DOES BANANA TV SUPPORT OS X LION?
YES. The current build works with Lion.
DOES BANANA TV SUPPORT iOS 5?
NO. We have ceased development, and will not be supporting iOS 5. You'll need greater than or equal to iOS 4.2, and less than iOS 5 to use Banana TV.
DOES BANANA TV SUPPORT AUDIO-ONLY STREAMING?
As of version 1.0.5, yes it does!
WHY DON'T I SEE THE BANANA TV SERVICE ON MY DEVICE?
Make sure you're on the same Wi-Fi network (not 3G, EDGE, or GPRS), that Banana TV is running, and that you're trying to send a video (not audio). Not all third party applications support AirPlay streaming, although many more will start supporting AirPlay in iOS 4.3.
Netgear routers (and possibly others) have a setting called "Wireless Isolation" which needs to be turned OFF in order for Banana TV to work. When enabled, this setting disallows any wireless connections access to your wired computers.
WHEN I PLAY A MOVIE INSIDE THE PHOTOS APPLICATION, BANANA TV SEEMS TO LOSE MY CONNECTION. WHAT'S GOING ON?
Unfortunately, Apple just recently implemented AirPlay support for movie playback in Photos and it doesn't seem to send a proper photo or play request once playback has ended. Wait a few seconds and then try disconnecting and reconnecting to Banana TV.
HOW DO I KNOW IF MY AIRPLAY CONNECTION IS SENDING THROUGH AUDIO OR VIDEO?
The small icon to the left of the service name indicates what data is sent. A small TV is used for video, and a speaker icon represents audio-only (AirTunes) connections.
I INITIALLY DON'T HEAR ANYTHING WHEN PLAYING THROUGH MUSIC OR OTHER AUDIO.
Try de-selecting the Banana TV server and re-selecting it again if you experience this.
I TRIED DESELECT/RE-SELECT AND STILL DON'T HEAR ANYTHING WHEN PLAYING THROUGH MUSIC OR OTHER AUDIO.
Launch the terminal application and enter the following line followed by a return:
tail -300 /var/log/system.log | open -f
The last 300 lines of your system log will open in TextEdit. Scan through the end of that file to see if you see Banana TV reporting "Underflow" issues. Underflow means that not enough data is being sent through from your iOS device to Banana TV to play audio in real time. Check your Wi-Fi connection quality.
WHERE'S THE BANANA?
We made the banana black and white now, it's no longer yellow, but should appear on the right side of the menu bar in Finder.
CAN I USE BANANA TV WITH AN AD-HOC CONNECTION IF I'M NOT NEAR A WI-FI HOT SPOT?
Sure you can. Enable AirPort on your Mac and choose AirPort > Create Network, enter a new name, and allow the network to establish (just a few seconds). Connect to that from your iOS device and use Banana TV as normal.
WHY ARE MY PHOTOS BEING SENT SIDEWAYS/UPSIDE DOWN?
Unfortunately, the orientation information that is normally embedded into an image's metadata is not sent with current versions of AirPlay. You can use the reorientation options in the Banana TV menu to accommodate for this.
WHY DOESN'T BANANA TV START AT THE RIGHT POINT DURING PLAYBACK?
Data has to be buffered properly on the receiving device. To make playback happen immediately, Banana TV currently starts as soon as it can rather than waiting for the playback location to load. We're working on improving this! Keep your eyes, well, peeled!
WHY DO SOME VIDEOS OPEN IN QUICKTIME PLAYER?
Although you can choose to open all videos in QuickTime Player as an option, videos that use content protection must open in QuickTime Player. This allows your computer to authorize playback for those videos.
WHY DO SOME VIDEOS NOT PLAY PROPERLY, ESPECIALLY RENTED ONES?
Video that use digital rights management must be authorized on your computer. If your computer is not authorized, those videos cannot play back regardless of whether you open them in QuickTime Player or in Banana TV.
Apple TV uses a special authorization scheme to bypass computer-specific authorization issues. Apple has not shared those private keys and because of that, Banana TV cannot play back any DRM video that is not authorized.
WHY CAN'T I PLAY SLIDESHOWS ANYMORE?
Banana TV does not yet support the updated Apple TV slideshow protocol, which remains fluid and developing at this time. You can use the Photos application to play each photo individually but pressing the Play button will start the new as-yet unsupported Slideshow mode.
WHY DO CHAPTERED VIDEOS SOMETIMES HAVE TROUBLE?
This, too, is due to an evolving AirPlay protocol. Stay tuned.
HOW DO I LEAVE FULLSCREEN MODE?
Press Command-F to toggle between Full Screen and regular playback mode, or tap ESC to hop out of full screen mode.
I GET A BLACK SCREEN / NOTHING HAPPENS.
Please enable "Show Controls during Playback" and disable "Always open in QuickTime Player".
OCCASIONALLY AIRTUNES-TO-BANANA-TV (BANANATUNES) LOSES TRACK OF MY VOLUME SLIDER.
If this happens to you, quickly switch back to your iPad and then back to Banana TV. It should fix the problem.
WHY DON'T I HAVE TO PRESS START TO START THE BONJOUR SERVICE?
Banana TV automatically starts advertising itself on Bonjour when you run the application. Very early releases of the application had a separate start button. That no longer is needed.
WILL BANANA TV AFFECT MY SYSTEM AUDIO?
No.
HOW DO I CHECK TO SEE IF BANANA TV IS ACTIVE AND A VALID AIRPLAY DESTINATION?
Make sure your iOS devices are on the same wireless network as Banana TV and check if it shows up in the Photos or YouTube app as an AirPlay option. You can also use Bonjour Browser to check. Banana TV broadcasts as an _airplay._tcp. service.
PICTURES SHOW UP AND THEN DISAPPEAR. WHAT DO I DO?
If you hear audio but do not see an image, you have closed the Banana TV playback window. Select Banana TV > Media Window (Command-1) from the OS X menu bar to re-open the window. Enabling "Show Controls During Playback" allows you to view the load progress for videos in the Media Window.
I USE A FIREWALL. WHAT PORTS SHOULD I OPEN FOR BANANA TV?
Open ports 7000-7020.
OMG OMG A FEATURE ISN'T WORKING RIGHT!
We're constantly working on improving and tuning Banana TV. Please use the bug report/feature request option in the main menu to let us know what's going on. We'll try to fix it -- and if we can't, we'll try to update this FAQ to explain why.