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Wednesday, 13 February 2013

How to stream video to an iOS device

Apple’s iOS platform does a lot of things really well, but one area it doesn’t rate is media streaming. But thankfully, there are a few apps now available that plug this gap.


Air Video is the most popular and it's a full active streaming app that will convert any video into the H.264/AAC video/audio format required by your iOS device. It also uses HLS to get that data to your device. Emit is a similar option, as is VLC Streamer. The difference with VLC Streamer though is it uses VLC media player's network streaming capability and it also only supports passive streaming — that means you can only feed it H.264/MP4 videos. Emit and Air Video are active streamers — they'll take anything they can convert into iPad format.
What they all have in common is the way they work. You need to run a server app on the machine your videos are stored and the client app on the iPad. They're payware (around $3 each) but each also has a free option. VLC Streamer is ad-supported but fully functional, while Air Video only plays a small number of files per folder — but it's worth spending the $3 on the full version.

Stream video to an ipad

Step 1:
Install Air Video Free onto your iPad, install the Air Video Server onto your Windows XP/Vista/7/8 or Mac OS X system and launch the server.
Streaming to an iOS device Step 1
  Step 2:
Press the 'Add Disk Folder' button and select a shared folder (must be shared) on your 'server' where your movies are stored.
Streaming to an iOS device Step 2
  Step 3:
Start Air Video Free on your iPad. If you don't see your server, press the '+' and look in the menu under 'Computers on Local Network'. If not, make sure the server status says 'Server Running'.
Streaming to an iOS device Step 3
  Step 4:
Select the server inside Air Video Free. Choose a video. Hit 'Play with Live Conversion' to play immediately or 'Convert' to convert the video first (a better option for older PCs).
Streaming to an iOS device Step 4
 

Watch ipad on tv

Grab hold of Apple's Digital AV Adapter cable and you get an HDMI output, plus a spare port for AC mains power. This will allow you to watch your video streams on your big-screen TV. You can grab it from Apple's web site or retail stores for $45.

from http://apcmag.com/how-to-stream-video-to-an-ios-device.htm