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How a PC and Air Video HD turned my iPad into the ultimate entertainment device
I have a problem: There just isn't enough room on my iPad to hold all of my beloved video content. Ideally, I'd love to have all of my favorite movies and TV shows -- which are currently stored on a Windows desktop -- available on my tablet at a moment's notice, but for a long time I didn't think this was a reasonable demand. Sure, I know that there are plenty of remote streaming apps out there, but I've always had terrible luck getting them to work. Usually they crash every few minutes, horribly downscale my content or fail to work at all. At some point, I just accepted that I'd never live in a world where I could watch all my PC-stored video anywhere in my home via my iPad. Today I was determined to find out if things had changed, and it only took a couple of tries to find the app of my dreams in the form of Air Video HD. But before I get into how flawlessly Air Video HD has worked for me, I first want to bring up a different streaming app called Air PlayIt. There are two components to both Air Video HD and Air PlayIt: a server application that needs to be running on the host computer and an app you download from the App Store to your iOS device. I followed the setup instructions for Air PlayIt to the letter, including opening up ports on my router, and after an initial buffering period, which lasted up to 30 seconds, the most it offered me was 10 or 15 seconds of video playback before it had to stop and buffer once again. I then began troubleshooting, which led me to investigate both my Windows firewall and a list of ports accessed via the command prompt to ensure my router's ports were functioning as intended (all of which checked out fine). I even halved the resolution of my already not-at-all-HD video in the hopes that it could handle the load, but it was all for naught. It was around this time that I began to feel the jaded "this is all a bunch of crap" attitude that had led me to abandon my search for a streaming solution a year or two ago. But as I was reading a forum topic on Air PlayIt -- which, for the record, has plenty of extremely positive reviews on the App Store, so maybe I'm just cursed -- a user suggested trying Air Video HD. I'm a big fan of the phrase, "It just works," as a response to those who question why I prefer Apple products over the competition, and the same holds true when it comes to apps. For the entirety of my time with Air PlayIt, I was begging it to just work, but it squashed my hopes at every turn. Air Video HD, on the other hand, just works. After browsing the Air Video website, I was extremely skeptical, mainly because it claims to offer exactly what Air PlayIt had just failed to provide for me. I decided to give it a try anyway. I downloaded the server, which, upon running, mapped my ports automatically without requiring me to do it myself. I added a couple of my video folders and then launched the Air Video HD app on my iPad. I clicked a video file and it played instantly from start to finish as though it was stored on my iPad itself. That had to be a fluke, right? It was a 22-minute, non-HD video file, so I grabbed the biggest HD file I had on my computer -- a two-plus hour 1080p movie -- and after two hours and 17 minutes of flawless HD playback, I was a believer. At this point I was giddy, so just for fun I decided to install Air Video HD on my iPhone 5s and play the exact same video file simultaneously, which it handled without issue. Two HD streams (running at different points in the movie, mind you) from the same application to two separate iOS devices. Mind = blown. In short, Air Video HD has turned my iPad into a device capable of playing all 500-plus movies and TV episodes instantly from anywhere in my home. It also has the ability to stream video over an internet connection, which seems to work fine, though this is obviously entirely dependent on your connection. If your download and upload speeds aren't where they need to be, you'll see a noticeable decline in quality. However, for less than three bucks -- the server application is free, the app costs US$2.99 -- Air Video HD has completely changed how I can use my iPad around my home, and I'm never looking back.
The best iOS apps I used in 2010
After looking back over Mac and Mac/iOS hybrid apps, it's time to look at the best iOS apps of 2010. As before, this list comes from my particular experience over the past year with these apps. 1) iCab Mobile (US$1.99, universal) is a replacement for mobile Safari. While it is hindered by the fact that iOS doesn't have anywhere to set a "default browser," and therefore most URLs that you open from the Springboard or email/Twitter/etc... will open in Safari, iCab offers plenty of features that make it worth the effort. It is the first app on my dock, and I much prefer it over Safari. Although it uses the same rendering engine as Safari, it comes with a host of features that Safari doesn't have. iCab Mobile will let you download files, which you can either offload to your computer later or upload to Dropbox from right within the app. Tap and hold an image, and you can save it right to your Dropbox. iCab on the iPad also does "real" tabs, with a visible tab present (it will auto-hide when not needed, if you want). You can set it to open links in new tabs, or open only links to different domains in new tabs. It has content filtering built-in, as well as module support for things like Instapaper, viewing HTML source or even downloading videos from YouTube. It also has a forms manager and a kiosk mode, and as Mike pointed out in November it supports VGA mirroring for presentation use. Web browsing is one of the primary uses of my iPad, and iCab Mobile is well worth the minimal asking price. Find out more at iCab Mobile's website. See the rest of my choices below.
Apple TV plays live-converted AVI files using Air Video Server, AirPlayer, and AirFlick
Although I knew that the AirFlick video tool I posted about earlier today could theoretically pass transcoded video streams to Apple TV for playback, my initial attempts with VideoLAN Client transcoding more or less went nowhere. Then, TUAW reader BC reposted a comment earlier this evening that he originally left on the MacRumors forums. In that comment, he discussed how to add live conversion to my AirFlick app by using the server component of AirVideo, a video streaming solution that allows your Mac to serve video to your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Although I had previously attempted to play back AirVideo m3u8 playlists on the Mac without success, BC suggested that the Apple TV supported them. He was right. Video proof follows after the break.
iPad apps to the rescue
"Whenever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Whenever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there... I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad an'-I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry an' they know supper's ready. An' when our folks eat the stuff they raise an' live in the houses they build-why, I'll be there." -- John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath The iPad is an overlooked hero. When you need it, the iPad will be there. It will be there to access data or connect back home. It will be there to let others reach out to you, or to let you reach out to others. With the right software, and the right ingenuity, the iPad can metaphorically leap tall buildings and save the day. These are everyday rescues, not life-or-death scenarios. This post isn't about how the iPhone saved one guy's life after the Haiti Earthquakes. Here's how iPad applications can fix your workday with simple, helpful solutions that will free you from the laptop and live "la vida tablet." We've got five real world scenarios, including the iPad apps that will be there for you.
AirPlay and iOS 4.2 combine for Air Video TV playback demonstration
This morning, after working out AirPlay video streaming details with Steven Troughton Smith, I decided to give Matej Knopp a call. His name may not ring a bell, but he's the developer of the awesome Air Video application. Air Video, which sells on the App Store for just three dollars, allows you to watch nearly any video from your home computer. Instead of syncing movies to your iPad or iPhone, and filling up your limited memory, it leverages the ffmpeg library to let you convert and stream those videos instead, on demand. It's a tremendous application and a favorite among TUAW staffers. Air Video, with its always-available access to streaming entertainment, is the app that we hands-down felt was the most perfect match to Apple's new AirPlay Video technology -- and one that was most let down by Apple's audio-only limitations for third party applications. So I called up Knopp and asked if he'd build me a one-off custom version of Air Video to showcase what AirPlay Video could have been. Not for the App Store, obviously -- it's using private APIs -- but to see what it would look like. He was happy to help. Read on to discover how well it worked and watch it in action.
Apple TV Hacking: Spelunking into the AirPlay video service
When Apple announced its new iOS 4.2 feature set, Apple TV's AirPlay video service really caught our attention. That's why we were particularly disappointed when 4.2 debuted on Monday -- only Apple's own applications could ship video from iDevices to the 2nd generation Apple TV; third party applications were limited to audio transport only. We contacted Apple PR to ask for a statement about that, asking why the feature shipped without third party support -- and whether it had to do with performance licenses or similar legal matters. TUAW has not yet heard back from Apple at the time this post went live. Mike Rose asked if I could poke into the situation and see what's going on under the hood. Here's what I found. Big Massive Update: Thanks to Steven Troughton-Smith, the code has been reduced to a single line with no YouTube work-arounds needed. Details appended to the bottom of the post...
Hands on: AirPlay for audio streaming in depth
My colleague Mike Rose has already taken a long look at video streaming via AirPlay and found it a rather mixed bag. Although it works well as far as it goes, it doesn't support non-Apple apps -- even video streaming ones such as Netflix -- and can't even manage to stream video footage shot on an iPhone from the iPhone to an Apple TV. Meanwhile, Victor Agreda wasn't at all impressed that AirPlay doesn't offer the ability to stream his iTunes library to an iOS device. However, as someone who owns two Airport Express units and zero Apple TVs, I was more interested from the original announcement in September in audio streaming. So as soon as iOS 4.2.1 hit this was the feature I first turned to and tested out. Here are my findings of what it does, what works well, and what doesn't.
TUAW Faceoff: Streaming video on the iPad with Air Video and StreamToMe
In the few days that I've had an iPad, I've found a favorite way to demo it for friends, family, and people I stop at random in the hallways: fire up the Netflix app and start streaming Wargames. I can't say why this particular movie works well, but it just looks and sounds so good. "That's coming over the Internet?" they ask, and jaws drop. It's delightful -- even though I may have to switch movies now that Wrath of Khan is on the list. The iPad's bona fides as a video-watching device are undeniable, but managing your media for synchronization isn't fun, even in iTunes. On the 16GB model, you may find yourself shuffling movies and TV shows in and out of the sync list on a frequent basis. Wouldn't it be nicer if you could simply stream any video file from your Mac or PC and have it play back instantly on your iPad, anywhere in the house? Good news, then, that there are two solid options to accomplish this handy trick. Our contenders today, both weighing in at US$2.99 plus a helper app on the desktop... in the left corner, the veteran Air Video, along with the free Air Video Lite, and in the right corner, the fast-punching StreamToMe. Which of these apps can make your videos fly? Let's dispense with one quick caveat: neither of these apps will stream FairPlay-protected content, such as iTunes Store purchased/rented movies or network TV shows. Videos that you create or convert from DVD, however, will work just fine. %Gallery-90251%
