my movies at a high download speed? I'd have to have them on the cloud entirely wouldn't I?
It would be the same on ZumoCast.

When you say "128KB/s" on upload are you talking bits or bytes (bits should be written as "b" while bytes use "B")? If you are really getting 128Kbps (i.e. bits per second) then you aren't going to get a very good video image when uploading over the internet.
 

MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,940
38
Australia
It would be the same on ZumoCast.

When you say "128KB/s" on upload are you talking bits or bytes (bits should be written as "b" while bytes use "B")? If you are really getting 128Kbps (i.e. bits per second) then you aren't going to get a very good video image when uploading over the internet.
Yes, I'm referring to bytes; I get 1Mb/s (128KB/s) up. Is that enough to provide good image quality? or not?
 

fpnc

macrumors 68000
Oct 30, 2002
1,979
134
San Diego, CA
Yes, I'm referring to bytes; I get 1Mb/s (128KB/s) up. Is that enough to provide good image quality? or not?
If you're getting 1Mbps on uploads then streaming video should work quite well. Standard definition content should look fine, but you won't be able to do good quality HD.
 

Cinab1mt

macrumors regular
Apr 26, 2010
140
13
Could someone please compare and contrast AirVideo and Zumocast?

This is the first that I have heard of Zumocast and I generally dont like to have too many apps on both my MBP and my Ipad, so in this case, what does one do that the other doesnt? Thanks!
 
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