The downside of playing Netflix from your iDevice through Airplay (compared with playing a built-in Netflix app on ATV or newer TVs/boxes, etc) - it doesn't support 5.1 audio, only stereo sound (I think).
Airplay supports 5.1 sound (my home theater system shows a Dolby logo when receiving 5.1 Dolby DIgital signal) . So there is no reason Netflix could not send 5.1 audio through Airplay.
Yes I did miss that, you're correct it is iTunes only content according to the article.
Although the latest Apple TV update allows direct streaming of purchased iTunes content from cloud to Apple TV, it hwas already possible to send URLs to the Apple TV, which are then parsed directly from the interner.
Maybe because when watching Netflix on your iPad, and you decide to switch to TV, its one-click, vs. turning that off, picking up AppleTV remote, navigating to Netflix, then to same content, then resuming playback...
Of course you're all missing the obvious solution which was just rolled out with the latest Apple TV update.
For iTunes Store content, if you're watching it on your iPad and choose to "AirPlay" to AppleTV, AppleTV can optionally start streaming that content from iTunes instead of actually "Airplaying"
Apple should have helped Netflix and Hulu get that built in as well.
Do we know Netflix isn't doing it that way?
I want to use the ipad apps to find the content I want to watch, them have them stream to my tv while allowing the iPad to be turned off and/or used for other things. Navigating to the content on the iPad is easier than even using the apple remote app to control an apple tv.
Why isn't anyone talking about the app being crippled.
I could not connect my iPhone 4S using a standard Apple HDMI connector to an HD television. Only sound passed through . I got the error "Cannot Play Video. The connected display is not supported. If you are using AirPlay please disable mirroring".
I'm not using AirPlay and the AirPlay button does not show in the Control Center because I have no AirPlay capable devices on my network at this time. It just won't pass the video to the TV the same way my Retina MacBook Pro can not pass the video purchased from iTunes to my Apple 23-in Aluminum monitor using the Apple Thunderbolt DVI-D adapter. Maybe a DRM issue is at play with Netflix as well. Why is it that only the honest are bitten by DRM?!
I reverted back to the previous version of the Netflix app and can stream to the TV again. Forget ATV discussions, FIX THE APP!!!
Yes, mirroring is not the same as an "Airplay stream". When mirroring an iPad, you get a four thirds picture on the TV, far from full screen.
Although mirroring had to be turned on, This was no mirror of the iPad's screen, but only the video, and full screen on the TV.
(which is the same as what we have with the new Netflix app and Airplay, when it agrees to work)
Yes i know the screen is smaller in mirroring than a full HD TV, I was talking about running Netflix in this mode prior to this update, which did go full screen as soon as launched. My question was is there any difference between that and the new airplay other than convenience of one less step?
Yes, Netflix has CC on Roku. Maybe it's time you upgraded to a new one, they just redesigned all the models.
I doubt I will upgrade, the new ones are less practical for me. They only have HDMI output, while mine also has composite video output, componant cable output & s-video output. I find that I frequently need to use different outputs at different locations, so I doubt I will "upgrade" just for the convenience of CC. Besides, mine works perfectly so if I am going to drop $100 I will buy an Apple TV instead so then I will have both!
Yeah, except that the picture/sound quality isn't as good since the Netflix stream has to go through an additional compression/decompression via AirPlay to the Apple TV. It's really a rather wasteful use of resources since the iDevice is now receiving, decoding, compressing, and transmitting the stream to Apple TV which then decodes and displays the AirPlay stream of the Netflix stream. It's better to "eliminate the middle man" and just stream directly on the Apple TV. The blind and the deaf may not notice the difference, however.
That is actually not accurate: for AirPlay Streaming (the feature just introduced by Netflix, as AirPlay _Mirroring_ has been supported since almost day 1), the content is eventually streamed directly by the AppleTV. There is no intermediate decoding/re-encoding step at the iDevice. Think of it as the iDevice being, quite literally, a remote control for playback with the AppleTV doing the actual playback.
That is actually not accurate: for AirPlay Streaming (the feature just introduced by Netflix, as AirPlay _Mirroring_ has been supported since almost day 1), the content is eventually streamed directly by the AppleTV. There is no intermediate decoding/re-encoding step at the iDevice. Think of it as the iDevice being, quite literally, a remote control for playback with the AppleTV doing the actual playback.
See this is how I understood it to work as well. Similar to Chromecast.
My question was is there any difference between that and the new airplay other than convenience of one less step?
It seems to be exactly the same as before, except the different process ... and the fact that it has now stopped working for me on the new app (singing out and back in, restarting iPad, Apple TV, internet router did not help ;-(
Slightly off topic but about Netflix on Apple TV…. It puzzles me why, when watching a series, the iPad or on a Mac via the Safari interface, they will start playing the next episode automatically after a few seconds. However, the app on the Apple TV does not. The episode just ends. You have to manually navigate to the menu list of episodes and select the next one. Is this something others see or just my two Apple TVs with this weird anomaly?
“Sometime in Q4 we’re going to push out a feature that will enable members to stop autoplay after each episode on a profile level; i.e., a parent will be able to stop Netflix from automatically playing the next episode.”
Comments
The downside of playing Netflix from your iDevice through Airplay (compared with playing a built-in Netflix app on ATV or newer TVs/boxes, etc) - it doesn't support 5.1 audio, only stereo sound (I think).
Airplay supports 5.1 sound (my home theater system shows a Dolby logo when receiving 5.1 Dolby DIgital signal) . So there is no reason Netflix could not send 5.1 audio through Airplay.
Yes I did miss that, you're correct it is iTunes only content according to the article.
Although the latest Apple TV update allows direct streaming of purchased iTunes content from cloud to Apple TV, it hwas already possible to send URLs to the Apple TV, which are then parsed directly from the interner.
Mac utilities allowing that include Airflick (unsupported but still working), the always excellent Click2flash safari extension, and Media Center 2.0 Safari extension by the same author.
I cannot stress how useful these 3 have been to me.
What do you mean why?
Maybe because when watching Netflix on your iPad, and you decide to switch to TV, its one-click, vs. turning that off, picking up AppleTV remote, navigating to Netflix, then to same content, then resuming playback...
Of course you're all missing the obvious solution which was just rolled out with the latest Apple TV update.
For iTunes Store content, if you're watching it on your iPad and choose to "AirPlay" to AppleTV, AppleTV can optionally start streaming that content from iTunes instead of actually "Airplaying"
Apple should have helped Netflix and Hulu get that built in as well.
Do we know Netflix isn't doing it that way?
I want to use the ipad apps to find the content I want to watch, them have them stream to my tv while allowing the iPad to be turned off and/or used for other things. Navigating to the content on the iPad is easier than even using the apple remote app to control an apple tv.
I could not connect my iPhone 4S using a standard Apple HDMI connector to an HD television. Only sound passed through . I got the error "Cannot Play Video. The connected display is not supported. If you are using AirPlay please disable mirroring".
I'm not using AirPlay and the AirPlay button does not show in the Control Center because I have no AirPlay capable devices on my network at this time. It just won't pass the video to the TV the same way my Retina MacBook Pro can not pass the video purchased from iTunes to my Apple 23-in Aluminum monitor using the Apple Thunderbolt DVI-D adapter. Maybe a DRM issue is at play with Netflix as well. Why is it that only the honest are bitten by DRM?!
I reverted back to the previous version of the Netflix app and can stream to the TV again. Forget ATV discussions, FIX THE APP!!!
Yes i know the screen is smaller in mirroring than a full HD TV, I was talking about running Netflix in this mode prior to this update, which did go full screen as soon as launched. My question was is there any difference between that and the new airplay other than convenience of one less step?
Yes, Netflix has CC on Roku. Maybe it's time you upgraded to a new one, they just redesigned all the models.
I doubt I will upgrade, the new ones are less practical for me. They only have HDMI output, while mine also has composite video output, componant cable output & s-video output. I find that I frequently need to use different outputs at different locations, so I doubt I will "upgrade" just for the convenience of CC. Besides, mine works perfectly so if I am going to drop $100 I will buy an Apple TV instead so then I will have both!Yeah, except that the picture/sound quality isn't as good since the Netflix stream has to go through an additional compression/decompression via AirPlay to the Apple TV. It's really a rather wasteful use of resources since the iDevice is now receiving, decoding, compressing, and transmitting the stream to Apple TV which then decodes and displays the AirPlay stream of the Netflix stream. It's better to "eliminate the middle man" and just stream directly on the Apple TV. The blind and the deaf may not notice the difference, however.
That is actually not accurate: for AirPlay Streaming (the feature just introduced by Netflix, as AirPlay _Mirroring_ has been supported since almost day 1), the content is eventually streamed directly by the AppleTV. There is no intermediate decoding/re-encoding step at the iDevice. Think of it as the iDevice being, quite literally, a remote control for playback with the AppleTV doing the actual playback.
See this is how I understood it to work as well. Similar to Chromecast.
My question was is there any difference between that and the new airplay other than convenience of one less step?
It seems to be exactly the same as before, except the different process ... and the fact that it has now stopped working for me on the new app (singing out and back in, restarting iPad, Apple TV, internet router did not help ;-(
Slightly off topic but about Netflix on Apple TV…. It puzzles me why, when watching a series, the iPad or on a Mac via the Safari interface, they will start playing the next episode automatically after a few seconds. However, the app on the Apple TV does not. The episode just ends. You have to manually navigate to the menu list of episodes and select the next one. Is this something others see or just my two Apple TVs with this weird anomaly?
http://www.techhive.com/article/2051670/netflix-to-stop-forcing-you-to-watch-more-tv.html