iPad and iPhone owners - use AirPlay on Windows / Linux / Mac

[Dangelus]

Some might know that Apple AirPlay and AirTunes protocols were reverse engineered last year. This led to talented developers creating apps and plugins to utilise the AirPlay feature on iPads and iPhones (intended for streaming your music, videos pictures, YouTube and anything you can play in Safari, plus a handful of supported apps and games to Apple TVs etc) to stream media to non Apple products such as Windows or Linux PCs and also to Macs.

I'd known about this for a while but just recently decided to give it a try and it's great!

There are various ways of doing it but here are the main ones:

To AirPlay ( AirTunes actually) your music and podcasts on a windows machine you need "Shairport4w". This is a standalone app that sits in your task bar and can be auto started. It's a liitle buggy but I've found it works pretty well. I have it installed on every PC in my house and you can label them so you know which is which. I can now divert Rico to any PC in my house! ;)

http://sourceforge.net/projects/shairport4w/

For video and pictures there are a couple of main ways. If you have Windows 7 there is a plugin available for Windows Media Center. Once installed you fire up Media Center and play your video on your device. Hit the AirPlay button and divert it to Media Center and it plays on your big screen! It works flawlessly. If you are streaming a local file on your iPad for example you may get some buffering but online videos such as YouTube or anything else you can play in iPad Safari for example don't have this problem as it doesn't stream through your iPad but sends the PC the location of the file directly.

http://thomaspleasance.com/2011/05/23/airplay-for-windows-media-center-beta-1/

If your have another version of Windows or if your just prefer it, the latest nightly builds of XBMC have AirPlay integration built in and it works amazingly! These are also available for Linux and Mac. By the way if you have a PC connected to your big HDTV and don't have XBMC, you should! :) It the most versatile media Center software ever.

http://mirrors.xbmc.org/nightlies/win32/

Mac users have an app called "AirMac". If you're using Lion though it's currently not working but it works great in Snow Leopard. Also no AirTunes support yet but that is coming in the next release.

http://code.google.com/p/airmac/

I'm really enjoying using AirPlay. I'm finding more and more apps that support it too. :)

[Rico]

I'm a bit confused.  If you have an iPad or iPhone, don't you sync it with your PC?  I suppose if you have a iMac or Macbook you might not do that and want Airplay.  But I sync my iPad, iPod to my Win 7 PC.  Therefore, all my media content is on the PC too.  No real need for this that I can see.  At least for me.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

I'm a bit confused.  If you have an iPad or iPhone, don't you sync it with your PC?  I suppose if you have a iMac or Macbook you might not do that and want Airplay.  But I sync my iPad, iPod to my Win 7 PC.  Therefore, all my media content is on the PC too.  No real need for this that I can see.  At least for me.

You have a point, but AirPlay works on stuff more than just your own library.  I have an app called Tweetspeaker that reads my timeline tweets out for me, so whenever I'm home, I can just send it to my computer which plays it over my 5.1 speaker system.  Besides, its free and only costs you a bit of setup so the real question is:

why not?

;)

King

[Dangelus]

I'm a bit confused.  If you have an iPad or iPhone, don't you sync it with your PC?  I suppose if you have a iMac or Macbook you might not do that and want Airplay.  But I sync my iPad, iPod to my Win 7 PC.  Therefore, all my media content is on the PC too.  No real need for this that I can see.  At least for me.

Several reasons for me.

1) I don't get my podcasts from iTunes. I use an app called Instacast that downloads them directly to my iPhone so I don't need to sync it for podcasts. (I'd have to do it everyday!) This means that my podcasts are only on my iPhone. I can now stream them to any PC in my house with AirPlay.

By the way this also works via iTunes so you can stream your iTunes library to a big screen connected to a PC in another room.

2) if I'm browsing the web and I find an interesting video and can divert it to my big screen. Works with YouTube, and basically any video that will play in the iOS browser.

3) Pictures or videos I have taken on my phone or iPad can be instantly viewed on any enabled device.

4) Many apps are AirPlay enabled. Netflix (audio only), the NASA app and many games and other media apps.

http://theapple.tv/apps/list-of-airplay-enabled-apps/


Obviously it is more advantageous if you have a PC connected to an HDTV or big screen monitor. All my screens have PCs under them so it's great for me.

[stonut]

instacast is a great tool, Dan told me about it on Twitter after itunes failed to upload some episodes properly. Not missed anything since. touch wood.

[Dangelus]

Make on HTML5 videos AirPlay compatible via the iPad:

http://bendodson.com/weblog/2011/01/13/enabling-any-html5-video-to-work-over-airplay-e-g-vimeo/

Works great! I've been watching the Guild bing videos and tvcatchup.com in a awesome quality on my big screen :)

[billybob476]

I swear by InstaCast. Love it. Gonna be setting up AirPlay when I get a free moment.