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AirPlay Reverse Engineered to Send Video From iOS Devices to Macs
- Thread starter MacRumors
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Well, you can always use Mac OS X's built-in Web Sharing feature to stream video from the Mac to any Safari-enabled iOS device (or for that matter, to any Mac OS X computer). You don't need any third-party apps or extensions, it "just works" (if you have a Mac, won't work for PCs). It's somewhat of a mystery to me why more people don't know about this Mac OS X feature, but you can stream any iOS-compatible video from the Mac to the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch just by enabling Web Sharing on the Mac. Then you need to create links on the Mac to your folders/directories that contain the video you want to stream to the other device. Below are some posts with the details:
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=11516240&web+sharing#post11516240
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=11508933&web+sharing#post11508933
Another advantage to Web Sharing is that it works with protected (DRM'd) content from the iTunes Store.
And that still doesn't help what I really want to do - push non-iTunes video content from Mac to Apple TV(s). Apple TV is obviously "Safari-less", so there is no way for it to get HTTP streams.. And MacOS web sharing doesn't transcode, so you're limited to iTunes/H.264 only content.. which Apple TV can already get via standard built-in streaming, so no point.
I think there will be a few solutions to this:
(1) Perian type codec pack on JB'ed Apple TV. This adds native Apple TV playback of XviD/DivX/etc, and should allow iTunes-based AirPlay streaming of "non-supported" video formats. No transcoding involved, so this would be my preferred solution.
(2) Air Video client on JB'ed Apple TV. This will work too, but requires server-side transcoding.
(3) Any-app AirPlay support on iOS devices (available now on JB'ed iPhones/iPads). This enables Mac/AirVideo -> iPhone/AirVideo -> AppleTV/AirPlay streaming.. No AppleTV jailbreaking needed. Since it requires transcoding and adds an iOS device into the mix, I don't particularly like this one.
Yup, but we only need one more! This client for iOS. That way we can stream anything from any device to any device with all the hacks and apps currently available. Also it won't be long until someone fully integrates it all in one app (Airfoil perhaps?)
I, i, i.....
I want, I want, I want. You guys are all very ungrateful. First of all it's an ALPHA. Not even a Beta Product. Almost purely a proof of concept.
If you really want something so bad and think it's so easy, why don't you download the developer tools and do it yourself. They are free after all.
I want, I want, I want. You guys are all very ungrateful. First of all it's an ALPHA. Not even a Beta Product. Almost purely a proof of concept.
If you really want something so bad and think it's so easy, why don't you download the developer tools and do it yourself. They are free after all.
As I said in an earlier post, I'd like the Apple TV app to be available on my other iOS devices so I can stream content from my mac to my iOS device anywhere in the house.
Even if that doesn't happen, airplay from my mac to my iPad would be useful as I often like to watch a video on my iPad at the side of my Mac when I'm working
A confluence of replies...
That's me! I look forward to testing this out... I only hope to see a Front Row extension designed using this. Something that would automatically start when a video is sent to it, much the way the DVD component of Front Row automatically starts when a DVD is inserted.
Just what iTunes restrictions are you referring to?
I'm pretty sure that when Apple opens up an AppleTV app store, AirVideo will be there... So, while it doesn't help right now, it is something to think about for the future.
First, this isn't pointless. You might not have a use for it, but that's not the same thing.
Second, as already noted, what you're asking for is an AppleTV version of AirVideo. Not here yet, but I expect it's on its way...
Once there is an AppleTV app store, I suspect that you'll see some other options crop up. For example, VLC may be ported to the AppleTV in a form that would allow for streaming from your server. Beyond that, who knows what clever solutions developers will come up with, whether they're JB developers, or "legitimate" developers...
I do this somewhat regularly, myself. I find that AirVideo works great for this. If the video is already in H264 format, then you can just play it with no CPU load for transcoding it.
That's me! I look forward to testing this out... I only hope to see a Front Row extension designed using this. Something that would automatically start when a video is sent to it, much the way the DVD component of Front Row automatically starts when a DVD is inserted.
I just want to stream AirPlay content from my Mini to my Apple TVs without iTunes restrictions
Just what iTunes restrictions are you referring to?
I'm pretty sure that when Apple opens up an AppleTV app store, AirVideo will be there... So, while it doesn't help right now, it is something to think about for the future.
First, this isn't pointless. You might not have a use for it, but that's not the same thing.
Second, as already noted, what you're asking for is an AppleTV version of AirVideo. Not here yet, but I expect it's on its way...
Once there is an AppleTV app store, I suspect that you'll see some other options crop up. For example, VLC may be ported to the AppleTV in a form that would allow for streaming from your server. Beyond that, who knows what clever solutions developers will come up with, whether they're JB developers, or "legitimate" developers...
I do this somewhat regularly, myself. I find that AirVideo works great for this. If the video is already in H264 format, then you can just play it with no CPU load for transcoding it.
One could argue that a dog turd has its uses.
I wish we could just at least get confirmation that SOMEONE is working on transcode/airplay software.
Jeez, no need to be snide. There are clearly a lot of people here that have immediately seen use for this, including myself. To first declare that it's pointless, and then, when I try to argue that it's not, liken my argument to a discussion of a dog turd, is quite insulting. Stop being so full of your own opinion. Just because you don't like something does NOT mean that it's pointless, worthless, or likened to a dog turd.
Or just use Plex with the Apple TV POC as shown here, its not perfect yet and has its issues but it does give you most of what you want and is getting better.
Ahhh, this is the way it should have been designed. With the way Apple works one wonders if this wasn't in the pipeline for future rollout anyway.
Totally this would be a killer feature I have a few hundred films in iTunes on my Mac and I would love to be able to stream them to my iPad like I can with my AppleTV.
Unless I am way off this already exists and has done for a while now. AirVideo for the iPad and iPhone allows me to stream any media (including transcoded on the fly videos) to my iPad/iPhone from my Mac OR Windows machine.
Works brilliantly even has a new over 3G streaming option in the latest version.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)
I already can stream to iOS devices with a hack i found. (not in cydia)
JohnDoe98 said:
I already can stream to iOS devices with a hack i found. (not in cydia)
Thanks for sharing with us how to do so, very generous of you! But seriously, you are saying you can stream from an iOS device to another iOS device? I highly doubt it. If you can, tell us how, which hack allows this?
Cool, I've wanted this just for speakers (so my computers can show up as Airplay speakers just as ATV and Airport Express can) having video is a bonus.
I hope Rogue Amoeba is watching -- Airfoil is good but it needs to become like this.
I hope Rogue Amoeba is watching -- Airfoil is good but it needs to become like this.
Yeah, Plex is another way to do this.. I don't currently run Plex on my Mac, so I am waiting for something a bit less heavy.
The makers of "aTV Flash" are already working on expanded codec pack for 2nd-gen ATV - see their blog. Once this is out - my solution will be very simple:
(1) import AVI/XviD videos into Mac iTunes (via putting them into MOV wrapper)
(2) stream them to ATV via AirPlay
No transcoding.. no 3rd-party media center software.. no 3rd-party ATV clients.
Airplayer currently doesn't work for sound only, hopefully they add that in. But still cool.