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Stream movies from computer to iPad?

MythicFrost

MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,944
40
Australia
Hi,

I've got an ATV (old), and two Macs which have home sharing enabled; with the remote app I was able to control them remotely and play movies/music, etc., on them, but how can I stream music from them to the iPad -- is that possible?
 
MythicFrost said:
Hi,

I've got an ATV (old), and two Macs which have home sharing enabled; with the remote app I was able to control them remotely and play movies/music, etc., on them, but how can I stream music from them to the iPad -- is that possible?
Click to expand...

I use Zumocast, which is a free app to stream both music or video to an iPad or iPhone over wifi or 3G. Install the free app on your iPad, and there is a download from the website to install on your Macs and you're good to go.
 
andymodem said:
I use Zumocast, which is a free app to stream both music or video to an iPad or iPhone over wifi or 3G. Install the free app on your iPad, and there is a download from the website to install on your Macs and you're good to go.
Click to expand...

I use Zumocast too and it works a treat.

There is also the option of Airvideo which does the same thing but is a paid app.
 
andymodem said:
I use Zumocast, which is a free app to stream both music or video to an iPad or iPhone over wifi or 3G. Install the free app on your iPad, and there is a download from the website to install on your Macs and you're good to go.
Click to expand...

abta1 said:
I use Zumocast too and it works a treat.

There is also the option of Airvideo which does the same thing but is a paid app.
Click to expand...
I see, thanks guys. I wonder why Apple doesn't offer this functionality? Maybe they will?
 
I've got it setup and I like it a lot... however, is there anyway to stream iTunes movies? They show a little lock on them... I'm guessing this is DRM?

EDIT: Yep :/
 
+1 for Zumocast. I was using AirVideo, but it's broken in 4.2.

Plus, it only does video, while Zumocast does audio, video and "other files", though I haven't messed around with the latter. Also, you can download the files over the network to your device for later listening or viewing (including non-mp4 files).
 
I thought airplay was supposed to do this, no?

looking at the site, I guess no.

Well then I used AirVideo but it can't give you an honest review cuz I never utilized very much at all.
 
U could use the macs built in web server just stick a copy of your iTunes library in the site folder and u can acses any thing in your library by use of ur browser. Just search it in the form search to see how to set it up, I can't remember but I did it and it took me like 5 min. It is free with every Mac and works great!
 
Thanks for your replies everyone,
drewc1138 said:
+1 for Zumocast. I was using AirVideo, but it's broken in 4.2.

Plus, it only does video, while Zumocast does audio, video and "other files", though I haven't messed around with the latter. Also, you can download the files over the network to your device for later listening or viewing (including non-mp4 files).
Click to expand...
Yeah, ZumoCast looks pretty good!
vastoholic said:
I thought airplay was supposed to do this, no?

looking at the site, I guess no.

Well then I used AirVideo but it can't give you an honest review cuz I never utilized very much at all.
Click to expand...
Nah, AirPlay streams from an iDevice to Apple TV.
Dr Kevorkian94 said:
U could use the macs built in web server just stick a copy of your iTunes library in the site folder and u can acses any thing in your library by use of ur browser. Just search it in the form search to see how to set it up, I can't remember but I did it and it took me like 5 min. It is free with every Mac and works great!
Click to expand...
I'm using ZumoCast at the moment and its great, however, I think I'd still run into the same problem with the DRM using the built in web server.
 
MythicFrost said:
Thanks for your replies everyone,

Yeah, ZumoCast looks pretty good!

Nah, AirPlay streams from an iDevice to Apple TV.

I'm using ZumoCast at the moment and its great, however, I think I'd still run into the same problem with the DRM using the built in web server.
Click to expand...

Nope I watch iTunes bought south park all the time lol
 
Dr Kevorkian94 is correct, on a Mac you can use Apple's built-in web sharing feature to stream video to the iPad/iPhone/iPod touch. It doesn't require any third-party apps or extensions on either the iPad or the Mac and it DOES work with DRM-protected iTunes Store content. In my hands, it also stream more reliably than any of the third-party apps that run on the iPad (such as AirVideo or StreamToMe). However, the user interface isn't as nice as in the custom-built apps and it does require some setup on the Mac in order to work (you need to create a shared folder and make certain that it links to your iTunes content). It also will not convert video on-th-fly as some of the apps do, the original file must be in a form that is compatible with the iPad.

Overall, if you just want to watch movies that are already in an iPad-compatible format then Mac OS X's web sharing is a good solution. However, it's not so good for short form video or music since it just plays one item and then stops (i.e. no playlist support or continuous -- automatic -- playback from multiple files).
 
drewc1138 said:
You're going to run into the DRM problem until Apple releases something official. :D
Click to expand...
Mmm, yeah, I've hit that already :p
fpnc said:
Dr Kevorkian94 is correct, on a Mac you can use Apple's built-in web sharing feature to stream video to the iPad/iPhone/iPod touch. It doesn't require any third-party apps or extensions on either the iPad or the Mac and it DOES work with DRM-protected iTunes Store content. In my hands, it also stream more reliably than any of the third-party apps that run on the iPad (such as AirVideo or StreamToMe). However, the user interface isn't as nice as in the custom-built apps and it does require some setup on the Mac in order to work (you need to create a shared folder and make certain that it links to your iTunes content). It also will not convert video on-th-fly as some of the apps do, the original file must be in a form that is compatible with the iPad.

Overall, if you just want to watch movies that are already in an iPad-compatible format then Mac OS X's web sharing is a good solution. However, it's not so good for short form video or music since it just plays one item and then stops (i.e. no playlist support or continuous -- automatic -- playback from multiple files).
Click to expand...
All right, thanks. Am I able to connect to this web server from anywhere? I.E, even not on LAN?
 
MythicFrost said:
...Am I able to connect to this web server from anywhere? I.E, even not on LAN?
Click to expand...
I've never read of anyone doing that -- streaming protected video over the internet using only Mac OS X's personal web sharing. It certainly won't happen by default. However, with changes to the firewall, a static IP, and some more network "magic" it might be possible.

It is, however, pretty easy to do over a local network.
 
fpnc said:
I've never read of anyone doing that -- streaming protected video over the internet using only Mac OS X's personal web sharing. It certainly won't happen by default. However, with changes to the firewall, a static IP, and some more network "magic" it might be possible.

It is, however, pretty easy to do over a local network.
Click to expand...
Mmm, sounds too tricky for me. Maybe I could use an iPhone/iPad app which can connect to my Mac and just watch them that way :p
 
MythicFrost said:
Mmm, sounds too tricky for me. Maybe I could use an iPhone/iPad app which can connect to my Mac and just watch them that way :p
Click to expand...
What's your upload speed from your ISP? Normally, uploads are a LOT slower than downloads. If so, then you're not going to get very good performance when trying to stream content out from you Mac at home and over the internet. For example, the last two ISPs I had only supported uploads at about 350Kbps, while my download speed over my cable modem was up to 20Mbps.

At 350Kbps video has to be HIGHLY compressed or at pretty low resolution (or both). It's certainly viewable, but the quality won't be anywhere near what it could be over a LAN connection.
 
fpnc said:
What's your upload speed from your ISP? Normally, uploads are a LOT slower than downloads. If so, then you're not going to get very good performance when trying to stream content out from you Mac at home and over the internet. For example, the last two ISPs I had only supported uploads at about 350Kbps, while my download speed over my cable modem was up to 20Mbps.

At 350Kbps video has to be HIGHLY compressed or at pretty low resolution (or both). It's certainly viewable, but the quality won't be anywhere near what it could be over a LAN connection.
Click to expand...
Would the same apply to ZumoCast? If I used it remotely?

I have 128KB/s upload, 3.7MB/s download. How could I have it so I can stream my movies at a high download speed? I'd have to have them on the cloud entirely wouldn't I?
 
MythicFrost said:
Would the same apply to ZumoCast? If I used it remotely?

I have 128KB/s upload, 3.7MB/s download. How could I have it so I can stream my movies at a high download speed? I'd have to have them on the cloud entirely wouldn't I?
Click to expand...
It would be the same on ZumoCast.

When you say "128KB/s" on upload are you talking bits or bytes (bits should be written as "b" while bytes use "B")? If you are really getting 128Kbps (i.e. bits per second) then you aren't going to get a very good video image when uploading over the internet.
 
fpnc said:
It would be the same on ZumoCast.

When you say "128KB/s" on upload are you talking bits or bytes (bits should be written as "b" while bytes use "B")? If you are really getting 128Kbps (i.e. bits per second) then you aren't going to get a very good video image when uploading over the internet.
Click to expand...
Yes, I'm referring to bytes; I get 1Mb/s (128KB/s) up. Is that enough to provide good image quality? or not?
 
MythicFrost said:
Yes, I'm referring to bytes; I get 1Mb/s (128KB/s) up. Is that enough to provide good image quality? or not?
Click to expand...
If you're getting 1Mbps on uploads then streaming video should work quite well. Standard definition content should look fine, but you won't be able to do good quality HD.
 
Could someone please compare and contrast AirVideo and Zumocast?

This is the first that I have heard of Zumocast and I generally dont like to have too many apps on both my MBP and my Ipad, so in this case, what does one do that the other doesnt? Thanks!
 
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