I have been testing more integrated media systems lately. An interesting one has been Apple TV, a small black box that can fit to your hand and that is capable of streaming media from your iOS devices to the flatscreen television. The media that is available through the standard, unmodified ATV box includes iTunes movies, YouTube, Vimeo, the usual stuff, plus any iTunes media libraries you have put under a Home Share. The most interesting use that I have found so far, however, relates to the fact that you can use Wi-Fi streaming (AirPlay) to switch image from your iPad/iPhone to the big screen via ATV. There are many interesting games that take advantage of this capability, but most of them run only on iPad 2 – unfortunate for me. But I installed the BBC iPlayer app and was surprised how good quality the streamed media was. Ended up watching yet another episode of Doctor Who. One catch though: you get the AirPlay functionality (and most of the BBC content) only after a €6,99/month subscription fee. If you like British television, nature documentaries and all, it just might be worth it. I am not sure yet whether I will continue the subscription, but I will definitely continue testing the potentials of AirPlay and iCloud.
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| Lähettäjä Frans Mäyrä |
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The only real problem I have faced so far is related to power save: iPad drops into dark screen mode after a while if you do not keep on touching the screen occasionally. This will stop the video and break AirPlay. Irritating, hopefully there will be a solution to that soon.