AirPlay a DVD Video

AirPlay can be used to display any content from your Mac laptop with one exception - video from DVDs. If you attempt to AirPlay a DVD using the built-in DVD player on a Mac you will see a checkerboard effect on the video output and the video will not be displayed on the screen.

This inability to AirPlay DVDs is not a technical limitation of AirPlay, but due to copyright protections (DRM) that the Movie Industry places on Apple disallowing DVDs to be displayed or "streamed" using AirPlay.

However, there is a workaround available to show DVDs over AirPlay using the VLC Media Player, which is installed on all College Macs (staff and student). This lesson will explain how to use VLC to display DVDs using AirPlay from a Mac.

Insert DVD into the Mac

When a DVD has been inserted into a Mac, an image of a DVD with the title will be displayed on the desktop (see above)

Close the DVD Player

Next, close the DVD player app by right clicking on the icon in the Dock and clicking "Quit".

NOTE: If the DVD starts playing automatically using the DVD player, you may need to hit escape (esc key) to minimise the DVD playback window before quitting the DVD app.

Playing DVDs using VLC Media Player

To playback a DVD using VLC Player, open the VLC app (above) on the Mac.

Open DVD in VLC

Next, go to the VLC menu in the menu bar at the top of the desktop (see above) and click File > Open Disk.

Select DVD

The window shown above will appear next. Click "Open" to begin playing the DVD.

VLC DVD Playback Window

Once you've chosen the DVD to be played in VLC, the playback window shown above will appear. Select the item you would like to playback and click play.

AirPlay the DVD

You can now AirPlay the DVD to any AirPlay enabled display in the College.