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Is this kind of app really needed when you can cast the screen from MacOS to the AppleTV? (or does it not work for other airplay devices or is too slow or somet

Is this kind of app really needed when you can cast the screen from MacOS to the AppleTV? (or does it not work for other airplay devices or is too slow or something).

alex7o 2y ago
You cast the screen only in 1080p, but media can be cast up to 4k hdr+
spondylosaurus 2y ago
Longtime (and satisfied) Airflow user, albeit casting from Windows to an Android TV: it's the only casting tool I've used that plays nice with subtitles. VLC lets you cast to a TV quite easily, but any subtitle data won't survive the jump.
Mindwipe 2y ago
MacOS does have the functionality built in, it just barely works. It also starts with no errors if it comes across a codec it doesn't like (which is most of them) but then just... doesn't work. Airplay is a big pile of technical debt and they keep rewiring it every few years and not testing if the implementations talk to each other, so it just gets worse and worse.
yungporko 2y ago
screencasting over airplay sucks for watching stuff, the framerate is just slightly too choppy that its noticeable and annoying, you cant close the lid on your laptop, and you can't easily use it while casting because either you're screen mirroring anyway or your screen has been stretched weirdly because macbooks have their own weird aspect ratio which don't match any TVs.
- c-hendricks 2y ago
  > your screen has been stretched weirdly because macbooks have their own weird aspect ratio which don't match any TVs. When you cast your screen to an Apple TV, the TV shows as an extra display on the computer, and allows you to set the aspect ratio however you'd like. Either when extending or mirroring. https://imgur.com/a/c3mKbOj https://imgur.com/a/c3mKbOj Am I missing something?
  - yungporko 2y ago
    i mean when mirroring the macbook screen looks bad, the tv looks fine. the image on the macbook screen gets squished to match the resolution of the tv.
    - c-hendricks 2y ago
      Huh, mine letter / pillar boxes, as in nothing is stretched, it looks like watching any 16:9 video on the laptop, since it's displaying 16:9 content. As someone who prefers taller aspect ratios it's not a huge issue for me. Now, when mirroring an ultrawide display, then it looks funky, but not really sure what you'd expect to happen.
crazygringo 2y ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that casting your screen re-encodes the screen image in much lower quality. Whereas Airflow is sending the original video steam over untouched, for supported codecs like h.264/265. So it maintains the original quality. Including resolutions that may be higher than your screen, like 4K.
- al_borland 2y ago
  Using the screen over AirPlay is the wrong way to go for watching video, for several reasons. That said, QuickTime Player also supports AirPlay to cast the video to an AirPlay device. I’m struggling to understand why I’d use AirFlow when I can use QuickTime? In my case I use Plex, which even makes QuickTime a moot point. I’ve also used VLC with the VLC AppleTV app; I could see where AirFlow could be an improvement over the rather clunky VLC experience (from what I remember).
  - crazygringo 2y ago
    QuickTime only plays h.264/265 videos encoded in very specific ways, and a very limited set of other codecs. Most h.264/265 files in the wild, QuickTime won't play. You have to repackage them with a couple of specific flags using ffmpeg. QuickTime is great for playing videos produced by Apple devices, but terrible at playing media generally.
    - al_borland 2y ago
      Ah, I missed that Airflow was doing transcoding, that sounds like the primary benefit, and one of the big things I use Plex for. I will day, video formats seem to be much more standard (and compatible with QuickTime) than they were in the pre-h.264 days. Though I do tend to lean toward mp4 over mkv if given an option. I still have a second player around to handle stuff QuickTime fails on, but I only need it a few times per year.

Is this kind of app really needed when you can cast the screen from MacOS to the AppleTV? (or does it not work for other airplay devices or is too slow or something).

alex7o 2y ago

You cast the screen only in 1080p, but media can be cast up to 4k hdr+

spondylosaurus 2y ago

Longtime (and satisfied) Airflow user, albeit casting from Windows to an Android TV: it's the only casting tool I've used that plays nice with subtitles. VLC lets you cast to a TV quite easily, but any subtitle data won't survive the jump.

Mindwipe 2y ago

MacOS does have the functionality built in, it just barely works. It also starts with no errors if it comes across a codec it doesn't like (which is most of them) but then just... doesn't work. Airplay is a big pile of technical debt and they keep rewiring it every few years and not testing if the implementations talk to each other, so it just gets worse and worse.

yungporko 2y ago

screencasting over airplay sucks for watching stuff, the framerate is just slightly too choppy that its noticeable and annoying, you cant close the lid on your laptop, and you can't easily use it while casting because either you're screen mirroring anyway or your screen has been stretched weirdly because macbooks have their own weird aspect ratio which don't match any TVs.

c-hendricks 2y ago
> your screen has been stretched weirdly because macbooks have their own weird aspect ratio which don't match any TVs. When you cast your screen to an Apple TV, the TV shows as an extra display on the computer, and allows you to set the aspect ratio however you'd like. Either when extending or mirroring. https://imgur.com/a/c3mKbOj https://imgur.com/a/c3mKbOj Am I missing something?
- yungporko 2y ago
  i mean when mirroring the macbook screen looks bad, the tv looks fine. the image on the macbook screen gets squished to match the resolution of the tv.
  - c-hendricks 2y ago
    Huh, mine letter / pillar boxes, as in nothing is stretched, it looks like watching any 16:9 video on the laptop, since it's displaying 16:9 content. As someone who prefers taller aspect ratios it's not a huge issue for me. Now, when mirroring an ultrawide display, then it looks funky, but not really sure what you'd expect to happen.

crazygringo 2y ago

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that casting your screen re-encodes the screen image in much lower quality. Whereas Airflow is sending the original video steam over untouched, for supported codecs like h.264/265. So it maintains the original quality. Including resolutions that may be higher than your screen, like 4K.

al_borland 2y ago
Using the screen over AirPlay is the wrong way to go for watching video, for several reasons. That said, QuickTime Player also supports AirPlay to cast the video to an AirPlay device. I’m struggling to understand why I’d use AirFlow when I can use QuickTime? In my case I use Plex, which even makes QuickTime a moot point. I’ve also used VLC with the VLC AppleTV app; I could see where AirFlow could be an improvement over the rather clunky VLC experience (from what I remember).
- crazygringo 2y ago
  QuickTime only plays h.264/265 videos encoded in very specific ways, and a very limited set of other codecs. Most h.264/265 files in the wild, QuickTime won't play. You have to repackage them with a couple of specific flags using ffmpeg. QuickTime is great for playing videos produced by Apple devices, but terrible at playing media generally.
  - al_borland 2y ago
    Ah, I missed that Airflow was doing transcoding, that sounds like the primary benefit, and one of the big things I use Plex for. I will day, video formats seem to be much more standard (and compatible with QuickTime) than they were in the pre-h.264 days. Though I do tend to lean toward mp4 over mkv if given an option. I still have a second player around to handle stuff QuickTime fails on, but I only need it a few times per year.