Not much can be said about VLC media player, as it is one of the most used media players worldwide. The company’s free product very rarely disappoints, as it can play pretty much any media format, and the team of volunteers behind it is dedicated to offer you the best possible experience you can get out of it. But, of course, they have to make some money, so Apple TV will soon be able to run VLC.
- You will have to search for VLP in Apple TV’s App Store
- You will finally be able to play more than just iTunes Store and iPhone recorded media
- The VLC app can automatically play any media discovered on the local network
- It will also assign an IP address to your Apple TV
- An array of Apple TV specific features will also be available via the VLC app
After a wide cross-platform release by VLC last February, when Android, Android TV, iOS, Linux, Mac, Windows Phone, and Windows RT became able to run the media player, as well as after December’s release for Chrome OS, it’s finally time for the Apple TV to be able to play more media files.
Up until now, the only types of files you could play using your Apple TV were those recorded by an iPhone or another Apple device, and those purchased directly from the iTunes Store, meaning HTTP Live Streams and H264/AAC files.
With the launch of the VideoLAN player for the Apple TV, owners of one Apple’s most pointless devices will finally be able to use the TV as more or less a regular smart TV.
Not only will the VLC app come with the possibility of playing all media files of the TV, it will also bring a collection of features specifically designed for the device.
One of the most… interesting of them is the Remote Playback feature, which allows users to play media stored on other Apple devices on the Apple TV. It will act more or less like a playlist, only it will also support streaming.
This will work by providing the Apple TV with an IP address, which will allow you to move items from your computer to the TV’s Remote Playback feature. Streams will work by pasting the URL in the URL bar provided in the playlist.
The weirdest part about the feature is that all the files will remain in your Apple TV’s cache until you run out of storage, a feature for which VLC takes no responsibility, saying it was Apple’s decision.
Image source: Flickr
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