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Is there a way to EASILY Airplay .AVI files?

M

mrzeve

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
I would like to Airplay an .avi video file from my computer to my Apple TV. Does anyone know of an easy and efficient way to accomplish this? Everything seems pretty complex.
 
You'll have to jailbreak and install a program like plex. That will allow the AppleTV to play AVI files amongst others.
 
mrzeve said:
I would like to Airplay an .avi video file from my computer to my Apple TV. Does anyone know of an easy and efficient way to accomplish this? Everything seems pretty complex.
Click to expand...

No need to jailbreak

Look a few threads down

I made a thread about watching your mkv & avi files without jailbreaking
 
Che Castro said:
No need to jailbreak

Look a few threads down

I made a thread about watching your mkv & avi files without jailbreaking
Click to expand...

I'm looking for a solution to stream from my Mac to my Apple TV, without using an iPhone, iPod, or iPad.
 
mrzeve said:
I'm looking for a solution to stream from my Mac to my Apple TV, without using an iPhone, iPod, or iPad.
Click to expand...

I beleive that for the time being the only other options are to jailbreak - or to convert those videos and add to itunes.
 
s15119 said:
I beleive that for the time being the only other options are to jailbreak - or to convert those videos and add to itunes.
Click to expand...

I don't mind the jailbreak, as long as all I have to do to play the video on my aTV is to open it up on my computer.
 
Yeah it's AirFlick you'd need. However if you don't mind jailbreaking then Plex or XBMC will be more convenient in the long run, since you can browse and play videos on your computer FROM the Apple TV, rather than having to go to the computer and flick them across from there.
 
does Airflick work on iOS 4.2 on the ATV? I use xbmc a ton of my ATV and dont want to upgrade iOS to 4.3 until there is a friendlier xbmc release. I cant remember if AirPlay was in 4.2 or didnt start working until 4.3.
 
Yep, it is AirFlick, my mistake.

Here's a quick guide:

Download and install Air Video Server and add your shared folders. You will need to enable "access from internet" under the remote settings in preferences and get the server pin. You can add a password but it is not necessary.

Once this is set up open up airflick and you'll see a little arrow pointing up labeled "AirVideo Access" in the main window above the play and stop buttons. Click it to open up the side drawer. The drawer then asks for the pin that was given to you earlier and type in your password if you chose one. The window should populate with a directory of your shared folders so just choose your video and it should be streamed to your AppleTV.

Airflick works on 4.3. I'm using it now.

I was using xmbc for awhile but I felt it slow and buggy and if I tried to play an mkv it would always stutter after about 30 seconds. For this set up I just convert to mp4 using mkvtools and stream with airflick. I know it's one more step but it doesn't stutter.

Also I found my appletv to be less stable with the jailbreak. That and the fact I wanted to use nba league pass, if just for the highlights.

I also tend to send a lot of one off videos and pictures that I'm working on to see how they look on my 40" tv as opposed to my 13" macbook.

Hope this helped.
 
I've found my xbmc to be rock solid with a variety of downloaded formats 720p and 1080p, dts and AC3, so i dont want to mess with it and lose that.

but my main reason for asking about AirFlicks is that I would like to have mlb.tv from my computer streamed to my ATV (proxy server on computer to allow in market games on mlb.tv) but from what you're saying, it sounds like AirFlicks is only for videos where you have the actual file, not just some stream from the internet.
 
You're right about having the file. If you input a youtube url in airflick it downloads it to a temp folder then streams it. You could always just go to the actual youtube app to watch the video and not wait. I found it will stream video from vimeo if you get the url for the mp4. As far as streaming "live" stuff, you can't with airflick. It does the same thing iTunes does, streams videos/music you have on your computer, albeit with more formats.

I'm curious if you could stream in market games from a jailbroken iphone/ipad to the appletv from the mlb.tv app while using a gps spoofing app like fakelocation to change your market without the need for a proxy for the iphone/ipad. Last season fakelocation worked for NBA leaguepass so I could watch my Houston Rockets while on the go here in Houston.

I remember reading mlb.tv does have airplay enabled.
 
mrzeve said:
I would like to Airplay an .avi video file from my computer to my Apple TV. Does anyone know of an easy and efficient way to accomplish this? Everything seems pretty complex.
Click to expand...

Use a miniDisplay to HDMI cable and connect your Mac to your HDTV. That's the easiest way.
 
frequeniquity said:
Yep, it is AirFlick, my mistake.

Here's a quick guide:

Download and install Air Video Server and add your shared folders. You will need to enable "access from internet" under the remote settings in preferences and get the server pin. You can add a password but it is not necessary.

Once this is set up open up airflick and you'll see a little arrow pointing up labeled "AirVideo Access" in the main window above the play and stop buttons. Click it to open up the side drawer. The drawer then asks for the pin that was given to you earlier and type in your password if you chose one. The window should populate with a directory of your shared folders so just choose your video and it should be streamed to your AppleTV.

Airflick works on 4.3. I'm using it now.

I was using xmbc for awhile but I felt it slow and buggy and if I tried to play an mkv it would always stutter after about 30 seconds. For this set up I just convert to mp4 using mkvtools and stream with airflick. I know it's one more step but it doesn't stutter.

Also I found my appletv to be less stable with the jailbreak. That and the fact I wanted to use nba league pass, if just for the highlights.

I also tend to send a lot of one off videos and pictures that I'm working on to see how they look on my 40" tv as opposed to my 13" macbook.

Hope this helped.
Click to expand...

Awesome guide, thank you. I hope the search spiders pick this up.
 
frequeniquity said:
For this set up I just convert to mp4 using mkvtools and stream with airflick. I know it's one more step but it doesn't stutter.
Click to expand...

Now I'm confused, if your converting your videos to mp4, why not just stick them in itunes and use airplay? What advantage does airflick give you?
 
DefBref said:
Now I'm confused, if your converting your videos to mp4, why not just stick them in itunes and use airplay? What advantage does airflick give you?
Click to expand...

When I do this, it's usually for a video that I'm not going to watch again and I don't want to mess with my library with adding the file to iTunes and having it copy over to the directory (I like iTunes managing my music in the iTunes folder) and then later having to find the file and delete it. With Airflick I just play the file and as soon as its done, I trash the file from my desktop. For me, sometimes iTunes can be like using a bulldozer to swat a fly.
 
ServeToMe will AirPlay avi to AppleTV 2

ServeToMe will AirPlay avi to AppleTV 2 if you run it through StreamToMe on an iPhone/Touch. (It will also AirPlay eyeTV files without having to first convert them to iTunes-able format.)
 
Check out the mac application, Beamer. It will airplay any video just by dropping it onto the icon. Not much to configure or anything.

And they have a free trial. No jailbreaking required
 
no need to jailbreak, you've two options
either add your movies to itunes using iflicks app easily, each file takes appx 2-5 mins
or drag your movies in any format to beamer app, which enables airplaying to your atv without any lag
 
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