Entertainment For Lively Minds
Wireless Christmas
I am a slow learner and a late starter. Having the last last ten days off work has given me the time to explore the iPad and apple technology in a bit more depth than I ever would have had time to do normally. It all started on Boxing night with a post on this here oracle."how do I stream music wirelessly?" A week later and £180 emptier of pocket I have reached the point where I have an Airport Express plugged into the back of my stereo in the living room. This let's me access my full iTunes library using the remote app on the iPad which is the best toy a man could have. it even allows you to see the artwork whilst playing! As I said upfront slow learner, but it is a great feeling when you catch up. Catch up I did, but then got carried away by the sheer diminutive beauty of the Apple TV box. I ditched my HD Freeview box thinking I would be able to watch HD Freeview TV via Apple TV. Apparently not the case. Is it just me or can you put the BBC iPlayer through the Apple?
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The short answer is...
...no! The longer answer can be found via Google. It is a major frustration for the Macistas - of which I am one. The issue appears to be between Apple and the BBC. Like you I thought it seemed an obvious connection and it is irritating that it doesn't work - yet.
The short answer is...
...a double post. Apologies!
Looks as if there will be workarounds though in time ?
http://www.allaboutiphone.net/2010/11/iplayer-cant-be-streamed-via-airpl...
I'm waiting...
...for a video-enabled version of the mighty Airfoil. I use Airfoil now to stream ANY audio to my Airport Express. When something similar appears for video, I'll bite their flippin' hand off.
Incidentally, I discovered last night that you can stream the *audio* from iPlayer on an iPhone or iPad to the Apple TV, but not the video. That seems reasonably trivial to fix, for Apple - all they'd have to do is make the in-browser Airplay function send video too.
On a more starry-eyed note, the Apple TV is fucking amazing. My girls (2 and 4) were using my iPad yesterday to choose Peppa and Timmy episodes to watch on the TV. My 4-year-old now knows not only how to select an episode, but also how to choose the Apple TV from the Airplay button on the iPad and watch it on telly. Magic. She'd never be able to do that on my laptop.
It's brilliant.
See link in posting above
I think the video send has been disabled iirc
Oh yeah.
Ta for that. I should, you know, read stuff.
But I'm really reluctant to jailbreak my phone. What if I fuck it up? And in any case, Safari isn't a "non Apple app" as described in the article, so I don't really understand why Apple would have a problem.
I'm afraid I've had a slightly jaundiced attitude to all
this ever since I bought an iPod dock from Onkyo, only to have its video capacity removed unilaterally when Apple upgraded---scuppered a whole bunch of 3rd party docks. Meaant that I ended up getting a WDTV as a video browser, doesn't stream but a cheap and useful device.
In consequence I am only just getting into wireless video at the FPO's (I use a hardwired laptop for this task, and spotify, in my own flat--stopgap until it dies and I go shopping). What has struck me is that combination of the uPnP and DLNA standards now seems very mature, so watching previously grabbed files this way (her new laptop running Windows 7 and a NAS type server) is encouragingly smooth.
What I want to know us when we'll just have intelligent video walls that do our bidding ...I want some Krell technology now ...
The short answer is...
...a triple! Oh bugger.
Commiserations. You could I guess spring for a
Mac Mini instead, but I presume there's no way to send video from the iPad to the TV remotely is there ?
I am watching how this all goes-we are currently enjoying the fun of being able to watch files of a network drive using a Windows 7 laptop with HDMI---have a few to catch up with that were grabbed from iplayer in the heyday of ipdl.
Airplay
Can't comment on iPlayer, as I'm in Australia (and therefore it's, ahem, impossible to get the BBC feed) but am marvellously happy with my Apple TV, streaming all manner of iTunesy content to the big TV and big speakers via Remote on the iPad and the iPhone. Or switching to streaming the dodgy Aussie channels via Mac Mini. Couldn't be any more smugly pleased with myself.
My question is, what's next? Now that all my content is so accessible, what's the next tech hurdle?
Do you have a Wii?
You can watch the iPlayer through that.
Yes,
but...
Like everybody else...
...was irritated by this obvious gap in the Apple TV's capabilities, and I'm not holding my breath for possibly the two most intransigent media companies on the planet to come to terms any time soon.
I felt better, though, when I remembered that I do actually have a TV, and a very easy to work DVD/HDD recorder, and all I have to do is keep a vague eye on what's being shown on tv and when. Especially BBC4 stuff, which gets repeated several times over a period of days. Sometimes, indeed, I sit down in front of the TV and watch a programme, just like in the old days.
Incidentally, Apple TV people, does anybody else have to turn it off and on with some regularity because it forgets it has a special relationship with my computer?
Vague eyes
Indeed. And BBC4 will send you a newsletter once a week, which some would say is 99% of the best stuff that's on ...
Apple TV
Mine doesn't need reminding of its special relationship: it just sometimes has an unscheduled snooze and needs a bit of button tapping to rouse it!
Thanks All
Seems then it wasn't just me being unable to make it work - it just doesn't right? Oh well I used the Apple TV as an argument to get rid of the Technika Smartbox - looks like I will have to plug that back in - it is a clumsy piece of kit though
Follow the links I mentioned above
they suggest that you and others who want this submit it as a bug report until Apple enable a feature that it sounds like they know perfectly well how to do. Bug reporting info is in the links. Good luck ...
Not quite sure what the "BBC intransigence" also mentioned above might be---after all the reason the much loved ipdl doesn't work now is that iPlayer site now checks which IOS version it is talking to, and opens an https link, not exactly a lack of co-operation ? Or am I missing something ?