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Apple Seeking to License AirPlay for Video Streaming?
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this is a brilliant idea... but honestly, i would let competitors struggle for another 8 years before i let AIRPLAY on other devices...
b/c this could potentially generate interest in competitors... or it could allow apple to pull profits from competitors who will ultimately FAIL to generate enough interest
think about it... other competitors would probably get their devices integrated with itunes so that they can HOME SHARE AIRPLAY to their phones/tablets/etc..
apple will make a profit for just providing access to airplay.... the problem is if if the competitor becomes more popular or as popular as apple... would the competitor throw apple a bone?! i dont think so
mdelvecchio
macrumors 68040
You are looking at this from a "buying new products" position. What about all of those people who already own Roku and Boxee set-top systems? Those boxes are fully updatable and capable of playing back the exact same content the AppleTV can play (MPEG4, AAC, MP3, H.264, etc).
And for people that already own those, NONE of them would switch to an AppleTV. Reason: Roku and Boxee have far more features, save one (AirPlay), and AirPlay alone is not worth $99 to most of those Roku and Boxee owners.
I own a Roku so I can connect it to not only my HDTV in my living room, but move it to my old CRT television in my bedroom (via Component/Composite cables) as well as to hotel TVs when I bring it with me on vacations or out-of-town trips. I would love for AirPlay video to be supported on it.
dernhelm
macrumors 68000
A little like Microsoft. Embrace and extend...
🙂
Of course, this isn't really about open standards. Last I checked, H264 video has no encryption associated with it per se. You have to add your own on top.
That's what everyone is doing, Netflix, Amazon, etc. Netflix licenses theirs already, Apple will do so too.
Motorola ROKR.
It's conceivable that they'd license AirPlay because, well, on the display end, it's simple and doesn't involve an interface. It's like plugging in a screen or speakers, only wireless. But there's no way in hell Apple is going to leave any aspect of the rest of the "Apple TV" user experience in another manufacturer's hands. Not again, and not when they can sell the Apple TV for only $100. If the interface shows an Apple logo and lets your browse your iTunes library, it's going to be a 100% Apple product.
There's a world of difference between extending basic Internet protocols and making a method for streaming videos to set-top devices that actually just works.
The former *has* to be open and license-free to gain any level of traction or standardization, and Apple has done a good job with it -- the drafts for mDNS and DNS-SD (which combine to make Bonjour) are both still active and standards-tracked at IETF. Expect them to become full RFC internet standards before long.
The latter generally means selling a chip (or licensing its design) to other manufacturers. There's both the expectation that this is how things are done, and likely a legal need to charge for it to cover patent licensing fees.
Umm. You almost did just describe AirPlay. It *is* based on Bonjour and H.264/MPEG4 video.
For control and transport they didn't go with RTSP+RTP -- which has limitations around firewalls, proxies, CDNs, and more importantly, encryption/DRM -- and instead used HTTP Live Streaming, which Apple openly submitted to the IETF a couple years ago, and has been undergoing standardization since.
And that's most of what there is to it. The only novel stuff is in the way Bonjour is used for this, and that was easily reverse engineered, which is how you now have software like AirPlayer (for OS X) and AirViewer (for iOS) which act as Apple TV-like AirPlay displays.
... But only for DRM-free videos. Anything that's wrapped in Fairplay (iTunes' DRM) can, as always, only be played back by official Apple-sanctioned software/devices.
I think it could be a real winner all round.
More and more TVs are being sold as "Internet Ready." The problem is, on most of them the implementation and user experience is horrible. Half of them require a CAT5 wired connection to your network. And the other half need optional Wi-Fi adapter. Most consumers have neither the time, skill, nor patience to buy, install, and configure them.
Then there is the issue of usability. It is awkward and time-consuming to try and navigate text boxes using most TV remotes.
Apple licensing AirPlay as a means of letting TVs show YouTube content, plus stream photos, music, and video content on your home pc or iPad/iPhone would be a tremendous feature for TV makers to sell.
The interesting question would be whether or not Apple licensed AirPlay to device makers of Android or Windows phones and tablets. This seems much less likely.
More and more TVs are being sold as "Internet Ready." The problem is, on most of them the implementation and user experience is horrible. Half of them require a CAT5 wired connection to your network. And the other half need optional Wi-Fi adapter. Most consumers have neither the time, skill, nor patience to buy, install, and configure them.
Then there is the issue of usability. It is awkward and time-consuming to try and navigate text boxes using most TV remotes.
Apple licensing AirPlay as a means of letting TVs show YouTube content, plus stream photos, music, and video content on your home pc or iPad/iPhone would be a tremendous feature for TV makers to sell.
The interesting question would be whether or not Apple licensed AirPlay to device makers of Android or Windows phones and tablets. This seems much less likely.
DLNA can actually work either way, depending on what device classes are supported. From Wikipedia:
So, in Apple terms:
DMS is like a shared iTunes library.
DMP is "pull", analogous to when an Apple TV is accessing your library via iTunes Home Sharing.
DMR is a target for "push", analogous to using an Apple TV as an AirPlay output.
DMC is like the Remote app, or what iTunes/iOS turn into when you switch on AirPlay.
(I have no clue how many TVs out there that act as a DMP can also be set to automatically work as a DMR.)
Bfd
So then they'd finally start catching up with Samsung? I can already stream content straight from my phone to my Samsung TV with AllShare. Not to mention, many of the top manufacturers have already adopted DLNA.
I still don't see the open FaceTime standard Jobs promised when he demoed it at the iPhone 4 media event.
I'm sure there will be plenty in the media who will want to sing Apple's praises over this sort of thing, but Cupertino is going to have to get their devices up to 1080p with open source streaming before I give a crap.
And STILL no wireless syncing of iTunes content to iOS devices. Lame.
So then they'd finally start catching up with Samsung? I can already stream content straight from my phone to my Samsung TV with AllShare. Not to mention, many of the top manufacturers have already adopted DLNA.
I still don't see the open FaceTime standard Jobs promised when he demoed it at the iPhone 4 media event.
I'm sure there will be plenty in the media who will want to sing Apple's praises over this sort of thing, but Cupertino is going to have to get their devices up to 1080p with open source streaming before I give a crap.
And STILL no wireless syncing of iTunes content to iOS devices. Lame.
This.
I like Airplay, but the added step of having to change inputs to apple tv, while admittedly minimal, is still enough of an inconvenience to keep my wife from using it very often.
Also, I notice that airplay doesn't seem to work when I'm playing internet radio on my apple tv 2G. I have to stop the radio from playing and back out to the main menu on the apple tv before it will accept an airplayed photo from my iphone 4, for example. Anyone else notice this behavior?
I'd just like to be able to stream audio to my car using AirPlay instead of plugging my iPhone in every time.
Only 4 bucks?? Why don't all stereos have it already?? I would get an airplay enabled player even if i hadnt had any apple product in my house, just that my friends could use it from time to time... (too bad they dont sell ATVs in my country...)
I absolutely agree with this. The funny thing though is ever since we got the new Apple TV, we always keep the input on the Apple TV. And that's all because of Airplay. The ability to stream any TV show, music, or movie on my computer at will is a very powerful and rewarding home entertainment experience. Even Air Video works with Airplay for formats that are not normally supported by the Apple TV.
My most recent favorite 3rd party Airplay app is Vevo. Music videos streamed to your TV over Airplay on demand. Just search for the one you want and even set up playlists. That is very cool.
Yep, this is an awesome app. You have to manually download the BETA version of Air Video Server for it to do Video Airplay though. The regular release does not support it.
PlipPlop
macrumors 6502a
ghostlyorb
macrumors 6502a
DaveN
macrumors 6502a
Airplay works great!
For all you people saying airplay doesn't work, check the hdmi connection to your tv. I had the same problem saying something about not having a secure (different term though) connection to the tv. Solution: turn off the tv and apple tv, unplug and replug the connection, turn both on and it has worked ever since. And I may say, it works elegantly.
For all you people saying airplay doesn't work, check the hdmi connection to your tv. I had the same problem saying something about not having a secure (different term though) connection to the tv. Solution: turn off the tv and apple tv, unplug and replug the connection, turn both on and it has worked ever since. And I may say, it works elegantly.
Airplay Screensharing?
Why can't Apple do WIFI screensharing using Airplay and AppleTV? They were boasting about how you can connect the iPad to the bigscreen using a cable...how cool would it be if you didn't need the cable (just use AppleTV or Airplay licensed device)? The technology obviously exists...there is already another company who makes such a device. It seems like Apple is very close they just need to make the next step.
Why can't Apple do WIFI screensharing using Airplay and AppleTV? They were boasting about how you can connect the iPad to the bigscreen using a cable...how cool would it be if you didn't need the cable (just use AppleTV or Airplay licensed device)? The technology obviously exists...there is already another company who makes such a device. It seems like Apple is very close they just need to make the next step.
marksman
macrumors 603
Wrong thread maybe? Or are people saying DLNA is the same as airplay drunk in your opinion?