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Facebook Now Lets You Use Google Cast or AirPlay To Stream Video On Your TV (digitaltrends.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the kick-back-and-relax dept.

Facebook has made it a high priority over the years to improve its video platform so that it can better compete with the monolithic video service that is YouTube. Today, the company has added another feature, one that allows users to stream Facebook video content to the Apple TV via AirPlay and to various Google Cast-enabled devices. Digital Trends reports: The feature is available on the Facebook iOS app and, according to Facebook, it will be available on Android soon. The best thing about it, however, is how easy it is to use. Simply find a video you want to watch, then tap the TV button and select which device the app should stream to. Another highlight of the feature is that it is truly built for Facebook -- that is to say, when you are watching a video on the big screen, your phone is not on lockdown until the video is over. Instead, you can keep scrolling through the News Feed, treating your TV as more of a second screen than simply a mirror of your phone.

31 comments

  1. You could already do that by guruevi · · Score: 1

    This may be a shortcut button but anyone can stream any app to any AirPlay TV on iOS. Not sure about Google Cast, that's always been a bit broken.

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    1. Re:You could already do that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'd love to know why you think it's a bit broken? Speaking as someone who has both a Google Cast and an Apple TV hooked up to my tv I've found the Cast to offer a far better viewing experience as the Apple TV seems to have trouble streaming anything without pausing to buffer despite being on the same network as the Cast and being sat about 10cm away from it. From a bit of research online the Apple TV seems to be widely seen as a bit pants when compared to the other options yet costs a magnitude more in typical Apple fashion.

    2. Re:You could already do that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're clearly a bit of a moron, the Cast with the Android Youtube App is able to do this and has been for years. Obviously, it doesn't make you instantly think you're a better, more entitled person in the same manner as Apple products do but then the smugness Apple owners experience is generally short lived once they realise owning some shiny tech doesn't stop you being an overweight nerd, living in your mum's basement.

    3. Re:You could already do that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Maybe that's your experience but I use two different models of AppleTV and I've never seen any real buffering going on but I guess in the end we're both offering up meaningless data based on a truly limited number of data points with no real reliable data. But now we get to hear about all "teh Applez Fanboisss!!!!1111!!!" while skirting the real issue at hand. I guess people have learned a lot about misdirection (ala the 2016 US presidential elections). Meh.

      I will agree that gurueerifivie didn't really need to comment on Google Cast but his original point still stands. AirPlay plays whatever gets sent to it from the device. The app itself has nothing to do with it and this story from the iOS standpoint is a non-story. I'm sure Chrome Cast is the same in this fashion but I don't own one to confirm.

    4. Re:You could already do that by swb · · Score: 2

      I've always wondered if, other than for video *stored* on an iOS device, if Airplay isn't just handing over the URL data to the AppleTV and it's actually downloading the data directly, not funneling it web->ios device->appleTV.

    5. Re:You could already do that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If it helps, once you're streaming video on a ChromeCast, you can physically power off your phone.

    6. Re:You could already do that by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

      From the summary, the FB app is using the Airplay device as a second screen. That's quite a bit different than the built-in mirroring.

    7. Re:You could already do that by Karlt1 · · Score: 1

      I've always wondered if, other than for video *stored* on an iOS device, if Airplay isn't just handing over the URL data to the AppleTV and it's actually downloading the data directly, not funneling it web->ios device->appleTV.

      It depends. AppleTV does support streaming directly from the phone without the AppleTV having it's own connection and without tethering. Not all apps support it and some still require both the AppleTV and the iOS device to be on the same network.

      I used my AppleTV in a location with a captive network which required a logon and wasn't able to connect it to the Wifi so I had to stream directly from my phone using cellular data -- I have T-mobile so I had unlimited video streaming.

      Hulu, SlingTV, Crackle, and the CBS app all work with this setup.(Web -> ios device -> AppleTV)

      Netflix, Amazon Video, and the CW app won't work with this set up they require a direct internet connection and they get the video stream directly from the web. The ios device just tells the AppleTV where to get it from.

  2. YouTube by darkain · · Score: 1

    So, this works EXACTLY like how the YouTube app on Android w/ Google Chromecast for years has been doing it? Because the summary makes it seem like it is some grand feature to hit "cast" on a video and still be able to use the mobile device for other things at the same time.

    1. Re:YouTube by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Facebook now lets you do-thing-you-could-already-do-without-using-Facebook is pretty much their whole shtick.

    2. Re:YouTube by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is your streaming video.

      This is your streaming video ON FACEBOOK!

  3. I already stream video to my TV by Vermonter · · Score: 0

    It's called an HDMI cable.

  4. Re:The people who ate each other by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All that work, and this is all we have to show for it.

  5. Wasn't this by MayeulC · · Score: 2

    Already possible with Kodi and the likes? If there's a difference, I'd be curious to know it.

    1. Re:Wasn't this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      One is spelled "Kodi"

      The other is spelled "the likes"

    2. Re:Wasn't this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Already possible with Kodi

      There is a HUGE difference. Kodi does not "monitize" everything you do and it is not in the business of harvesting your entire digital life. These days you cannot get a large customer base unless you promise to sell out those same customers to data brokers.

  6. There's a thing called an antenna by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I stream video on my TV all the time.

  7. Facebook and google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Two of my very favorite entities on Earth. NOT

    There is no possible way I could care any less about this than I do right now.

  8. How generous of Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    To let me do something like that. Where do I send my thanks?

    1. Re:How generous of Facebook by fbobraga · · Score: 1

      I'm curious too!

    2. Re: How generous of Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This. Exactly fucking this. Key to this story is "allow". If the fucking videos were just plain files, we could watch them anywhere, anyhow, already. Ditto for all the other web stream services.

  9. Problem solved... by fbobraga · · Score: 2

    ... old notebook with HDMI plugged on TV, with kodi.tv on int (I use it with Debian Jessie and LXDE: any old computer cam play 1080p without problem there...) and https://play.google.com/store/... on the phone

  10. I can stream it to my TV? by fbobraga · · Score: 1

    please, answer yes!

  11. Mom test fail by sjbe · · Score: 2

    ... old notebook with HDMI plugged on TV, with kodi.tv on int (I use it with Debian Jessie and LXDE: any old computer cam play 1080p without problem there...)

    Wow that fails the Mom test about as hard as possible. I'm sure it works beautifully for your needs but that doesn't work for 99.999% of people out there.

    1. Re:Mom test fail by fbobraga · · Score: 1

      My Mom use it without problem, you know: it's a matter of publicity (99.999% thinks that "there is no other way"...)

  12. By geeks for geeks by sjbe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    My Mom use it without problem, you know: it's a matter of publicity

    Could you mom build that system without your help? Did your mom set it up? Did you have to tell her about it? Was she able to use it without any guidance from you? Do you have to fix it whenever something breaks? Unless your mom is a lot more capable than most people, I seriously doubt she figured it out herself.

    99.999% thinks that "there is no other way"..

    And that's because for them they are right - there is no other way. Very, very, very few people are going to bother setting up a system like that even if they have to the technical chops to do it. Wouldn't matter if they knew it was possible or not - and most will not. Honestly even if you tell them point blank they will look at you like you are from Mars. They'll hear nothing but a bunch of meaningless (to them) technobabble and you can watch their eyes glaze over. The overwhelming majority wouldn't be able to figure it out on their own. That's why there is a market for stuff like Chromecast and AppleTV. Your solution is a solution by geeks for geeks and more or less useless to anyone else. I'm as geeky as anyone here on slashdot and I wouldn't go to the bother because the effort is just not worth the minimal reward to me.

    1. Re:By geeks for geeks by cjjjer · · Score: 1

      Could you mom build that system without your help?

      Given the fact it's an old laptop I doubt OP or even you could build one from scratch...

  13. The real problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, the real problem with Facebook videos isn't lack of streaming options, it's the content

    1. Re:The real problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you or your friends created and uploaded content worth watching you would have plenty of content. Facebook isn't Netflix, and it isn't trying to be. --------Did I just defend Facebook?