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Posts tagged with "airplay"

AirPlay Streaming of Camera Roll Videos with Air Home Video

When iOS 4.2.1 came out on November 22nd, several users were disappointed to find out that there was no AirPlay option in the iPhone’s Camera Roll or Photos app. If you have some videos shot with your iPhone and you want to stream them to the new Apple TV, you’ll have to import them into iTunes on your computer first, then sync them back to the iPhone.

There’s no direct Camera Roll -> Apple TV streaming option, and as Daring Fireball’s John Gruber wrote weeks ago, this might be because of the different bitrate of high-def videos recorded on the iPhone. Read more

Steve Jobs Confirms AirPlay Video Streaming For 3rd Party Apps Coming in 2011

Finally, our questions have been answered by Steve Jobs himself. We love AirPlay, but we can’t stand the fact that the current version that ships with iOS 4.2 comes with many limitations, especially when it’s about video streaming to the Apple TV.

You can’t stream video through AirPlay from Safari or any 3rd party app. This lead me to think that the AirPlay we’re playing around with now is just a teaser of better things to come in the future.

Now, a Steve Jobs email posted by MacRumors confirms that Apple is planning to add the feature in 2011:

Hi, I recently updated both my iPhone 4 and iPad to 4.2. I think my favourite feature is airplay. This is seriously amazing and makes sharing content seamless. I just purchased Apple TV and was wondering are you ever going to make airplay video work for videos in safari and 3rd party apps? I hope to get a response.

SJ: Yep, hope to add these features to Airplay in 2011.

A number of hacks and tweaks to enable AirPlay for video have surfaced recently, including packages jailbreak users can download from Cydia and install on their devices. We also detailed that it’s possible to turn any iOS device into an AirPlay speaker.

Here’s to hoping 2011 will bring the AirPlay we’ve always wanted.

Today’s AirPlay Is Just A Teaser

Yesterday we posted a tutorial on how to turn your iOS devices into AirPlay-compatible speakers using a jailbreak hack that involves copying two files to iOS’ filesystem. 24 hours into using it, I have to admit this has already radically changed the way I think of AirPlay – Apple’s streaming functionality for audio and video content introduced in iOS 4.2.

This is a taste of the AirPlay that’s going to be, and it looks a lot like an integrated model, all over again. Read more

How To Turn Your iPhone and iPad Into AirPlay Speakers

One of the biggest limitations of the current version of AirPlay shipping with iOS 4.2.1 (well, video streaming to Apple TV aside) is the fact that you can’t use an iOS device as an AirPlay speaker. In fact, a speaker can be an Apple TV, an audio system connected to an AirPort Express station or an AirPlay-enabled audio system. But, you can’t send audio from an iOS device to another iOS device or from iTunes on your Mac/PC to an iPhone/iPad.

Imagine the possibilities of iOS devices as AirPlay speakers: you’re in the car, iPhone is connected to your car’s audio setup, a friend’s in the backseat playing with his iPad. He wants to send some music from his iPad library to the iPhone, he fires up the iPod app on his tablet and instantly streams music to the car’s audio system thanks to the iPhone acting as a speaker. Or, your Mac’s in your bedroom and you want to play some tunes on your iPad. If only the iPad was an AirPlay speaker, you wouldn’t have to sync music (and thus eat space) on it.

With the following tutorial (files courtesy of TouchBite) you’ll be able to turn any iOS device running iOS 4.1 and above into an AirPlay speaker. Read more

Finally: Cydia Tweak Brings AirPlay’s Video Streaming To Every App

Looks like jailbreakers are giving users yet another reason to jailbreak their iPhones and iPads by activating what Apple leaves behind. So after the hack that turns the mute switch back to an orientation lock button, here comes AirVideo Enabler, which brings AirPlay for Video support to any app: Safari and 3rd partys apps.

You’ll be able to stream video from your device to the Apple TV no matter what, and I guess it’s based on Erica Sadun’s method.

This simple and must-have tweak is available in the following repository:

http://cydia.zone-mr.net

So if you have an Apple TV and have been missing the possibility to stream from Safari, AirVideo app or StreamToMe – go download it right now.

PhotoFast’s AP1000 Will Bring AirPlay To Your Car

With AirPlay finally available to iOS users (although not exactly in the way many of us wanted), I knew it wouldn’t take long before some third party accessory maker would come up with a solution to enable AirPlay’s streaming system in every car. The PhotoFast AP1000 (still looking for a distributor outside of Japan) is aimed at allowing you to easily enable WiFi in your car and connect your current audio system to any iOS device via AirPlay.

The device is a little black box that supports 802.11b/g/n WiFi and has to be wired to your car’s audio in order to show up in the list of AirPlay-enabled devices on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. The setup seems to be fairly simple for any user, you just have to make sure you have enough space in your car to fit the AP1000.

You can see more details in the preview video below. [via TUAW] Read more

Enable AirPlay for Video In Third-Party Apps

Disappointed Apple didn’t enable AirPlay streaming for video on all apps on iOS 4.2.1 for iPhone and iPad? Well, we are too. We thought we’d be able to stream just about anything from our iDevices to the new Apple TV, but it turns out you can only stream video using AirPlay from Apple’s native apps. Streaming video in Safari isn’t enabled, nor is it in 3rd party apps and Apple’s own camera roll. Bummer.

Fortunately, TUAW’s Erica Sadun has done some good hacking to find out what exactly is going on under the hood. She decompiled the frameworks and got ahold of Apple’s APIs and, without entering the most technical details, it seems like the whole concept is still a little bit rough for the average developer.

So caveat hackteur – this isn’t going to be appropriate for the casual developer. Yet.

Having gotten this proof of concept working, there’s still a lot left to get done to transform this into a stable solution that works with general applications. Keep in mind that you’ll be working with unpublished APIs, so the above classes and code are not App Store Safe. That’s why we have a jailbreak world, after all.

Head over the video below and see what Erica got working on her iPad. AirPlay for video in 3rd party apps isn’t impossible, I guess we just need to wait for Apple to officially enable it. Maybe in iOS 4.3? Read more

AirPlay Notes: Netflix, Hulu Plus, Youtube Website & App

With the release of iOS 4.2 today, Apple introduced one of the features they’ve been busy promoting in the past months: AirPlay. While based on complex technology and a variety of Apple’s proprietary frameworks, what consumers get is really simple: streaming of audio and video content from any iOS 4.2 device to Apple TV, an AirPort Express station with connected speakers or AirPlay-enabled speakers. It’s one-way streaming from iOS to other Apple “living room devices” made simple and fast.

AirPlay went through a complicated iteration during the iOS 4.2 developer betas and GM seeds, but what we have today is a fairly stable feature easy to use for anyone. Apple, however, was apparently forced to remove some functionalities and some content providers decided to exclude AirPlay’s streaming support from their apps. Read more

Apple TV 4.1 Update Coming Today, Too

Together with the release of iOS 4.2 for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, today at approximately 10 AM PST Apple will also release the long awaited 4.1 for the second generation Apple TV, Macworld reports.

The 4.1 update introduces AirPlay for video support: users will be able to stream video from any iOS device or Mac running iTunes 10 to an Apple TV on a local network. AirPlay is a feature exclusive to iOS 4.2, so it makes sense for Apple to roll out the update together with iOS 4.2 later today. Read more