Is it possible to stream movies to Apple TV from iPad/iPhone while a UI is still on the iPad/iPhone

Question

Is it possible to stream a movie to Apple TV (either wirelessly or via WiFi) from an iOS device, while having a separate UI on the iPhone/iPad? The UI could for instance, act to control what is playing on the Apple TV.

Answer 1

Apparently you can do it with AirPlay: http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/airplay.html

If this is something Apple is already providing than it can be a waste of time to develop it on your own, as they can reject it saying that it provides a duplicate functionality.

Answer 2

Simplest answer to your question is YES you can play content from ios on Apple TV with airplay, UI does not interfere and has nothing to do with that.

Answer 3

Sure, you can use Airplay to stream from an iOS device to an Apple TV, and while the streaming is going on, the UI on the device will be available for other purposes.

Here's one avenue you can try and put together a sample for pretty quickly:

• Create an app where you are displaying UIWebView on your primary display.

• Implement support for a second display using Airplay - here's documentation for doing that:

  http://developer.apple.com/library/IOs/#documentation/AudioVideo/Conceptual/AirPlayGuide/EnrichYourAppforAirPlay/EnrichYourAppforAirPlay.html

  http://developer.apple.com/library/IOs/documentation/WindowsViews/Conceptual/ViewPG_iPhoneOS/CreatingWindows/CreatingWindows.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40009503-CH4-SW9

• Load Vimeo page to the UIWebView. If the app is running on an iPad that is setup to stream to an Apple TV over Airplay, then the video will play on the Apple TV, and take over the interface from whatever you're currently displaying on the Apple TV. As the video is playing on the Apple TV, you'll have full access to the UI on the device.

You can get similar results using the Media Player Framework.