Just got an AppleTV and I’m pretty excited about it, particular the ability to wirelessly mirror whatever’s showing on my Mac screen. Means I can show my Mom how to use Facebook, finally, so she’ll stop calling me! I also want to use this setup to watch DVDs but something’s broken on my system: whenever I try to watch a DVD with DVD Player and AirPlay is enabled, the video display is a black and white checkerboard graphic rather than the actual movie. How do I fix it so I can watch DVD movies via AirPlay??
There’s actually nothing broken in the configuration you specify, what you’re hitting is a built-in limitation of DVD Player that’s tied to digital rights management (DRM) requirements for the Apple DVD playback code. You can see that’s the case because you can watch an iTunes movie via AirPlay without the slightest hiccup.
The concept behind this is probably something to do with the definition of “broadcast” rights with a consumer DVD playback system according to some Byzantine MPAA regulation that Apple has to follow so as not to get in trouble with the big players in Hollywood.The fact that you can still plug in your TV directly via HDMI and watch a movie full screen (particularly easy if you have an HDMI plug on the Mac directly, as the latest generation sports) presumably falls under some other nuance of the law as that’s an alternative approach to having the DVD in your computer but the movie shown on the TV.
Whatever the nuance here, it’s sure annoying and a lot of people have bumped into this limitation of DVD Player.
The good news? There’s a nice alternative DVD player that will sidestep the entire issue and work perfectly with AirPlay!
Let me show you the steps involved. First off, here’s what you’d see both on the Mac screen and the TV screen if you try to watch a DVD while you have AirPlay pushing your video signal to the TV (go into Apple -> System Preferences… -> Display to enable “AirPlay Mirroring”):
Crazy, eh? No warning message, no pop-up “can’t view movies in AirPlay video mirror mode”, nothing. Just the checkerboard of death.
Oh, okay, maybe it’s not quite that dramatic!
Instead, a slick free app called VLC Media Player can be quickly downloaded from here: videolan.org . Grab a copy and start it up.
Here’s what you’ll see:
VLC turns out to be a really useful video player because in addition to working with DVDs in an AirPlay friendly manner, it can also let you see WMA, AVI, MKS and many other video files, far more than iTunes can handle.
To watch a DVD, the easiest way is to insert the DVD, then quit DVD Player. Now the DVD icon is on the Desktop, so drag it onto VLC and it’ll start playing the movie within just a few seconds:
You can see I’m watching Skyfall . Great movie, and fun to be able to enjoy on my computer, but being able to wirelessly push it to my TV with AirPlay? Here’s what that looks like on my Sony Bravia:
One thing to warn you about before you zip away to try it: The audio might be still coming out of your computer. To ensure that too is being piped to the AppleTV, go into the Audio settings and pick AirPlay:
Now, pass the popcorn, the movie’s about to get really good…
Thank you Dave, solved the problem with your easy to follow instructions. You’re a peach 🙂
Ha e you noticed with OSX 10.10.4 update that VLC with DVD audio is ll choppy? All other Airplay works fine, except VLC with DVD now.
I haven’t noticed that, Chris. But let’s be clear, are you talking about using AirPlay with VLC? Never tried that…
I don’t get a checkerboard. I get a pop up box that says “DVD Player encountered a system error. The viewer could not be moved to the selected screen. Is this the same issue that could be resolved the same way? I tried two different DVDs (one of which was a home movie put on a DVD some years back – so no copyright issue there)
Marianne, have you watched regular DVDs on the screen through this channel or does it fail for everything? Sounds like it might be a mismatch of resolution or dimensions that the player can’t resolve??
I can watch a DVD through the plug in player that’s attached to my Mac Book Air. I used to watch DVDs on my television when I had a separate DVD player (which I no longer have) I tried multiple DVDs and none of them worked. Am I understanding you correctly that the issue is probably with the player ? If I try to go out and get a new player, is there some specifications I should be looking for? Thank you!
Just wanted to say thank you – this is exactly the answer I was looking for. Really appreciate it and wouldn’t have fixed it if I hadn’t stumbled across your web page!
VLC plays my French DVD great, but I cannot find any way to access my Apple TV. Perhaps it’s that my Mac Pro is still Snow Bobcat?!?! 10.6.8
I don’t really understand your question, Bob. Are you trying to access your AppleTV via VLC?
Hi Dave,
thanks for the info – I thought my MBP was the issue. Very frustrating… it should tell you why it won’t work. This works great. I wanted to use it for my home workout video. It’s too hard to see the TV when you’re doing pushups etc. Now I have two screens, my MBP on the floor and the TV on the wall 🙂 🙂
I wish this worked for me! I have a brand new MacBook, less than a year old and just bought an Apple TV for Christmas. Of course, I can not use Air Play but this solution doesn’t work either as the picture is totally unwatchable- pixelated beyond belief. I’m pretty annoyed that the Apple TV doesn’t work with DVDs; it’s the whole reason I purchased it rather than a DVD player! I just want to watch with my daughter, not sell tickets to a show.
I have to say that the streaming and wireless AirPlay features on the AppleTV are lackluster at best. A few days ago when I wanted to stream a soccer game from NBCSN, I first tried AirPlay and even on my high-speed media network system, it was choppy, so I ended up just running an HDMI cable from my MacBook Pro to my HDTV. Worked much better. Might just be tech limitations, however, but… but then again, Netflix does pretty darn well and its source is far, far upstream compared to a computer in the very same room. Maybe Apple will release Apple TV HD some day or something!
mind that your mac has to be a rather young one: it only works for models from 2011 and later.
Good clarification, Peter! I never seem to have older devices in the office so I forget about that legacy thing. 🙂
Awesome thank you!
Most curious, mads. Does VLC work with the DVD when it’s just on your computer, rather than beaming to the AppleTV?
Hi Dave Taylor
I tried VLC and it dosn’t work. It just makes everything stop while a working progress bar and a few ticks from the DVD slot suggests that a movie might actually come to the screen. Only, it doesn’t.
I waited several minutes and nothing happened.
Any suggestions?
Because I would really like this to work…
VLC doesn’t work for me either. Just skips and freezes. Doesn’t anyone have a solution?
If the DVD has audio with AC3 will VLC + Airplay + ATV be able to stream Surround to AV? Thank you