AirVideoEnabler ready for jailbroken iPhones/iPads, streams video to Apple TV

Apple's much-awaited AirPlay service disappointed a lot of users when it shipped without API access for third-party apps -- you can only send video from iOS devices out to the Apple TV from Apple-blessed apps like Video and YouTube. But that hasn't stopped hackers from trying to figure out how to share more video across that AirPlay connection, and here they've gone and done it. Above, you can see a jailbreak app called AirVideoEnabler in action, that will push out video from any iOS app (including Safari) to the Apple TV. The app was supposed to be for sale in the Cydia store, but the creator, TUAW commenter Zone-MR, says he's decided to make it free instead. You can add it from his repo, or look for it on your favorite repository soon.

Of course, the catch here is that you'll need to be running a jailbroken iOS device, which means it can't really be a mainstream patch in terms of fixing Apple's AirPlay deficiencies. And if, like our own Victor Agreda, you wanted to stream this video to anything other than an Apple TV (like a MacBook or any other connected device), this solution won't help you there, either.

But it's a sharp demonstration of what the hacker community can do, even over Thanksgiving weekend. Maybe if it's this simple for Zone-MR to pull off, Apple will see fit to bless the AirPlay APIs for use in App Store apps soon.