Airplay

[bpmarkowitz]

I have been trying to find this answer before buying an ATV2.

If I am watching a movie from iTunes to the ATV2 and my wife wants to watch normal tv, can I switch airplay to continue playing the movie on my iPad?

I like the idea of leaving the movies on the pc and not have to synch and play them from the iPad.

What you are talking about can be achieved with a very cheap iPad app called Air Video. You don't even need an AppleTV. It streams almost any video format (does live transcoding) wirelessly to your iPad from your computer. I use it all the time. Probably one of my top 2 or 3 iPad apps.

The new version can even play iTunes protected content if your device is authorized for that account by playing it through the browser.

Best part is that it is a universal app which works on iPad or iPhone...

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/air-video-watch-your-videos/id306550020?mt=8

 

[newagemac]

Can you give your opinion on the transcoding performance of Plex (i.e. quality and stability). I've found that the video transcoding in AirVideo and StreamToMe is pretty unreliable. I haven't tried in the last few months with either app but I wasn't that impressed with the usability of AirVideo. I was streaming from a Mac Pro (2x2 at 2.66GHz) so I don't think it was a problem with the resources on my Mac.

In my honest opinion, Air Video streams more reliably than Plex. However, I have not used Plex much recently. The first version was quite buggy but they have pushed out two substantial bug updates recently and I haven't really played with it much since then. It works fine, just not as reliably as Air Video yet but of course Air Video has had a huge head start. When was the last time you used Air Video? They've been making regular updates to their iOS app and the server on your Mac. I recommended getting the latest updates and trying it out again because it's been pretty reliable for me. They do need to improve on the user interface though.

 

[gcmexico]

What you are talking about can be achieved with a very cheap iPad app called Air Video. You don't even need an AppleTV. It streams almost any video format (does live transcoding) wirelessly to your iPad from your computer. I use it all the time. Probably one of my top 2 or 3 iPad apps.

The new version can even play iTunes protected content if your device is authorized for that account by playing it through the browser.

Best part is that it is a universal app which works on iPad or iPhone...

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/air-video-watch-your-videos/id306550020?mt=8

**
to my understanding Airvideo doesn't play itunes drm protected files, I just went to there site to make sure, and it states that it doesn't support them...please post instructions on how you get your airvideo to play these files, that is a killer feature if possible

 

[fpnc]

**
to my understanding Airvideo doesn't play itunes drm protected files, I just went to there site to make sure, and it states that it doesn't support them...please post instructions on how you get your airvideo to play these files, that is a killer feature if possible

StreamToMe (another video transcoding app for iOS) supports playback of protected iTunes content by launching the Safari browser and playing the content in the browser itself. Not very elegant and it doesn't seem to work with all content but I suspect that Air Video uses a similar technique.

By the way, although everyone seems to mention Air Video when transcoding apps come up for discussion I actually have had somewhat better luck with StreamToMe. In fact, if history and my memory serves as a guide StreamToMe is usually ahead of Air Video in the features department, although these two apps are now mature enough that their capabilities are pretty much the same (YMMV). In any case, I noticed that StreamToMe was just updated and apparently has a new interface just for iOS 4.1 and later (don't know what they have added/changed, it will be interesting to see once the 4.2 update becomes available for my iPad).

 

[phpmaven]

There seems to be a lot of confusion about AirPlay, but it won't allow you to view just any video that is playable or accessible on the sending device. The only video that will be able to be streamed to the new Apple TV using AirPlay will be content that is ALREADY compatible with the Apple TV. That means H.264 and perhaps MPEG-4 (that is, whatever the current specs are for video playback on the Apple TV). Thus, unless Plex transcodes the video into H.264 (or some other Apple TV compatible format) you won't be able to use Plex to stream content over AirPlay. Of course, if the content was already in an H.264 format then there is no reason why Plex couldn't stream that to the Apple TV, but there'd be no point in doing that since then you wouldn't even need Plex. I suspect that the VLC app will be in the same situation, you won't be able to use VLC to stream .avi or .wmv or MKVs to the Apple TV.

The same is true for games, AirPlay won't suddenly makes games work on the Apple TV.

If you need to stream video that isn't natively compatible with your iOS device you'll need an app like AirVideo or StreamToMe. But, of course, since third-party apps aren't yet available for the Apple TV that won't work just yet (directly from Mac/PC to the Apple TV). I guess it might be possible to run AirVideo or StreamToMe on your iPad/iPhone and then have that video stream to your Apple TV, but a double wireless hop like that (from Mac/PC to iPad/iPhone to Apple TV) might cause some problems.

As for Skyfire, that might actually work since the Skyfire servers will be transcoding the Flash video into HTML5/H.264.

With respect, at this point nobody knows what will or will not play or how Airplay is going to work with video. Apple may very well incorporate some kind of on-the-fly transcoding so that any video will be able to play. Or they may only allow certain apps to output video, or you may actually be right. Until it actually gets released, this all pure conjecture.

 

[stuartmeyers]

What you are talking about can be achieved with a very cheap iPad app called Air Video.......

Thanks for the reply but I am specifically looking at Apple functionality. I have tried Zumocast but I want to use iTunes/Airplay because it also integrates contents from both our notebooks using home sharing.


Also, is there an ATV2 update and when is it released?

 

[fpnc]

With respect, at this point nobody knows what will or will not play or how Airplay is going to work with video. Apple may very well incorporate some kind of on-the-fly transcoding so that any video will be able to play. Or they may only allow certain apps to output video, or you may actually be right. Until it actually gets released, this all pure conjecture.

Yes, no one really knows. However, it seems that the majority opinion being expressed here on MacRumors is that EVERY video app will work with AirPlay which I think is being overly optimistic. That's the main reason I made my post. In any case, I think it is highly unlikely that Apple will offer some type of on-the-fly transcoding.

 

[bpmarkowitz]

StreamToMe (another video transcoding app for iOS) supports playback of protected iTunes content by launching the Safari browser and playing the content in the browser itself. Not very elegant and it doesn't seem to work with all content but I suspect that Air Video uses a similar technique.

By the way, although everyone seems to mention Air Video when transcoding apps come up for discussion I actually have had somewhat better luck with StreamToMe. In fact, if history and my memory serves as a guide StreamToMe is usually ahead of Air Video in the features department, although these two apps are now mature enough that their capabilities are pretty much the same (YMMV). In any case, I noticed that StreamToMe was just updated and apparently has a new interface just for iOS 4.1 and later (don't know what they have added/changed, it will be interesting to see once the 4.2 update becomes available for my iPad).

Yes air video uses the browser method as well. I don't find it to be a bad solution for what it provides. Once the video gets playing full screen I don't care what is actually playing it. Also, I have tested it on all my itunes purchased video content and have not found something it won't play.

Personally I prefer and have had better luck with air video, but that is the beauty of the app store and having all these options.

 

[br60]

Streaming from Ipad to "Home Computer"

Have been playing with Ios 4.2
I had no problem streaming to a stereo connected to an Airport xpress.
Also no problem streaming to Apple tv2.
My main computer (mac Mini) controls sound to the majority of my house via a directly connected stereo.
I would like to be able to stream from my iPad to my main computer which is connected to my Airport Extreme via ethernet. All of my devices are on the same network and iTunes sits on my main computer.
Strangely, it seems that there is no functionality built into to home sharing/airplay which will allow this.
Am I missing something? Does anyone know how I can get my Mac Mini to receive streamed media as well as send it?

 

[newtoiphonesdk]

Have been playing with Ios 4.2
I had no problem streaming to a stereo connected to an Airport xpress.
Also no problem streaming to Apple tv2.
My main computer (mac Mini) controls sound to the majority of my house via a directly connected stereo.
I would like to be able to stream from my iPad to my main computer which is connected to my Airport Extreme via ethernet. All of my devices are on the same network and iTunes sits on my main computer.
Strangely, it seems that there is no functionality built into to home sharing/airplay which will allow this.
Am I missing something? Does anyone know how I can get my Mac Mini to receive streamed media as well as send it?

You had no problem streaming to apple tv2? How did you stream video using airplay ?

 

[br60]

Streaming from Ipad to "Home Computer"

You had no problem streaming to apple tv2? How did you stream video using airplay ?

Unfortunately just sound. From what I have read video streaming will not be available until Apple updates ATV2

 

[newagemac]

Have been playing with Ios 4.2
I had no problem streaming to a stereo connected to an Airport xpress.
Also no problem streaming to Apple tv2.
My main computer (mac Mini) controls sound to the majority of my house via a directly connected stereo.
I would like to be able to stream from my iPad to my main computer which is connected to my Airport Extreme via ethernet. All of my devices are on the same network and iTunes sits on my main computer.
Strangely, it seems that there is no functionality built into to home sharing/airplay which will allow this.
Am I missing something? Does anyone know how I can get my Mac Mini to receive streamed media as well as send it?

I don't think Airplay is designed to work that way. However, why don't you just use Apple's free Remote App on your iPad to control your music on your Mac? That's how that scenario is intended to work. You can still use that app to control Airplay and control which speakers play the music. You can make it play through multiple speakers at the same time and independently adjust the volumes.

 

[newagemac]

I have both Air Video and Stream2Me. In my opinion, Stream2Me is just too cluttered on the iPhone. Too many visible options. Maybe it's better on the iPad.

 

[fpnc]

...Strangely, it seems that there is no functionality built into to home sharing/airplay which will allow this.
Am I missing something? Does anyone know how I can get my Mac Mini to receive streamed media as well as send it?

As far as I know, there is no way to wirelessly stream from an iOS device to a Mac/PC. Home Sharing works from the Mac/PC to an Apple TV or another Mac/PC and AirPlay works from any supported iOS device to the Apple TV. Here's a question, can AirPlay go from one iOS device to any other iOS device (or is it just to the Apple TV)? If it works between any two iOS devices then someone with the 4.2 GM should be able to test video streaming between one iPhone/iPad touch and another. Frankly, I don't think the latter will work, since that would kind of infer that you could use AirPlay to stream from one iOS device to another and yet to another and to another, etc. (an endless string of devices, unless they put in a hard limit of one "hop"). That could be one of the reasons it is limited to the Apple TV, since the Apple TV will be the terminating device and there would be no way to initiate another stream from the Apple TV to yet another device.

 

[br60]

Streaming from Ipad to "Home Computer"

I don't think Airplay is designed to work that way. However, why don't you just use Apple's free Remote App on your iPad to control your music on your Mac? That's how that scenario is intended to work. You can still use that app to control Airplay and control which speakers play the music. You can make it play through multiple speakers at the same time and independently adjust the volumes.

Yes unfortunately you may be right. But to me this defeats the purpose of Airplay.
The remote app pretty much restricts the content that can be played to iTunes. Which is what we had before IOS 4.2. IOS 4.2 is meant to facilitate streaming content everywhere in the home. To make this work I would have to buy another APT or Airport xpress which seems kinda dumb when my computer already communicates with my Ipad.
Let's say I want to listen to a YouTube video from my stereo and watch it on my iPad. I would only be able to do this on my ATV or Airport Xpress but not my computer which controls much of the sound in my house.

 

[newagemac]

Here's the situation from what I understand...

Airplay hosts: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, iTunes on Mac or PC

Airplay video client: Apple TV 2G

Airplay audio clients: Apple TV 1G, Apple TV 2G, Airport Express, upcoming speakers/receivers from various licensed 3rd parties

 

[newagemac]

Yes unfortunately you may be right. But to me this defeats the purpose of Airplay.
The remote app pretty much restricts the content that can be played to iTunes. Which is what we had before IOS 4.2. IOS 4.2 is meant to facilitate streaming content everywhere in the home. To make this work I would have to buy another APT or Airport xpress which seems kinda dumb when my computer already communicates with my Ipad.
Let's say I want to listen to a YouTube video from my stereo and watch it on my iPad. I would only be able to do this on my ATV or Airport Xpress but not my computer which controls much of the sound in my house.

Airtunes and now Airplay have always been meant to be used with an Airport Express and/or Apple TV. There has never been an Airplay/Airtunes use scenario that didn't involve one of those two items. So yeah, you're going to have to get one of those if you want to use it in the way you described.

 

[Rkelac]

Here's the situation from what I understand...

Airplay hosts: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, iTunes on Mac or PC

Airplay video client: Apple TV 2G

Airplay audio clients: Apple TV 1G, Apple TV 2G, Airport Express, upcoming speakers/receivers from various licensed 3rd parties

Add to the audio clients Bluetooth speakers/receivers.

 

[jimmy1984]

plex capabilities

I am not sure if I am missing something...but after reading I still have a couple questions about plex and airplay.

First, conceivably will you ever be able to run PLEX from your main computer, and AirPlay that content to your ATV2?

Secondly, is there a way to download content that you are streaming (from something like HULU, ESPN3, ABC, NBC) to a file compatible with iTunes, or would you have to download that data, then convert that data to something compatible with iTunes?

 

[Evgenyy]

I am not sure if I am missing something...but after reading I still have a couple questions about plex and airplay.

First, conceivably will you ever be able to run PLEX from your main computer, and AirPlay that content to your ATV2?

Secondly, is there a way to download content that you are streaming (from something like HULU, ESPN3, ABC, NBC) to a file compatible with iTunes, or would you have to download that data, then convert that data to something compatible with iTunes?

Plex on your Mac converts any video file to a compatible format so in theory Airplay should work with Plex client on iPhone and iPad.

I don't think you can download files from those sources but some networks have their iPhone/iPad apps so those might also work with Airplay. If not, Plex app can stream content from plugins (Hulu is one of them) to iPhone and iPad by converting them on the fly but it doesn't work for everyone.

Finally, there is a Plex plugin for jailbroken ATV2 but it is still in very early stages of development.

 

[jimmy1984]

will it work with ATV2? if not now, in the future?

 

[timeshifter]

Here's the situation from what I understand...

Airplay hosts: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, iTunes on Mac or PC

Airplay video client: Apple TV 2G

Airplay audio clients: Apple TV 1G, Apple TV 2G, Airport Express, upcoming speakers/receivers from various licensed 3rd parties

I just installed 4.2.1 on my iPad. My Airport Express works as expected. But, I have two Apple TV 1Gs, and they don't show up in the Airplay list as audio clients in the iPod app. Seems odd. They clearly have the capability, and are functioning Airtunes clients, since they show up in iTunes on my Mac.

 

[saving107]

Seems odd. They clearly have the capability, and are functioning Airtunes clients, since they show up in iTunes on my Mac.

if Apple enabled AirPlay for the first generation Apple TV, then you would have no reason to upgrade would you?

Apple wants you to upgrade.

 

[timeshifter]

if Apple enabled AirPlay for the first generation Apple TV, then you would have no reason to upgrade would you?

Apple wants you to upgrade.

They are known to be that way.

If it's possible, I hope somebody will come up with a hack to enable Airplay on a 1G.

 

[newagemac]

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 remember when people first claimed that Apple dropped support for the old Apple TV with iPhoto 11 "to force you to upgrade" and then it was discovered later that they just needed to disable and the reenable home sharing for it to work.

From what I understand, audio airplay should work on the old ATV. Does it not give you the option even when using the remote app?