Using AppleTV For Audio Only

I play audio only all the time from my iPad and iPhone. I haven't tried it from the computer but the controls look the same. At the right of the volume control is a rectangle with a black, solid triangle at the bottom pointing up. Click this and you'll see the options for Apple TV and any Express devices on the network.

I have our ATV connected to a TV but it is usually turned off when I listen to music or podcasts.

in doing a quick test, playing a video in VLC, and using airplay mirroring to an aTV, the audio and video were in sync on the aTV, but was out of sync with the video on the macbook screen. (no audio coming out of the macbook speakers).
It's not as bad as airfoil, probably less than a 1/2 second, but still would be unwatchable in my book.
same result using quicktime player

retina macbook pro - strong 802.11n 5GHz wireless, all up to date.
aTV3 - wired ethernet, latest software

also i've seen people have issues if they don't have a display connected to the aTV, you will need one at least for setup, but doesn't have to be on, just connected, for everyday use.


also you can change your audio output to an airplay device, but ...
--if it's an aTV, it will switch to airplay mirroring if you launch a video player, and you will run in to the same problem with it being slightly out of sync. (stops mirroring when you close the player)
--if it's an audio only device, the audio will be 2 seconds late.

neutrino23 said:

I play audio only all the time from my iPad and iPhone.
...
when I listen to music or podcasts

Click to expand...

very different thing you are doing, when you are doing that, your iOS device (or your computer) will delay the interface to match the output. plus you don't have to have perfect sync for music like you do when watching videos.
all audio only airplay (including airfoil) has about a 2 second buffer built in.
you can see this if you skip tracks, do it while listening locally, and again using airplay, locally starts the new track almost immediately, airplay will pause for a moment.

waw74 said:

in doing a quick test, playing a video in VLC, and using airplay mirroring to an aTV, the audio and video were in sync on the aTV, but was out of sync with the video on the macbook screen. (no audio coming out of the macbook speakers).
It's not as bad as airfoil, probably less than a 1/2 second, but still would be unwatchable in my book.
same result using quicktime player

retina macbook pro - strong 802.11n 5GHz wireless, all up to date.
aTV3 - wired ethernet, latest software

also i've seen people have issues if they don't have a display connected to the aTV, you will need one at least for setup, but doesn't have to be on, just connected, for everyday use.


also you can change your audio output to an airplay device, but ...
--if it's an aTV, it will switch to airplay mirroring if you launch a video player, and you will run in to the same problem with it being slightly out of sync. (stops mirroring when you close the player)
--if it's an audio only device, the audio will be 2 seconds late.
.

Click to expand...

Since you are using VLC, have you tried messing around with any of the delays?

Tools -> Track Synchronization

Adjust the delay +/- so that the video would play a little later and that might help the sync issues.

If the audio is 2 seconds late, set the audio track synchronization to "-2.000" (Hasten), which will play the audio early, thereby offsetting the delay introduced.