Apple Updates 'Remote' iOS App to Support AirPlay, Internet Radio Control

[liquidsuns]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

I don't think that's true. I used to be able to pick a video on my iPhone and have it start playing on the Apple TV (at least I could with the version before last, I'm not sure I tried since).

This isn't true. Just like with music, I've always been able to select movies with the Remote App without using the Apple TV interface.

Now you can pick a video with your iPhone that is actually on your computer and Airplay it to TV. That's what's new.

Head spinning yet?

But you can't pick a video that's on your computer and watch it on your iPhone. Weird.

What apple needs to do is have a system where you can throw things around the room. What I mean by that is, take a movie on a mac, toss it to an ATV, then toss that to an iPhone, then toss that to an iPad, then toss that back to the mac. I'm talking complete power over where you watch something. I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to adapt airplay to do that.

It's almost there...

No dude. You've always been able to pick a movie that was on your Mac and stream it to the apple tv via the Remote app.

 

[blybug]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

No dude. You've always been able to pick a movie that was on your Mac and stream it to the apple tv via the Remote app.

Mmmm no.

Remote.app 2.0.1 presently on my iPad will allow me to access my MacBook iTunes library, select and play a video on the MacBook only. No Airplay icon available.

Remote.app 2.1 newly installed on my iPhone will allow me to access my MacBook iTunes library, select a video, and displays an Airplay icon with the option of playing on the computer or the AppleTV.

I suspect that the video you thought you were Airplaying from your Mac via the Remote.app on your iPhone/iPad was actually a copy stored locally on your iPhone/iPad. The interface for the Remote.app (especially on the iPad) is so similar to the iPod.app that it's pretty easy to lose track of where you really are and what you're really controlling.

Unless you mean using the gesture controls on the Remote.app to run the AppleTV interface, well then of course you can select a movie on your Mac to play on the AppleTV, but that's basic AppleTV functionality, not Airplay. Also you could always select any computer's library once AppleTV was selected from the top level of Remote.app, and play a video, also not exactly AirPlay. This new feature is somewhat redundant but not exactly the same.

old: Remote.app-->Mac Library-->Play video on Mac only or Remote.app-->AppleTV-->Mac Library-->Play video on Mac or AppleTV
new: Remote.app-->Mac Library-->Play video on Mac or AirPlay to AppleTV (new) or Remote.app-->AppleTV-->Mac Library-->Play video on Mac or AppleTV (same)

ETA: Remote.app 2.1 installed on the iPad, Airplay icon with choice of MacBook or AppleTV now available. This is the new feature.

 

[blybug]

The difference is being able to use Remote to send video from iTunes to your Apple TV. Previously, you could only send audio. To play video, you had to use Remote to control your Apple TV directly. The big advantage of Remote->iTunes->Apple TV is that you can control the volume of the video with Remote. By contrast, Remote->Apple TV requires you to use your TV's remote control to adjust the volume.

Unfortunately the volume control disappears from the Remote.app interface when AppleTV is selected. Rats.

 

[pmz]

This update broke compatibility with my 4.1 iPhone 4. Not happy.

Don't push out an update that requires 4.2 and doesn't work with 4.1. Pretty stupid.

 

[Paschendael]

Brilliant!
I wish they make an app or something that will allow us to control the iPod in the same way from the computer...that would be awesome...

For remote support it could be useful (yes some people don't know how to make app folders or browse in safari U_U) but i don't think there's a point in controlling your device from your computer, what would you do ? browse the internet on a 3.5 inch screen instead of your computer screen ? play your ipod games ( how can you multi touch with a mouse....). Honestly it would be useless since many app on the ipod/iphone use the accelerometer and multitouch functions, plus you can do so much more with your computer.

 

[Wheeler]

This is the update as far as airplay:

Before you could select a device and start playing a movie on that device, but thats it.

Now, you can select a computer with iTunes running, start a movie and select to play it on that mac, or any appleTV.

Unfortunately they didn't add this airplay feature for when you select an appleTV from the device list- only the mac/pc with itunes. Not sure why they wouldn't...I bet they add it soon.

See the text in these screen caps:

 

[liquidsuns]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

No dude. You've always been able to pick a movie that was on your Mac and stream it to the apple tv via the Remote app.

Mmmm no.

Remote.app 2.0.1 presently on my iPad will allow me to access my MacBook iTunes library, select and play a video on the MacBook only. No Airplay icon available.

Remote.app 2.1 newly installed on my iPhone will allow me to access my MacBook iTunes library, select a video, and displays an Airplay icon with the option of playing on the computer or the AppleTV.

I suspect that the video you thought you were Airplaying from your Mac via the Remote.app on your iPhone/iPad was actually a copy stored locally on your iPhone/iPad. The interface for the Remote.app (especially on the iPad) is so similar to the iPod.app that it's pretty easy to lose track of where you really are and what you're really controlling.

Unless you mean using the gesture controls on the Remote.app to run the AppleTV interface, well then of course you can select a movie on your Mac to play on the AppleTV, but that's basic AppleTV functionality, not Airplay. Also you could always select any computer's library once AppleTV was selected from the top level of Remote.app, and play a video, also not exactly AirPlay. This new feature is somewhat redundant but not exactly the same.

old: Remote.app-->Mac Library-->Play video on Mac only or Remote.app-->AppleTV-->Mac Library-->Play video on Mac or AppleTV
new: Remote.app-->Mac Library-->Play video on Mac or AirPlay to AppleTV (new) or Remote.app-->AppleTV-->Mac Library-->Play video on Mac or AppleTV (same)

ETA: Remote.app 2.1 installed on the iPad, Airplay icon with choice of MacBook or AppleTV now available. This is the new feature.

Okay so the only difference is that you can now select your Macs library directly in remote app, which you could always do, but now you can also airplay it to the apple tv. I get it.

Those of us saying that you could already do this were refering to selecting the Apple TV in the remote app and using the shared libraries it had access to. Which you go on to admit had always been possible after speculating about all the other ways I might have been referring to. But this is, quite obviously, the method I was referring to.

The utility for this is that if you were using the Remote app to control your Mac and decide you want to switch to the Apple TV, you can now do so quicker (though why someone would be using the Remote app to control videos on their Mac escapes me).

BUT the statement that you've always been able to select movies that are on your Mac via the Remote app and stream them to your Apple TV without using the Apple TV interface is true, I've done it dozens and dozens of times.

 

[blybug]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)



Okay so the only difference is that you can now select your Macs library directly in remote app, which you could always do, but now you can also airplay it to the apple tv. I get it.

Those of us saying that you could already do this were refering to selecting the Apple TV in the remote app and using the shared libraries it had access to. Which you go on to admit had always been possible after speculating about all the other ways I might have been referring to. But this is, quite obviously, the method I was referring to.

The utility for this is that if you were using the Remote app to control your Mac and decide you want to switch to the Apple TV, you can now do so quicker (though why someone would be using the Remote app to control videos on their Mac escapes me).

BUT the statement that you've always been able to select movies that are on your Mac via the Remote app and stream them to your Apple TV without using the Apple TV interface is true, I've done it dozens and dozens of times.

Yes, you are correct.

 

[blybug]

The utility for this is that if you were using the Remote app to control your Mac and decide you want to switch to the Apple TV, you can now do so quicker (though why someone would be using the Remote app to control videos on their Mac escapes me).

Aside from the gee-whizziness of AirFlipping videos back and forth between devices (and I do love that), the actual practicality of it all escapes me right now. With an AppleTV in place, all the media of all networked computer libraries is already accessible under the Computer menu...why drill through the hierarchy of a networked computer on an iDevice simply to Airplay something from the computer that the AppleTV could already have played "directly" from its own interface? I admit the seamlessness of the ecosystem is terrific...completing it with streaming to an iDevice is the obvious and probably most useful missing piece.

Also looks like a hiccup with protected content...I'm getting a "You are not authorized" message on the iDevices when trying to initiate AirPlay of a legitimate Fairplay digital copy via Remote.app from the computer library (new method) as opposed to the AppleTV-->Computer method (which plays just fine).

The Remote.app feels like it should be absorbed into the iPod app (especially on the iPad), with Home Sharing libraries available much like desktop iTunes. Perhaps once iDevices can play content from external libraries, it will all merge together.

 

[newagemac]

Wow. This is nice. I just realized I can take my laptop to my parent's house and play all my movies on their Apple TV with no setup or authorization required. And access and control it all from my iPhone. Cool! Loving being in the Apple ecosystem more and more. This kind of integration is what I love most about Apple's products.

Now come on Apple and enable Airplay for the camera roll on the iPhone already!

 

[newagemac]

Just played around with it some more. Yesterday, I had rented a TV Show on my Mac and found out I couldn't access the rentals from the Remote app to play it on the Apple TV. I had to use my regular remotes to access the ATV directly, but now the Remote app gives you that access from the iPhone so that's good. I also just found out that rentals on your Mac can be moved to your iPhone and still can be Airplayed to the Apple TV from your iPhone.

One thing the Remote app, Home Sharing, Airplay, and the new Apple TVs do is make you stop having to think about where your content is stored or where it can be played. I have an ATV on each HDTV/receiver in the house and now know that if it's in my iTunes library I can access it from anywhere and go from room to room and always able to continue exactly where I left off regardless which Apple TV or Mac I was watching it on previously.

And then with music I can have it playing in multiple rooms and in perfect sync. This Airplay stuff is really cool and I found I'm using it all the time now.

 

[Wheeler]

Aside from the gee-whizziness of AirFlipping videos back and forth between devices (and I do love that), the actual practicality of it all escapes me right now. With an AppleTV in place, all the media of all networked computer libraries is already accessible under the Computer menu...why drill through the hierarchy of a networked computer on an iDevice simply to Airplay something from the computer that the AppleTV could already have played "directly" from its own interface? I admit the seamlessness of the ecosystem is terrific...completing it with streaming to an iDevice is the obvious and probably most useful missing piece.

Also looks like a hiccup with protected content...I'm getting a "You are not authorized" message on the iDevices when trying to initiate AirPlay of a legitimate Fairplay digital copy via Remote.app from the computer library (new method) as opposed to the AppleTV-->Computer method (which plays just fine).

The Remote.app feels like it should be absorbed into the iPod app (especially on the iPad), with Home Sharing libraries available much like desktop iTunes. Perhaps once iDevices can play content from external libraries, it will all merge together.

I got that hiccup too- first time I have ever seen it- but tried again and have not seen it since.

I personally like selecting media on my iDevice more than using the aTV and a remote, but find myself simply using my Comcast remote to control the aTV after I programmed it as the AUX. Since I have to use the comcast remote to swap TV inputs anyway- that has become my go to remote.

Still this gets us a little closer to my dream home control- simply select what you want to watch- then select where. This would be for all content, including TV.

Actually my dream is to do all this from an iWatch, but thats for another forum

 

[aquaquest]

this app is very useful for me but it need impove

 

[blybug]

Still this gets us a little closer to my dream home control- simply select what you want to watch- then select where. This would be for all content, including TV.

With that in mind, I'd like to see the AppleTV and the Remote.app adopt a Universal-Inbox type menu hierarchy with "My Content" at the tippy top. If it's in my Home Sharing network...categorize it, alphabetize it, and show it to me all in one place. We've got an AppleTV, multiple iDevices, and 5 computers: mom, dad, and the kids. There may be times when I want to select a specific computer's iTunes, but I'd just as soon have all of it unified on whatever device I'm browsing, with the AirPlay option to toss it onto whatever screen I'd like.

 

[Wheeler]

With that in mind, I'd like to see the AppleTV and the Remote.app adopt a Universal-Inbox type menu hierarchy with "My Content" at the tippy top. If it's in my Home Sharing network...categorize it, alphabetize it, and show it to me all in one place. We've got an AppleTV, multiple iDevices, and 5 computers: mom, dad, and the kids. There may be times when I want to select a specific computer's iTunes, but I'd just as soon have all of it unified on whatever device I'm browsing, with the AirPlay option to toss it onto whatever screen I'd like.

If smart playlists included shared libraries you could get close to that with this update.

 

[ITGuy]

AirPlay is going to be useful to me only when when I can:

a) Stream audio and video content from my Mac's iTunes Library TO my iDevices, such as my iPad.

b) Stream videos from my iPhone's camera roll to Apple TV.

Is it possible that Apple is holding back on these obvious features so they have additional features / bullet points for iOS 4.3 and iPad 2 next Spring, or for iOS 5 and iPhone 5 next Summer?

The current ability to stream content from iDevices to Apple TV is almost redundant since the content on the iDevice was probably synced from an iTunes library the Apple TV can already stream from.

It would also be great If OS X had APIs that would allow for Mac Applications to stream content to Apple TV and iDevices without using iTunes, such as Keynote presentations and Safari video clips. Here's hoping OS X Lion will include some AirPlay goodies.

-ITG

 

[newagemac]

AirPlay is going to be useful to me only when when I can:

a) Stream audio and video content from my Mac's iTunes Library TO my iDevices, such as my iPad.

b) Stream videos from my iPhone's camera roll to Apple TV.

Is it possible that Apple is holding back on these obvious features so they have additional features / bullet points for iOS 4.3 and iPad 2 next Spring, or for iOS 5 and iPhone 5 next Summer?

The current ability to stream content from iDevices to Apple TV is almost redundant since the content on the iDevice was probably synced from an iTunes library the Apple TV can already stream from.

It would also be great If OS X had APIs that would allow for Mac Applications to stream content to Apple TV and iDevices without using iTunes, such as Keynote presentations and Safari video clips. Here's hoping OS X Lion will include some AirPlay goodies.

-ITG

If a) is ever going to be enabled it will probably be within the iPod app, not the Remote app. I don't see this being a part of Airplay rather than a home sharing feature similar to how the Apple TV streams from a Mac or PC with Home Sharing turned on. And come to think of it, since the Apple TV has the same operating system and innards as other iOS devices, I don't see why they can't allow Home Sharing streaming to all the other iOS devices.

 

[Repo]

Is it possible that Apple is holding back on these obvious features so they have additional features / bullet points for iOS 4.3 and iPad 2 next Spring, or for iOS 5 and iPhone 5 next Summer?

They've done so before.

 

[Karatekid2001]

With that in mind, I'd like to see the AppleTV and the Remote.app adopt a Universal-Inbox type menu hierarchy with "My Content" at the tippy top. If it's in my Home Sharing network...categorize it, alphabetize it, and show it to me all in one place. We've got an AppleTV, multiple iDevices, and 5 computers: mom, dad, and the kids. There may be times when I want to select a specific computer's iTunes, but I'd just as soon have all of it unified on whatever device I'm browsing, with the AirPlay option to toss it onto whatever screen I'd like.

omg this is exactly what i want as well, i want to have all the info in one place, i wonna be able to the most played of a song on what ever apple device all added together.

 

[Jelite]

I just want the ability to stream content between my macbook and mac mini (connected to tv) but i guess that will never happen as Apple want me to buy an ATV or Airtunes.

 

[pmz]

I just want the ability to stream content between my macbook and mac mini (connected to tv) but i guess that will never happen as Apple want me to buy an ATV or Airtunes.

?

Uhhh...you're using two Macs....quite a few more options.

Ever hear of, I dunno, Home Sharing?

 

[blackopstoys.co]

playing music

Hello, I'm sorry for a sort of newbie question, but I just want to make sure I'm "doing it right":

External Seagate HD with 200GB of mp3 music on it hooked up by USB to HP Laptop, and all music imported into iTunes on that laptop.

Using this device as my music server, what is the best way to wireless connect it to my onkyo pre-amp?

Buy an apple TV? Buy a different apple dongle device to hook up to the stereo?

I have an iPhone4 and iPad so it would be nice to use them as my controller using either 'Remote' or 'AirPlay', but to be honest, this is starting to get confusing to me as there are a few options available.

I really just want to randomly play my mp3s and a RCA to miniplug with the laptop sitting next to the receiver on the bookshelf is starting to sound like the least complicated option. Any advice.

(PS - I started using a Mac in 85. Mac Plus, in fact, but I took a 15 year hiatus from the brand after a hard drive crash in 94).

 

[Mal]

Simple option: Use a minijack to RCA cable to plug directly into your stereo, use the Remote app on your iPhone or iPad to control iTunes on your HP laptop. Works beautifully.

jW

 

[blackopstoys.co]

Mal, I'll give that a try. Thanks. I didn't know you could control iTunes on a PC with the 'Remote' app.

And for me, the ATV seems unnecessary as my DirecTV DVR has about a hundred hours of 1080i HD content saved to it that I can't even find the time to playback all it.

 

[John.B]

Well I reverted back to Remote 2.0.1 once I figured out that 2.1 eliminated the "skip back 10 seconds" feature. (What were they thinking?!?!?)