Cheap alternative to Apple TV for AirPlay

[Andy.]

I've just started a project at work to introduce iPads for our management team. One of the things I wanted was to be able to use the iPads for presentations and to be able to share documents on the beamers. I have an Apple TV at home which is great but buying an Apple TV for every meeting room in our building gets a bit expensive so I looked into alternatives and found something worth sharing.

AirServer gives full mirroring/ AirPlay functionality, but you install it on a PC or Mac and it only costs $15 for use on upto 5 machines.

There is a free 7 day trial but it does what it says on the box and is well worth a look if you have any iOS device and a PC connected to a TV/ projector.

 

[sn00p]

I wrote an app when AirPlay first came out which allowed you to stream to a computer. I wrote it using the Qt framework and the VLC libraries so technically it should have worked on OS X, Windows and Linux.

Yes, I was bored.

 

[Andy.]

I'd love to be able to do stuff like that. You didn't fancy taking it further?

 

[sn00p]

I'd love to be able to do stuff like that. You didn't fancy taking it further?

It kept me amused for a while and then I got bored of playing with it!

The airplay protocol was basically nothing more than a simple webserver which advertises services via bonjour. I just integrated mongoose, bonjour and vlc to make it work.

It's obviously progressed since then, keeping up with undocumented protocols is not a fun task. I do enjoy reverse engineering though, I often find myself doing that!

 

[1812lsd]

I know the Raspbery Pi running XBMC works with Airplay.

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

I know the Raspbery Pi running XBMC works with Airplay.

Yeah I've got mine running it, works perfectly. Great for streaming p**n on the iPad and then throwing it up on the big screen

 

[Sym0n]

Great for streaming p**n on the iPad and then throwing it up on the big screen

Ewww

 

[Sunglasses_Ron]

It kept me amused for a while and then I got bored of playing with it!

The airplay protocol was basically nothing more than a simple webserver which advertises services via bonjour. I just integrated mongoose, bonjour and vlc to make it work.

It's obviously progressed since then, keeping up with undocumented protocols is not a fun task. I do enjoy reverse engineering though, I often find myself doing that!

I can't tell you how much I wish I was as intelligent as you! No joke I'm deadly serious.

 

[sn00p]

I can't tell you how much I wish I was as intelligent as you! No joke I'm deadly serious.

Its all about problem solving.

I wrote an app which lots of virgin TiVo users used to make the us iPad app work with the UK box, its quite cool when a couple of hours effort is used by people.

 

[Alex_225]

I know the Raspbery Pi running XBMC works with Airplay.

I've been intrigued by the whole Raspberry Pi thing as I have little knowledge of it but it sounds pretty cool.

My understanding is that it's a basic computer, the storage is provided in the form of a memory card and you stream stuff to your TV? Is that right?