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EugW

macrumors G5
Original poster
Jun 18, 2017
14,680
12,608
Has anyone tried Sidecar on multiple different iPads? Does the quality differ, and if so, by how much? How does it compare to Duet Display and Luna Display? What about WiFi vs wired?

Also, what about the iPad Air 2? Developers keep saying that Apple's Sidecar implementation may be dependent upon HEVC encoding support on the most Mac, but it should be noted that Sidecar does work on the A8X-endowed iPad Air 2, even though that iPad does not support hardware HEVC decode. Consequently, it would be interesting to directly compare Sidecar on the iPad Air 2 (A8X, no hardware HEVC decode) vs the iPad 2017 (A9, hardware HEVC decode).
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,907
13,234
Also, what about the iPad Air 2? Developers keep saying that Apple's Sidecar implementation may be dependent upon HEVC encoding support on the most Mac, but it should be noted that Sidecar does work on the A8X-endowed iPad Air 2, even though that iPad does not support hardware HEVC decode. Consequently, it would be interesting to directly compare Sidecar on the iPad Air 2 (A8X, no hardware HEVC decode) vs the iPad 2017 (A9, hardware HEVC decode).
By the sound of it, it's the Mac that does the encoding to HEVC and to the iPad, it's just simple video playback.

I expect the Air 2 would just have high CPU utilization doing brute force/software HEVC decoding. I haven't actually tried HEVC playback on the Air 2. How heavy is it on the CPU?
 

ericwn

macrumors G5
Apr 24, 2016
12,113
10,903
Hm, at least with third party tools like screens it works as fluid on my Air 2 than on my Pro 12.9. That of course is a different technical implementation but I suspect the Air 2 will be fine.
 

EugW

macrumors G5
Original poster
Jun 18, 2017
14,680
12,608
By the sound of it, it's the Mac that does the encoding to HEVC and to the iPad, it's just simple video playback.

I expect the Air 2 would just have high CPU utilization doing brute force/software HEVC decoding. I haven't actually tried HEVC playback on the Air 2. How heavy is it on the CPU?
HEVC decode on the Air 2 is tough on it but considering it isn’t 4K and it’s likely a relatively lower complexity HEVC, it’s doable. It would kill battery life though so wired would be highly preferable. It could also cause it to get warm, esp. if it’s in a case.

It would be worse on the iPad mini 4 though. Much slower SoC and much smaller enclosure.
 
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