What's new
Apple iPad Forum 🍎

Welcome to the Apple iPad Forum, your one stop source for all things iPad. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Does "Home Sharing" have to be at home?

Dirk Gently

iPF Noob
Joined
Sep 4, 2012
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Location
Oxford UK
Hi all, just bought a new iPad for the family - any already loving it btw!
I have managed to get all of my iTunes music and video networked from my PC and external HD to the iPad and iPhone using "Home Sharing". As stupid a question as this sounds, do I have to be on the same home network to share the files, or could I be connected to another WiFi spot somewhere else and access the music?
Also I am having difficulty sharing photos, what is the easiest way to copy a large number of photos to the iPad and is there a way to share the photos over a network in the same way as I share the music and video?

Thanks in advance.
 
Yes, everything needs to be on the same network
for home sharing.

I like to use photostream. Take a photo on one device and it will land on any device where you have iCloud/photostream enabled, including PCs and Macs.
 
Ok, that makes sense. I now have access to all of my music and some of my movies through iTunes on my PC streaming directly to my iPad and iPhone. The limitation seems to be that the movies must be in .mp4 format. Is there any way to stream .avi, .mkv, etc movies in the same way. I understand that I can copy the files to my iPad and then use software to play it, but I'd rather stream it from my PC if that is possible.

Thanks
 
Use VLC streamer to do this. You need VLC helper on the computer. There is a free version with minimal advertising.

Once you have these you can stream all movies regardless of filetype.
 
Dirk Gently said:
Ok, that makes sense. I now have access to all of my music and some of my movies through iTunes on my PC streaming directly to my iPad and iPhone. The limitation seems to be that the movies must be in .mp4 format. Is there any way to stream .avi, .mkv, etc movies in the same way. I understand that I can copy the files to my iPad and then use software to play it, but I'd rather stream it from my PC if that is possible.

Thanks

AirVideo does this. You put a server version on your PC and then run the app on your iPad. It will convert on the fly, so the base pc will get a workout, but it works great.

Also, if you rip your stuff to mp4 or m4v, then you can setup a personal cloud on a hard drive. This will let you stream over the Internet. It works great but you need decent uploads speeds from your ISP. Works for music too. I use pogoplug series 4 for mine, but there are other personal cloud options.
 
I stream directly to OplayerHD from my NAS running Twonky server (it's a WD NAS). Stream avi, mkv, etc. straight to my iPad. No conversions, no middle-man PC.
 
Thanks all for the info - I went for the VLC option (purely because that was the first one I saw!) and that is working just fine for me. I went for the "pro" version since £1.49 seems very reasonable considering what I actually get out of it. I take it that it is a lot more awkward for me to stream the movies to my iPad if I am not in the same home network (at the in-laws for example)?
 
Dirk Gently said:
Thanks all for the info - I went for the VLC option (purely because that was the first one I saw!) and that is working just fine for me. I went for the "pro" version since £1.49 seems very reasonable considering what I actually get out of it. I take it that it is a lot more awkward for me to stream the movies to my iPad if I am not in the same home network (at the in-laws for example)?

Correct, you will need lots of bandwidth to stream live over the Internet from your home computer.
 
Last edited:
Okay, using VLC streamer pro now on both my iPad and iPhone and finding that it works amazingly well. Although slightly off-topic, is there a similar solution to stream my PC content to my HDTV? It is a Samsung UE32B6000VW if that helps at all!
 
Dirk Gently said:
Okay, using VLC streamer pro now on both my iPad and iPhone and finding that it works amazingly well. Although slightly off-topic, is there a similar solution to stream my PC content to my HDTV? It is a Samsung UE32B6000VW if that helps at all!

I use my BluRay player to achieve this. It's an LG BD570C. It has built-in wifi.
 
Okay, using VLC streamer pro now on both my iPad and iPhone and finding that it works amazingly well. Although slightly off-topic, is there a similar solution to stream my PC content to my HDTV? It is a Samsung UE32B6000VW if that helps at all!

Is your TV smart (built in ability to play media files over the network?)? If not, then you need to connect something to it that can play your content over your network. In my case, I have an HTPC connected to my TV and it plays my content over a giga-bit network. My blu-ray players are collecting dust now.
 
It would appear that the TV is not smart. I have the Samsung Blu Ray player that may possibly be smart - I'll look into it - thanks.
 
It would appear that the TV is not smart. I have the Samsung Blu Ray player that may possibly be smart - I'll look into it - thanks.

A tv-out option from your computer to your TV would work great, or you could look into something like a WDTV Live

WD TV Live

which lets you connect an external harddrive or stream from your PC all kinds of video files (MKV, AVI, ISO etc) to your TV. It comes with a remote, making it pretty easy to navigate.

For your remote-needs, maybe look into Splashtop:

Splashtop 2 - Remote Desktop for iPad on the iTunes App Store

Splashtop is the easiest and fastest way to access your Mac or Windows PC from your iPad! Over 8 million users are enjoying Splashtop apps today, and you should too!


Use Splashtop to access your computer on the local network, with the best-in-class video streaming performance, Microsoft Office Suite and PDF viewing and editing, full browser access with Flash / Java support (IE, Chrome, Firefox), playing 3D PC/MAC games, and access all your media library and documents.

* Access all your programs and files with 100% compatibility, including PowerPoint, Keynote, Word, Excel, Outlook, Quicken, IE, Chrome, Safari, and all other PC/Mac applications


* Watch all the videos that are playable only on your computer, including Flash (Hulu, Youtube, etc.), DVDs, and Windows Media Player


* Listen to the music library on your computer, whatever format it’s in (WMA, RealAudio, MP3, AAC, etc.)


* Play all the 3D games (World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Skyrim, Diablo III, etc.) and all the Flash games (FarmVille, CityVille, etc.)




Optional In-App Purchase – buy Anywhere Access Pack to access your computer from across the Internet, via our global network of secure, high-performance servers:
-- Access reliably across Internet, over 3G, from behind firewalls, etc.
-- Optimized streaming performance under varying network conditions over Wi-Fi and 3G
-- Fully secured via SSL with 256-bit AES encryption
 

Most reactions

Latest posts

Back
Top