Denon and Marantz release AirPlay update for $49

Looking at the Denon site, it seems they only support audio, *not* video.

@Jessie
Airport Express solves the Airplay problem and has none of the issues you describe....and you can use it for a lot more than Airplay streaming. I have a couple that I bought used for $50 each.

Anyway, I don't own Denon or Marantz, and after reading this I'm less likely to. Promising a free update and then shipping it late for a $49 fee is extremely poor form. Nice job guys.

Awesome, been looking forward to this. I purchased an AVR-991 a couple months back that I've been really happy with, and this is going make it even better.

$49 for a software update seems steep at first glance, but it's not just a simple firmware update (which when released, are offered at no charge). This update actually adds an additional function to the receiver that it did not have in the first place, nor was it sold to me as being an Airplay device so it's not too unreasonable as far as I'm concerned. If you think about it, the only other way to add a feature /function when you have existing equipment has been to replace it with a new component all together, which would obviously cost a whole lot more.

"Is this even necessary with Apple TV integrated into my system?"

Neccessary no, more convenient for listening to music? Defintely. I have the new Apple TV but I'm still going to spring for this update. It will allow me to listen to and browse my music with a little less hassle as it's not going to require my TV being on for browsing, since I'll be able to browse and control my entire itunes library from my iPhone.

Previously I've been getting the music going, and then turning the TV off, which results in the Apple TV pausing the music because the HDMI stream hiccups (this is inherent in how HDMI works as the audio is embedded in the video, and it is not Apple's fault). Then to select something else to listen to, I'm having to turn the TV on again to switch music, and then turn it off again, etc. So what I end up with is a whole lot of hitting the play button blindly for the Apple TV in order to un-pause the music after I've turned my TV off. Yes, sometimes a guy just wants to kick back and listen to music without watching picture slides, okay? Okay.

(yes I realize that I could use the optical Toslink out of the Apple TV into a seperate input on my receiver rather than passing the HDMI through, but I'm not interested in going that route, and I much prefer to browse my itunes library from my iPhone vs. relying on my TV.)

Just buy a $99 Airport Express or a $99 Apple TV and then there's no need for this software update, plus you'll be able to use AirPlay with anything that has an audio input. I'm all for simplifying things, but this is a ripoff.

$49???!!! My God... Crazy times we're living now...

Yes. def a rip off. Is this even necessary with Apple TV integrated into my system?

Any report of blu-ray players that will support AirPlay? I need to buy a new disc player with HDMI output and my new TiVo already supports Netflix streaming and Amazon rentals, so being able to stream content from Apple devices from something besides an Apple TV would eliminate the need for another $100 box. I'm sure that's not what Apple wants, but hey, if it's an open standard...

What a rip off, $49 for a software update, they can go jump of a cliff!

$49?!