Airplay

[Gerry77]

I just bought a new Denon x1000 AV receiver that has a Airplay feature. Ive connected it to my old Telkom Mega 100wr router with an ethernet cable. Ive also download the Denon remote app on to my iphone 5 and ipad 2. The remote app works fine with the receiver on both devices, but somehow the airplay icon doesnt appear. Ive got it to appear for a while on both devices and then its streams music to the receiver perfectly. But once i stop using it it dissapears. Ive unplugged my router trying a reset it, which i think makes the icon appear on my devices, but it wouldnt stay there. Could my router be too old or is there a setting I should look at changing.

 

[[)roi(]]

I just bought a new Denon x1000 AV receiver that has a Airplay feature. Ive connected it to my old Telkom Mega 100wr router with an ethernet cable. Ive also download the Denon remote app on to my iphone 5 and ipad 2. The remote app works fine with the receiver on both devices, but somehow the airplay icon doesnt appear. Ive got it to appear for a while on both devices and then its streams music to the receiver perfectly. But once i stop using it it dissapears. Ive unplugged my router trying a reset it, which i think makes the icon appear on my devices, but it wouldnt stay there. Could my router be too old or is there a setting I should look at changing.

For Airplay to work your devices have to be connected via the same WIFI network.

The problem with connecting some devices to Ethernet is that some of the broadcast packets (used by Airplay) cannot travel between Ethernet and WIFI; this is by a typical design of most routers.

I just checked the X1000 doesn't come with WIFi (a huge oversight on their part; I'd challenge the salesman if they sold it as a unit that supports Airplay; as you could very well end up spending more money to get this to work)

The problem with not supporting WIFI means that Airplay would be limited to only devices connected to Ethernet; today most Apple mobile devices supporting Airplay function only via WIFi (iPhone, iPad)

Anyway let's get back to getting this working for you: You'll need to check on your router whether it can be setup in bridge mode i.e. Bridge mode typically allows all packets transmitted on either networks (Ethernet & WIFI) to be passed to the other. If not tyou'll unfortunately need to find one that does.

<edit>Your router seems to indicate it can support bridging; so on your router's config have a look e.g. at the User Isolation settings on both the Ethernet & WIFI sides (+ anything else that refers to bridging, and make sure it's configured to allow all packets).

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

For Airplay to work your devices have to be connected via the same WIFI network.

The problem with connecting some devices to Ethernet is that some of the broadcast packets (used by Airplay) cannot travel between Ethernet and WIFI; this is by a typical design of most routers.

I just checked the X1000 doesn't come with WIFi (a huge oversight on their part; I'd challenge the salesman if they sold it as a unit that supports Airplay; as you could very well end up spending more money to get this to work)

The problem with not supporting WIFI means that Airplay would be limited to only devices connected to Ethernet; today most Apple mobile devices supporting Airplay function only via WIFi (iPhone, iPad)

Anyway let's get back to getting this working for you: You'll need to check on your router whether it can be setup in bridge mode i.e. Bridge mode typically allows all packets transmitted on either networks (Ethernet & WIFI) to be passed to the other. If not you'll unfortunately need to find one that does.

Wow, I learned something new today too. No wonder I was struggling to get this working at my friends place.

Works properly with my setup but then I've got a custom setup with pfSense.

 

[[)roi(]]

Wow, I learned something new today too. No wonder I was struggling to get this working at my friends place.

Works properly with my setup but then I've got a custom setup with pfSense.

pfSense is certainly the way to go if you have the hardware spare; personally for any custom routing / firewall I'm comfortable to solve any problems using OS X and a few terminal commands.

 

[icyrus]

The problem with not supporting WIFI means that Airplay would be limited to only devices connected to Ethernet; today most Apple mobile devices supporting Airplay function only via WIFi (iPhone, iPad)

Does the responsibility for this problem not fall squarely on the network hardware manufacturers and their improper use/non-use of multicast?

I've found that ****ty APs that don't handle multicast correctly cause this problem, not the underlying connection medium.

 

[[)roi(]]

Does the responsibility for this problem not fall squarely on the network hardware manufacturers and their improper use/non-use of multicast?

I've found that ****ty APs that don't handle multicast correctly cause this problem, not the underlying connection medium.

As with anything there are a number of role players who all in some need to comply to a set of varying standards.

Without a specific example (to research / discuss) it's going to be quite difficult to point the finger at a single one fault.

 

[Gerry77]

Thx for the reply. All my devices are connected to the same wifi network. When I reset my router, airplay works fine, but only for a while. And the remote app that I use to control the Denon X1000 works perfectly over wifi from my iphone and ipad to the ethernet connected amp. I might be totally wrong, but since my router is very old and on the slow side, it seem like it cant handle all the traffic of the connected devices(Macbook, Iphone, Ipad, Ipod touch and PS3). I have a 2meg ADSL line with MWEB.

 

[[)roi(]]

Thx for the reply. All my devices are connected to the same wifi network. When I reset my router, airplay works fine, but only for a while. And the remote app that I use to control the Denon X1000 works perfectly over wifi from my iphone and ipad to the ethernet connected amp. I might be totally wrong, but since my router is very old and on the slow side, it seem like it cant handle all the traffic of the connected devices(Macbook, Iphone, Ipad, Ipod touch and PS3). I have a 2meg ADSL line with MWEB.

What remote App are you referring to? Is it one from Apple?

Occasionally a 3rd party app can give problems with an incorrectly implemented Airplay; so testing should always be done with Apple apps.

Wrt bridging and your router: a router either supports bridging or not. Well if it works for a short while after a reboot at least we then know bridging is active.

If the Denon (Airplay) then disappears after a while, the problem could be one of the following:
1. Router is still not properly configured for bridging, e.g. Some router filtering tasks could take a little longer to activate after reboot (simply check all your bridging related filters are disabled)
2. Router caching buffers are getting overwhelmed; (less likely with your small number of devices; yet could still be an issue)
3. Denon Airplay firmware is not working properly (if it is a recent implementation by Denon, then this is very likely -- I'd look for any firmware upgrades, and scan the forums for any complaints)
4. 3rd party App Airplay issues (simply use one of Apple's Apps to confirm)

A quick way to check if your Denon is OK is to plug your MBP into one of the router's Ethernet ports, and try to continuously play music using iTunes as your test App; test for a few minutes at least -- if everything plays fine with no cutouts, then you should be able to assume the Denon is ok.

Either way check that you have the latest firmware updates for the Denon and your router.

 

[killkom]

Hi All

I have my apple tv connected to a lan point and my iphones and Ipads connected to wifi and airplay works perfectly. There is no restriction on weather its ethernet or wifi. I did have a similar issue with a D-link wifi AP it would do the exact same thing I would see the airplay icon for a little while then it would disappear. I tried updating the bios on the router and pretty much everything eventually I used the wifi from my netgear DSL modem and the airplay icon never disappeared again. Maybe just try a different WIFI ap to see if that sorts it out.

 

[krycor]

trying to get this to work on my virtualized pfSense.. meh struggling