Apple to Upgrade AirPlay to Allow Wireless Streaming Without Wi-Fi?

[Prodo123]

http://www.infoworld.com/d/networki...technology-better-wireless-performance-200907

It's like Wi-Fi Direct, but except with the 300-600Mbps speeds of 802.11n!
Perfect for this application, don't you think?

 

[KylePowers]

This would be awesome - I can see it definitely reducing lag and setup time.

I use a hellaciously old router (like from 2006 or so) and couldn't get my Apple TV to work at all. Decided to just create a Wi-Fi network from my iMac (which is hardwired to the router) and voila, worked perfectly. But this meant I had to put my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Air on my iMac's network and not my router's network #FirstWorldProblems

Multi-second lag though, whether it's music, video, or gaming.

 

[Aidan5806]

Hold your horses guys, Apple will never ever transmit sound or video via bluetooth because it sucks. Have you ever listened to bluetooth speakers? The sound is horrible.

In the past this was true but if you have Bluetooth 4.0 on both the sending and receiving end it sounds fine.

 

[zakovyrya]

So...what will it use then? Bluetooth 4.0?

Don't think so. BLE data rate seems to be too low for media.

 

[D.T.]

I assume they mean without a WiFi base station, meaning it'd create an ad-hoc WiFi network or use WiFi direct.

Yeah, that's what a few of us said above, I think the "without WiFi" is a little erroneous, I think it will be WiFi based, though the architecture won't be the current design (i.e., WiFi adhoc/direct/etc. vs. infrastructure)

Regardless it's neat!

 

[Nova Sensei]

I could've sworn that I had been doing this for the last 12 months......

Still, Apple will claim that it's "revolutionary" and the tech journo's will oblige them.

I just hope they don't cripple Bluetooth as part of this "revolution".

 

[CrAkD]

Oh god, wow this would be amazing!

In my parent's home, where they only have an iPad, iPhones, and an Apple TV, this could entirely eliminate the need for home internet and a wireless router, not to mention entirely ridding them of a huge unnecessary monthly bill and the need for more peripherals in the equation. This can't be good for cable internet companies in the post-PC era world

Their printer is airprint enabled so hopefully this extends to that as well.

Come on, Apple, do it!!

I don't know where your going with this??? It isn't a substitute for internet. Sure you could stream web videos directly from your iphone to an apple tv without a internet at home but you could do that now with just a router thats not connected to the internet.

 

[iPhonemaster5S]

This doesn't make sense to me will it be over bluetooth 4.0? Or can be over 3G, if it is able to do 3G then whats the benefit?

 

[olowott]

If it's Wifi Direct, maybe we'll get AirDrop too.

I think this where u get the easy communcation btw two idevices instead of the NFC (rumours saying we wont get ) ,

this is kind of putting the pieces together

Would never have thought of Airdrop, nice one!

 

[Able13]

I already do this with the hotspot on my phone. Connect the atv to my hotspot and turn AirPlay on. It was pretty cool.

 

[D.T.]

I could've sworn that I had been doing this for the last 12 months......

Still, Apple will claim that it's "revolutionary" and the tech journo's will oblige them.

I just hope they don't cripple Bluetooth as part of this "revolution".

I'm doing it right now (iPad streaming audio to a Supertooth speaker setup via Bluetooth).

I think some of the big differences:

Simpler discover and handshaking
Multiple devices concurrently
Longer range
More bandwidth

 

[Cougarcat]

The new low-powered Broadcom chip rumored to be in the next iPhone supports Wifi Direct / AirDrop, so I bet that's what AirPlay Direct uses.

 

[moxxey]

This doesn't make sense to me will it be over bluetooth 4.0? Or can be over 3G, if it is able to do 3G then whats the benefit?

Have you even bothered to read through the replies above? Weird how some people use forums. They don't bother reading replies, add their own, which was answered and dismissed many conversations back.

It's clearly a device to device wifi network, without going via your router. It won't be 3G, nor Bluetooth. How could it be 3G when your devices don't use 3G?

 

[Solamar22]

Speakers follow you?

This would be so cool. Imagine I wander around my house with my cell phone playing music, and the music switches from speaker to speaker depending on where I am. Nice!

 

[Vizin]

.

 

[50548]

This story doesn't add up or it's missing crucial details. I'm assuming this will be over Bluetooth 4.0 or Wifi direct?

Absolutely confusing. It's almost as if you simply needed an iPad and your Grandma's speakers, which would magically receive and play sound from the iDevice.

Care to redraft the article, MR?

 

[Swift]

Yes wifi has always been required for air play. the only difference is now you wont need a network to connect too which will make airplay in the car much more doable now. hopefully apple opens up the video standard for car systems.

Good bet. The tv is hard to break into, but the car media thing is still a mess.

 

[nzalog]

I doubt it's bluetooth... did we forget about "airdrop" which just used an unused wifi band?

 

[bushido]

Meanwhile, too bad video streaming via AirPlay on 10.8 is limited to Macs of the last 14 months!!!

one word: airparrot works just fine on my 2009 mbp

 

[ronm99]

WiFi direct makes a lot of sense

I would love to see this with WiFi direct. Right now, I have an airport express and some speakers in my bedroom but my wireless router is downstairs. When I stream to the speakers, the sound sometimes cuts out because my iPad needs to send a signal downstairs to the router which then sends it back upstairs to my airport express with all the walls / floors / etc. in the way.

With the new system, it would go straight to the speakers bypassing the router.

You are probably more likely to be near the speakers than the wireless router, so not only are you eliminating one of the "hops", but you should be closer as well.

 

[Iconoclysm]

That seems like it should have been a given from the beginning. Enable a local network and "stream" between devices. Should improve transfer speed dramatically.

Maybe using WiFi was just the quick-and-dirty way of getting something working fast...

Airplay already works that way - it only uses WiFi to establish the two devices, then creates an adhoc wireless network connection between the two.

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Since always....

I fail to see how this isn't just bluetooth with a different name now though?

Because it doesn't use Bluetooth, which is a set of drivers AND a wireless connection that doesn't use 802.11abgn etc.

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i love the idea but I'm not sure how practical it is. bluetooth and NFC my be possible solutions to my skepticism but again, is it practical. sorry i seem cynical but NFC isnt fast enough to stream video and BT 4.0 is fast enough, but how would the quality be affected?

It will still use the same wireless connection it always has, most likely.

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Yeah, that's what a few of us said above, I think the "without WiFi" is a little erroneous, I think it will be WiFi based, though the architecture won't be the current design (i.e., WiFi adhoc/direct/etc. vs. infrastructure)

Regardless it's neat!

This is probably exactly the way it will work - but it's not a significant change from the way it already works, when you get down to it.

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I could've sworn that I had been doing this for the last 12 months......

Still, Apple will claim that it's "revolutionary" and the tech journo's will oblige them.

I just hope they don't cripple Bluetooth as part of this "revolution".

It's been doing this in Airplay since its inception.

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I would love to see this with WiFi direct. Right now, I have an airport express and some speakers in my bedroom but my wireless router is downstairs. When I stream to the speakers, the sound sometimes cuts out because my iPad needs to send a signal downstairs to the router which then sends it back upstairs to my airport express with all the walls / floors / etc. in the way.

With the new system, it would go straight to the speakers bypassing the router.

You are probably more likely to be near the speakers than the wireless router, so not only are you eliminating one of the "hops", but you should be closer as well.

That's not what's actually happening, though. Can't speak to why you're having the sound drop out but it's not because of your wifi network.

 

[lord patton]

Check out the song on 9to5Mac's coverage!!!:

link

(also, this sounds like a great feature)

 

[patsfan83]

I always wanted to be able to Airplay to an accessory or unit in a car, and the problem with making that was that you would essentially have to make a wifi signal to connect, but then couldn't stream or check email because you weren't connected to the internet.

This will allow 3rd party accessories to be made to transmit audio/video in a ad-hoc wifi network, while also allowing data through 3G. Say goodbye to cables in the car, speakers outside, etc.

I imagine someone will create a AirplayDirect dongle to RCA or Mic input which will solve most scenarios.

 

[Chrisg2014]

Um... Bluetooth....

 

[patsfan83]

I would love to see this with WiFi direct. Right now, I have an airport express and some speakers in my bedroom but my wireless router is downstairs. When I stream to the speakers, the sound sometimes cuts out because my iPad needs to send a signal downstairs to the router which then sends it back upstairs to my airport express with all the walls / floors / etc. in the way.

With the new system, it would go straight to the speakers bypassing the router.

You are probably more likely to be near the speakers than the wireless router, so not only are you eliminating one of the "hops", but you should be closer as well.

Only problem is the range of the ad-hoc network of the iPhone, which I can't imagine being further than 30 feet or so?