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Comment by twoodfin | Hacker News Reader

Do you still get the video on the iPad? If so, this feature makes some sense. If you've got AirPlay speakers, they'd be a great substitute for the crummy built-in ones.

Clearly HBO is walking a fine line here: The cable companies that partially subsidize them in order to lure subscribers don't want you walking over to your (non-subscriber) friend's house and throwing "Game of Thrones" up on the big screen via Apple TV.

The whole "let me pay for it!" debate has been well-covered elsewhere: In short, HBO probably couldn't make a living charging individual subscribers for content, especially on a per-show basis. How could they produce new material without the guarantee of N-million monthly subscribers? And cable/fiber/satellite companies who help promote their service?

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Airplay has an audible delay that is hard to compensate over 2 devices, so the feature makes no sense at all.

Maybe I don't understand what you're saying, but iOS corrects for the audio delay of AirPlay audio streaming.

I don't have an AppleTV, but I do have an AirPortExpress. Streaming video to iOS with audio on my home stereo works great, with the video on the device synced with the AirPlay audio.

Yeah, I have no idea what he is talking about, I have two AirPort Expresses, and an AppleTV, and AirPlay is the only wireless audio protocol I've yet found that actually gets the audio sync right, every time.

I use AirPlay from my MacPro over wifi to a Klipsch Gallery G-17. With iTunes, it 'just works'. With AirPlay as the default 'Output' sound for the whole OS (new in Mt. Lion I think), it definitely has sync/delay issues. The delay is nearly 2 seconds for something (like hitting 'vol up' on the keyboard).

Not every time. Maybe on Apple-only hardware (although I think audio from games wasn't synced perfectly when I tried with AirPort Express).

But if you use audio equipment with licensed AirPlay made by companies who don't get these computers thingies, such as Philips or Marantz, it's worse. My Marantz AV receiver introduces 6-or-so seconds(!) of delay into music playback and that's one of the better ones.

Ahh, I imagine it's completely likely that non-apple hardware just ignores any of the sync commands.

The cable companies that partially subsidize them in order to lure subscribers don't want you walking over to your (non-subscriber) friend's house and throwing "Game of Thrones" up on the big screen via Apple TV.

I don't get that. I would think the cable companies would pay you to walk over to your (non-subscriber) friend's house and give a taste of what they could have anytime if they subscribed. Or are you talking about sharing your password so they could watch more shows after you leave?

No one ever claimed that the cable companies were analyzing the costs and benefits of new features rationally.

Regarding the À la carte / "let me pay for it"; keep in mind that historically HBO sells their content to cable companies - they don't have the support infrastructure to go "direct to consumers" at that scale yet (though I think there is some limited HBO GO support at present). Additionally, I'm not sure how thrilled their currently customers/cable companies would be about HBO going direct - essentially opening up a channel for getting content without the need for a cable subscription. I'm not at all saying it's a bad idea, but I think HBO is in the very early stages of flushing out the kinks...

How many people tried to stream stuff and thought that there was something wrong with their tv or ipad because only audio worked?

At the very least they should advise the user that they can only airplay the audio, but even still, it's not good.

They can't sell it and they can't not sell it (the days where new people brought packages are over, giving how easy it is to download it). They are simply making great shows and acting irrational about the business.

the days where new people brought packages are over

You know HBO subscriptions are up, right?

So is piracy on their shows.

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