Airplay speakers selection (feature request)

Channels Apple TV Feature Requests
#1

Hi!

It would be nice to be able to select which airplay speaker you wanna play audio on. A lot of other apps have this option when you swipe down while listening to their content. Netflix, infuse, iTunes own movie and TV player, and more have it. All you have to do is swipe down, then swipe right to the audio menu and all of you airplay speakers available on your network are there waiting to be selected. I noticed that if I activate an airplay speakers, let’s says on Netflix and then switch back to channels, sound will still be played through the selected airplay speaker. So it means it can work. It would be nice to be able to select a different speaker set directly within Channels. So we can quickly switch to better speakers when watching a music show on TV.

Hope it can be done.

Keep up the good work

Thanks.

1 Like
#2

Unfortunately, this information isn’t available to apps. We can neither get a list of audio routes, not switch to them.

The apps you see this in use the tvOS native video player. They haven’t actually implemented anything at all and that functionality comes for free from the system video player.

Do to the format coming from the HDHomeRun we are prohibited from using the native video player. It will not play MPEG video.

#3

Oh I see. I guess I will go to the setting and change it there instead.

It is stupid tough because it does work very well when you change it there. It would work just as fine if they’d let you add it to your player.

Oh well Apple!

#4

Any chance you’re able to file a Radar for them to consider adding that kind of functionality in an upcoming tvOS release? (Signed up to request this, and appreciate the thorough explanation of why you don’t have it.)

#5

I opened rdar://30871101 this morning.

#6

Just so it’s clear, Rdar is a feature request to Apple?

#7

Yes, Radar is the name of Apple’s internal bug reporting system.

#8

I have a similar request but not for airplay but rather for Bluetooth devices. I’m using AirPods with Apple TV4, and every time I put AirPods in to their case, Apple TV4 disconnects from the AirPods. To reconnect, I have to go to Settings in tvOS. It would be much easier to reconnect AirPods from within the Channels app.

#9

Engineering has determined that your bug report (30871101) is a duplicate of another issue (30882871) and will be closed.

#10

Sorry to bump this if it has been answered elsewhere (I did look).

I note that you are unable to do this due using a different media player and the feature not being present for this. This week another app that uses a non standard media player (Firecore InFuse) have updated their app with an audio option that gives the option of Airplay. Could this be implemented in Channels?

Love the App BTW, use it all the time now around the house. Just a bit of a pain to have to select my HomePod from the home screen each time before I open the app.

1 Like
#11

Just checked Infuse and it is in fact possible to select the airplay speaker from the dropdown menu.

Please make it happen! :slight_smile:

#12

I do believe this is doable in modern iOS and tvOS versions...Infuse is one example but so is Overcast, and others, that implement custom AV players...

This would be a nice win from a UX perspective if it’s reasonable to implement. A particular example on my end...headphone in tvOS:

Imagine playing an episode in Channels on Apple TV...it’s close to bedtime...household is going to bed...and you don’t want to disturb everyone. Being able to swipe down, tap the AirPlay icon and select your headphones is a much smoother experience than having to stop watching, hit the home button, open the Settings app, go to Remotes and Devices -> Bluetooth, select the headphones, then go back to Channels. Yes, it works...,but not fun. :slight_smile:

2 Likes