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Demo of iPad's AirPlay Mirroring in iOS 5

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Apr 12, 2001
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airplay_mirroring_ipad_2.jpg

One of the new iOS 5 features quickly touched on by Apple yesterday in its iOS 5 introduction was AirPlay Mirroring for the iPad 2, enabling users to wirelessly transmit the on-screen content of the device to an Apple TV for display on a television. The iPad 2 currently supports display mirroring via a Digital AV Adapter that provides a wired connection to a TV via HDMI.

One of the criticisms of the wired mirroring has been the cumbersome nature of the dongle and cable hanging off of the end of the device, particularly when it comes to games and other apps that require movement of the device for input purposes. Consequently, AirPlay Mirroring should be a significant boon to those looking to display their iPad content on the larger screen, especially if lag is minimal.

While the AirPlay Mirroring is a fairly basic concept in principle, this YouTube video is still an interesting look at the functionality:

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And while the video does not directly address how much lag there is, the poster notes that the feature "works beautifully".

Update: And here is another video:



Article Link: Demo of iPad's AirPlay Mirroring in iOS 5
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/07/demo-of-ipads-airplay-mirroring-in-ios-5/
MacRumors said:
[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


Image


One of the new iOS 5 features quickly touched on by Apple yesterday in its iOS 5 introduction was AirPlay Mirroring for the iPad 2, enabling users to wirelessly transmit the on-screen content of the device to an Apple TV for display on a television. The iPad 2 currently supports display mirroring via a Digital AV Adapter that provides a wired connection to a TV via HDMI.

One of the criticisms of the wired mirroring has been the cumbersome nature of the dongle and cable hanging off of the end of the device, particularly when it comes to games and other apps that require movement of the device for input purposes. Consequently, AirPlay Mirroring should be a significant boon to those looking to display their iPad content on the larger screen, especially if lag is minimal.

While the AirPlay Mirroring is a fairly basic concept in principle, this YouTube video is still an interesting look at the functionality:

YouTube: video">​
And while the video does not directly address how much lag there is, the poster notes that the feature "works beautifully".

Article Link: Demo of iPad's AirPlay Mirroring in iOS 5
Click to expand...
This is so cool. Wonder why it's iPad specific? Resolution?
 
Just iPad 2? No iPad 1 or iphone 4 support? Really hoping to hold out till iPad 3 for an upgrade but this might change that plan.
 
Is this via AppleTV only? Or can it be done on a PC via iTunes?

I could see some potential applications for this in teaching - using a projector on the classroom computer - and being able to wirelessly show what I am doing on my iPad.
 
I never expected this. Video is one thing—it’s already compressed, so I might have guessed it could be transmitted a lot more easily than asking the iPad to compress its own live image on the fly, while using its RAM and CPU to run the app as well!

There has to be at least some lag, and some processor overhead. It’s like VNC essentially. I doubt fast games would work well (maybe puzzle games and turn-based strategy?) but lots of uses don’t demand lightning speed.

This sounds great! I’d use it to show web pages, for sure, and maybe for design sketching with Procreate or whatever.


kppolich said:
sounded like apple tv only during the keynote yesterday
Click to expand...

Yes. Still, some enterprising hacker might figure out how to receive the transmission on a Mac/PC which would be awesome! Especially since my main TV is an iMac.
 
Meh...

Its cool, but i was hoping for more interaction. i have to look down at my ipad the entire time.. ..

I guess i don't want mirroring, i want it to be my controller and watch/play via tv screen.
 
Looks like this will work with slingplayer and the cablevision app. Now I don't need a DVR for my bedroom.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8J2)

Now it's perfectly clear why 4:3 was a bad idea for the iPhone/iPad!
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_8 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8E401 Safari/6533.18.5)

mikekow80 said:
Just iPad 2? No iPad 1 or iphone 4 support? Really hoping to hold out till iPad 3 for an upgrade but this might change that plan.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly!
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/534.32 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

Great! This looks fantastic, - BUT, does anybody know if this requires both iOS Devices on 5.0?
Or I'd it just the iPad that's needed on iOS5?

Looking forward to doing this..
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/534.32 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

Maybe the ATV has to be on the iOS5 beta too? I've tried it with mine. But I don't have a Micro USB cable to update the ATV software :(
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/534.32 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

Could anybody confirm this?
 
Question to someone who is actually running this setup:
What resolution is the iPad2 content displayed at?

I assume that the screenshots/videos I've seen are all on 1080p televisions since I see black bars around the iPad image. And it also looks like the image isn't stretched to fill more of the screen since there are even bars on the top and bottom, not just left and right. (yes, I fully understand there'd always be bars on the left/right to account for the 16:9 vs. 4:3 ratio difference)

But I ask the resolution question because the Apple TV's specs say it outputs 720p (1280x720p). How does it do the 768 part of the iPad's 1024x768 resolution? Are 48 pixels cropped off the iPad's image? Does it squish the image down to 1024x720? Does it actually show 768 rows of pixels and thus the 720p limit is in fact a software limit that's ignored for iPad mirroring?
 
whoami said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8J2)

Now it's perfectly clear why 4:3 was a bad idea for the iPhone/iPad!
Click to expand...
Yes, because airplay mirroring is the most case scenario for both devices.
 
eplekjekk said:
Yes, because airplay mirroring is the most case scenario for both devices.
Click to expand...
Well, even if Apple really insisted that a 4:3 ratio was the most ergonomic or whatever for the optimum tablet experience (sometimes I agree that 16:9 feels too wide when you hold it), they could have at least picked a resolution that aligned better with the rest of the digital world, like 1440x1080.
 
redscull said:
Well, even if Apple really insisted that a 4:3 ratio was the most ergonomic or whatever for the optimum tablet experience (sometimes I agree that 16:9 feels too wide when you hold it), they could have at least picked a resolution that aligned better with the rest of the digital world, like 1440x1080.
Click to expand...

That's a point I agree a bit more with. I love my iPad, but since I recently got the iPhone 4, it's momentarily a downer returning to the iPad and the dpi it got.

But, it's probably not easy guessing every scenario and possibilities for a product that have been many years in the making.
 
PackFan said:
Is this via AppleTV only? Or can it be done on a PC via iTunes?

I could see some potential applications for this in teaching - using a projector on the classroom computer - and being able to wirelessly show what I am doing on my iPad.
Click to expand...

It's AppleTV only at this point.

hawaiipoolman said:
does the atv2 need to be updated to a beta, or just the ipad2?
Click to expand...

There is an update to the AppleTV that is only available to IOS developers.

slidingjon said:
I have iPad2 with iOS 5 beta and an AppleTV2, but the option to do mirroring is not there. Any suggestions?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Assuming that you have updated your AppleTV to the beta version, when you swipe to get to the Airplay option, you will see an indented option under your AppleTV that turns the mirroring on.

JUiCEJamie said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/534.32 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

Great! This looks fantastic, - BUT, does anybody know if this requires both iOS Devices on 5.0?
Or I'd it just the iPad that's needed on iOS5?

Looking forward to doing this..
Click to expand...

iPad must be on IOS 5 and AppleTV updated with beta version of OS (don't remember the version)

ricosuave said:
Does the ATV need to have it's UDID registered?
Click to expand...

No

redscull said:
Question to someone who is actually running this setup:
What resolution is the iPad2 content displayed at?

I assume that the screenshots/videos I've seen are all on 1080p televisions since I see black bars around the iPad image. And it also looks like the image isn't stretched to fill more of the screen since there are even bars on the top and bottom, not just left and right. (yes, I fully understand there'd always be bars on the left/right to account for the 16:9 vs. 4:3 ratio difference)

But I ask the resolution question because the Apple TV's specs say it outputs 720p (1280x720p). How does it do the 768 part of the iPad's 1024x768 resolution? Are 48 pixels cropped off the iPad's image? Does it squish the image down to 1024x720? Does it actually show 768 rows of pixels and thus the 720p limit is in fact a software limit that's ignored for iPad mirroring?
Click to expand...

On my Sony Bravia it looks pretty much like the picture at the top of this thread, except that I have some black banding at the top and bottom. I'm sure if I play around with it, I can get rid of those. It doesn't seem as crisp as when I use the HDMI dongle and definitely laggier.

It is pretty cool to play around with, although it is pretty laggy. I don't think it would work well at this point for playing games. It is cool though. :)
 
Last edited:
Can it show where your fingers are touching...

It would be really helpful if the mirroring function could show a ghost of the gestures/touches that are happening on the iPad. Especially for demonstrating and discussing apps in school.

Also it would be great if there was some easy way to record the activity on the screen (with the touch images too) for demos.
 
tpelton said:
It would be really helpful if the mirroring function could show a ghost of the gestures/touches that are happening on the iPad. Especially for demonstrating and discussing apps in school.

Also it would be great if there was some easy way to record the activity on the screen (with the touch images too) for demos.
Click to expand...

That would be great. I actually initially figured the HDMI dongle would be a great way to show somebody else how to use certain programs, but when I actually went to do that, I had to keep showing them my iPad and say, click on this and swipe that etc... Kind of defeats the purpose.
 
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