High Quality Streaming. No More Mirroring. Beamer streams video directly so it will be played natively on Apple TV and Chromecast. No glitches, clicks, pops or other shenanigans. Apple has a technology called AirPlay that enables users to stream music, videos or photos from their iOS or Mac OS devices to the Apple TV. In this post we will explain what AirPlay is, and how to use the wireless technology with Mac and VLC player. Connect your Mac to the same Wi-Fi network as your Apple TV or AirPlay 2-compatible smart TV. On your Mac, click in the menu bar at the top of your screen. If you don't see, go to Apple menu System Preferences Displays, then select 'Show mirroring options in the menu bar when available.' Choose your Apple TV or AirPlay 2-compatible smart TV.
Apple Airplay allows wireless streaming of audio, video, and photos, together with related metadata between devices. With airplay, all of a sudden, your great photos, the perfect party mix and wonderful movies are on the big screen and the best speakers. (Read How to use AirPlay on iPhone or iPad and watch Amazon Prime on Apple TV using AirPlay)
You shift the audio with the F or G keys on a Mac, so you would have to hold down F for maybe 30 seconds to shift to -2000ms delay to account for the 2 second delay on VLC using Airplay (or make a macro, which I never did). Now, when you play a video from your computer using VLC and Airplay for the audio, you don't have to shift the audio. In 'Airplay Mirroring' option, change 'off' into 'Office Apple TV'. Once you see the VLC window on Apple TV screen, you've managed to stream DVD to Apple TV and start to play DVD on Apple TV. In this post, we've prepared several skills to help play DVD on Apple TV. Simply, each way has its good and bad.
In this article, I will show you how to immediately stream DVDs to your Apple TV with the help of AirPlay Mirroring.
The problem with DVDs and Apple TV
Many people have a lot of DVDs (technically, the specification is called DVD-Video). You probably know the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders with the VOB files. The problem is: This format is not compatible with your Apple TV and can’t be streamed directly via AirPlay.
Solution 1: Rip DVD to Apple TV
So you have to re-encode it first (for instance with Handbrake, an open source video transcoder).
And to cope with protected DVDs, you can turn to Pavtube DVDAid for Mac or BDMagic for Mac to help you easily convert DVD files to playback on Apple TV on Mac with just a few clicks so that you can play DVD freely without any external tool.
But since re-encoding takes some time, needs software & know-how and eventually some space on your hard disc, here is another solution.
Solution 2: Playing DVDs with AirPlayMac with DVD drive
Here’s my hardware. Just a common Macbook Pro with the Superdrive (an external USB CD/DVD drive). But you can use any another Mac with DVD drive, as long as it is compatible with AirPlay Mirroring (Mac requirements for AirPlay Mirroring).
Apple DVD Player Software won’t work
The first thing that comes into your mind is probably using the DVD Player Software that usually opens when you insert a DVD. But this won’t work and will just show you the error message “The viewer could not be moved to selected screen.” Why? Seems like a copyright thing that it’s just not legally allowed and therefore suppressed by Apple.
AirPlay DVDs with VLC
When it comes to playing videos, in most cases VLC is the answer. Go to “File > Open Disc…” in VLC and open your DVD. (Here is how to stream DVD to VOB for Playback on Mac via VLC, also you can sync iTunes video with VLC)
Enable AirPlay Mirroring and make sure that you see the VLC window on your TV. Double Click in the video window for fullscreen and start your movie. Here we go… video and audio is streamed to your TV.
Just in case if there are any performance troubles: Here are some Tips for improving AirPlay Mirroring Performance.
And what about the legal thing? Seems like the combination of open source software and French law helps us here because software is not recognised as patentable in France/EU (details see If VLC can ship a free DVD player, why can’t Microsoft?)
I haven’t tried this for Blu-Ray disc (because I neither have a drive nor discs) but I think this should work for Blu-Ray, too.
I would say that this is a great solution which will replace my Phillips DVD Player (saves some space in the living room). What do you think? Crazy, eh? Now, pass the popcorn, the movie’s about to get really good…
TV is a major part of people's daily lives. People gather together around the big screens to watch big shows and big events. But traditional television cannot meet people's growing demand. The pace of life is getting quicker and quicker, and people require some innovative ways to connect the big screens. Integrating apps with television is a popular trend right now. People would like to search what they want to watch on the big screens. This is the main reason why Apple TV comes into being.
'I've got some HD movies and Blu-ray movies, and now I want to play these HD movies and Blu-ray movies via Apple TV. How could I play the Blu-ray movies on Apple TV? It won't receive Blu-ray movies directly.'
First unveiled in 2006 and then undated several times, Apple TV is a digital media player and a micro console developed by Apple Inc., and it is a small network appliance and entertainment device that can receive digital data from a number of sources and stream it to a capable TV for playing on the TV screen.
Way 1: How to Indirectly Stream Blu-Ray to Apple TV via Converting?
Apple TV is a digital media receiver created by Apple Inc., which is designed to acess digital content from the iOS devices, or any Mac OS X or Windows-based computer running to a high-definition widescreen television. If you want to play Blu-ray movies on Apple TV, a professional Blu-ray to Apple TV converter is necessary to convert Blu-ray to Apple TV video formats like MP4, MOV and M4V. Leawo Blu-ray Ripper for Mac helps you convert Blu-ray to Apple TV, Apple TV MPEG4/H.264 video formats. After converting Blu-ray to Apple TV video formats, you can stream Blu-ray to Apple TV in an indirect way by streaming Blu-ray now in Apple TV compatible video formats to Apple TV. The guide below would show you how to convert Blu-ray to Apple TV compatible video on Mac and then play Blu-ray movies via Apple TV. Check the details below:
Preparation work:
1. Download and install Leawo Blu-ray Ripper for Mac (If you're using Windows comptuer, you could turn to Leawo Blu-ray Ripper).
2. Network connection is required.
3. Mac computer with BD drive.
Guide on how to convert Blu-ray to Apple TV video formats on Mac:
Step 1: Load Source Blu-ray File
Launch the professional Blu-ray to Apple TV converter, click 'Add Blu-ray/DVD' button to load source Blu-ray movies.
Step 2: Set output settings
Click the drop-down box on the left side of the big 'Convert' button and then select 'Change' option to enter 'Profile' frame and choose desired video format from 'Format' section. You could select Apple TV video formats like MOV/MP4 from 'Format' group, or 'Apple TV' directly from 'Device' group.
Optional settings: Click 'Edit' button on the drop-down box to adjust Video Codec, Audio Codec, Bit Rate, Video Resolution, Frame Rate, Sample Rate, Aspect Ratio, and Audio Channel.
Step 3: Start converting
Return to the main interface and then click the green 'Convert' button on the sub-menu bar to call out a sidebar, where you need to set output directory and click the bottom 'Convert' button at the bottom to start Blu-ray to Apple TV conversion.
After getting Apple TV video formats, you can stream Blu-ray to TV, strictly speaking, streaming Blu-ray to Apple TV.
Connect Apple TV with your Mac:
Open the 'System Preferences' of your Mac computer, and click on the 'Displays'. Then you can open the Airplay. Change the 'Airplay Mirroring' from 'Off' to 'Office Apple TV', and it will connect automatically. A couple of seconds later, your Mac and widescreen TV will be connected.After that, the converted Blu-ray movies would then be streamed to your widescreen Apple TV once it's played on your Mac.
Way 2: How to Directly Stream Blu-Ray to Apple TV without Converting?
Vlc Video Mac
The method discussed above both requires the time-consuming task of converting Blu-ray to Apple TV before streaming Blu-ray to Apple TV. Here I would like to suggest a better way for you to stream Blu-ray to Apple TV yet without converting. In order to bypass the complicated process of Blu-ray ripping, we need to take good advantage of a third-party program, VLC Media Player.
As for copyright protection, Apple won't allow Blu-ray streaming if Blu-ray player on Mac is used, so it is wise to employ a piece of third-party software. Like what is stated above, VLC media player, a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player, will greatly function. Being a powerful program, VLC player is well compatible with all platform, including Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Unix, iOS, Android and so on. Most importantly, it is a totally free program. Free download and install VLC media player beforehand, and then we can begin to stream Blu-ray to Apple TV for watching Blu-ray directly on Apple TV.
Vlc Media Player For Macbook
In the following guide, I am to take VLC player Mac version as an example to elaborate the process of streaming Blu-ray.
Vlc Player Apple Tv
After the installation of VLC player on your MacBook, launch it, go to 'File > Open Disc…' in VLC and open your Blu-ray disc, like what is showed as illustrated. When the Blu-ray disc is opened, the Blu-ray video will be played on VLC player. The next step is Airplay Mirroring setting. By hitting 'System Preferences> Displays', you can enable Airplay Mirroring. Please bear in mind that during mirroring or streaming process, your MacBook and Apple TV must connect to the same network such as WiFi. Then VLC window will be showed on your large-screen HDTV, which means video and audio is streamed to your TV.
Related Tips for Streaming Blu-Ray to Apple TV
Mac Vlc Airplay
- 1. What are necessary to stream Blu-ray to Apple TV?
- Not all iOS devices and MacBooks support Airplay Mirroring. In order to stream video and audio via Airplay Mirroring, we need to prepare two things beforehand. On one hand, an Apple TV (2nd generation or later) is required to receive the video and audio. On the other, an iOS device or MacBook is necessary for sending the video and audio. That's to say, to get the function of Airplay Mirroring, we need to prepare a sender and a receiver.
- 2. Is internet connection necessary to stream Blu-ray to Apple TV?
- Yes, it is, and the sender and the receiver must connect to the same network, like the same WiFi.
- 3. What devices can function well as a sender?
- As for sender, the devices accepatable can be divided into two major parts: iOS devices and MacBooks. iOS devices including iPhone 4s or later, iPad 2 or later, iPad mini or later and iPod touch (5th generation), and Mac running Mountain Lion or higher such as iMac (Mid 2011 or newer), Mac mini (Mid 2011 or newer), MacBook Air (Mid 2011 or newer), and MacBook Pro (Early 2011 or newer) can all be employed as sender.
- 4. What devices can function well as a receiver?
- As for receiver, the first generation of Apple TV is not acceptable while the 2nd or later generation can function well.