Apple TV and iPad: streaming videos from Safari

[ThatsMeRight]

Good morning/afternoon/night everyone!

I have got an iPhone and an iPad and ever since last year's third-generation Apple TV was introduced, I have been interested into getting one.

There are a number of reasons why I haven't bought an Apple TV (yet). For example, there are only a small amount of movies in the iTunes store here (Netherlands, Europe) and for music I prefer apps like Spotify (luckily, as it appears, you can stream music from Spotify to your Apple TV).

The thing that interest me, though, is AirPlay. I was wondering: can you stream any video that you can play in Safari to your Apple TV (3)?

Also, I'll probably be waiting until Apple TV 4 arrives - hopefully with full app support.

 

[wzz]

The thing that interest me, though, is AirPlay. I was wondering: can you stream any video that you can play in Safari to your Apple TV (3)?

you can airplay mirror with any air-play-capable-Mac [supposing u actually own one]

Safari, the application itself, cannot airplay. only iTunes.

 

[ThatsMeRight]

you can airplay mirror with any air-play-capable-Mac [supposing u actually own one]

Safari, the application itself, cannot airplay. only iTunes.

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear enough. I'm talking about Apple TV in combination with Safari on an iPhone or iPad - not a Mac.

 

[wzz]

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear enough. I'm talking about Apple TV in combination with Safari on an iPhone or iPad - not a Mac.

u can airplay mirror from ur iPhone or iPad.

 

[Alith]

You can mirror the entire iOS devices screen up to your TV.

Or....if you don't want the whole thing up there you can use Airplay without mirroring to just run video/audio content only. Lots of apps are compatible. Video embedded in Safari webpages will also Airplay.

 

[institute]

The main issue is that you cannot play flash based video in safari on the ipad so that cuts out alot of possibilities for streaming.

 

[Alith]

The main issue is that you cannot play flash based video in safari on the ipad so that cuts out alot of possibilities for streaming.

I wouldn't say that it cuts out a "lot of possibilities". Maybe three or four years ago that would have been the case. You would struggle to find web content that isn't tablet compatible today. If it plays in iOS Safari then you can Airplay it.

 

[wzz]

I wouldn't say that it cuts out a "lot of possibilities". Maybe three or four years ago that would have been the case. You would struggle to find web content that isn't tablet compatible today. If it plays in iOS Safari then you can Airplay it.

I agree with Alith.
Gone are those days..

 

[waw74]

can you stream any video that you can play in Safari to your Apple TV (3)?

yes, if it plays in safari, it will airplay to the aTV 2 or 3.

if the video goes full screen on your iOS device while you're watching it, it will play full screen on the aTV. otherwise you'll have to use mirroring, which will leave you with black bars on the TV screen, as the aspect ratios are different (unless you're using an iPhone 5 in landscape mode)

Also, I'll probably be waiting until Apple TV 4 arrives - hopefully with full app support.

They just updated the 3, to a newer version of the exact same thing, same specs, but all new hardware.
it might be awhile before they update.

 

[institute]

While I agree that more and more online video is going HTML 5, there are still plenty of sites that are flash only or otherwise restrict streaming in a mobile browser and this includes both legitimate mainstream sites such as Hulu and England's ITV and especially dodgey streaming sites, the latter being the only place you can get access to many live sporting events without cable.

In the case of the legitimate sites they do it so you explicitly cannot stream from a mobile device without using their apps which often have more stringent location requirements than the web sites do.

For these reasons, I do think saying that you can stream all, or even most, sites from mobile safari is misleading.

 

[paulrbeers]

While I agree that more and more online video is going HTML 5, there are still plenty of sites that are flash only or otherwise restrict streaming in a mobile browser and this includes both legitimate mainstream sites such as Hulu and England's ITV and especially dodgey streaming sites, the latter being the only place you can get access to many live sporting events without cable.

In the case of the legitimate sites they do it so you explicitly cannot stream from a mobile device without using their apps which often have more stringent location requirements than the web sites do.

For these reasons, I do think saying that you can stream all, or even most, sites from mobile safari is misleading.

I just use Puffin in that case. I haven't had any problems streaming flash videos.