This hack was developed on Ubuntu

This video shows xbmc as an airplay target. The hack is actually running on a Ubuntu Box. It involves XBMC (of course), Avahi for broadcasting the airplay service and a custom python script which handles the interaction with the iPad.

PLAY2WiFi

Special thanks goes to Erica Sadun who released AirPlayer earlier this month. This was the software which let me discover the world of AirPlay

What is currently working:

* Select a video/podcast/serie on the iThing (should also work in other iThings) and launch it on xbmc.
* Play/Pause of the video through the controls on the iThing.
* Switch back the video to the iThing.
* Seeking in the timeline on the iThing.

What is currently not working:

* Playback of Youtube videos. XBMC cannot handle the files.

Known Bugs:

* When resuming the video back to the iThing it's paused even if the interface say it's not. This need some more work.
* When launching a video for the second time xmbc asks wheter it should resume or start over again. Don't know how to fix that.


Actually there is no code in the in the SVN. All the code is just a Python scripts which launches a server on the port 22555. Some work would need to be done here again in order to make a nice xmbc-plugin. But I have know knowledge in this domain.

The choosen approach in the python is script may not be the simplest one. In fact, the script depends upon the Twisted framework. I spend most time decoding and describing the protocol.

Needed software¶

In other to make everything work there some additional software is needed. The airplay discovery is based upon Bonjour (avahi). Therefore install the package avahi-daemon (apt-get install avahi-daemon) Furthermore the scripts calls xmbc through either

* xbmc-send (install apt-get install xbmc-eventclients-xbmc-send) or
* through the web interface (be sure to setup Web interface in XBMC on port XXXX)

Furhtermore python needs the Twisted framwork. It can be installed with apt-get install python-twisted.

Installation¶

This hack was developed on Ubuntu (but should also work on other linux systems). Therefore installation istruction will be for linux only (Ubuntu). It should be possible to port the code to other platform since it's only python. However I have no ideas about the dependencies (avahi for example).

* Copy the play2wifi.service script to /etc/avahi/services/ and restart avahi service avahi-daemon restart.
* Adapt the play2wifi.cfg script (at least line 3 to whatever port xbmc web interface is running). This parameter can also be overwritten with the -p startup parameter.
* Launch the script python play2wifi.py.
* Launch a video/podcast on the iThing and switch it over to xbmc.

Ubuntu Download | Wubi

Download Ubuntu Windows Installer

Ubuntu Download-Wubi



 

 Run the downloaded file

After the file is downloaded, you have to open it to run the installer. You will find the detailed instructions below. If you need further help, the various support options are listed at the bottom of this page.

If you are using Internet Explorer, you'll be asked wither to run or save the file. Choose Run to launch the installer.

Most other browsers, like Firefox, will only ask you to save the file. Click Save and then double-click the downloaded file to launch the installer.

Install Ubuntu

If a security message like this appears, click Continue to proceed with the installation.

To install Ubuntu, all you need to do is choose your username and password. Please note that you have to insert your password twice to make sure you typed it correctly.

After choosing your password, click Install. The files will be downloaded and installed automatically.

Wait until Ubuntu is downloaded and installed. Please note that the whole process can take a while - downloaded file size is 700MB

When the installation is complete you will be prompted to restart your computer. Click Finish to restart.

After your computer restarts, choose Ubuntu from the boot menu.