Confirmed: FaceTime for iPad 2 works with video out
This morning, fellow TUAW blogger Erica Sadun and I both played with the video out features of the new iPad 2. While Erica discovered that something is preventing her iPad 2 from working properly with the video mirroring function that is supposed to work with all of the various video adapters (HDMI, Composite, Component and VGA) for the device, I was able to get mirroring of everything on my iPad just by plugging in the VGA Adapter. TiPb's Rene Ritchie verified that video mirroring was plug and play for him with all of the adapters as well.
While that means a lot for all of us who demonstrate apps on the iPad, it means even more for people who use FaceTime or other video conferencing apps. We were able to confirm that FaceTime on the iPad 2 can be mirrored to another display. By pushing the video out to a big screen HDTV, for example, you can now share a FaceTime session with a group or the family.
This is going to kill the market for Cisco's $500 "ūmi telepresence" device, which turns a big screen TV into a home teleconferencing tool. Sure, the ūmi is about the same price as an entry-level iPad 2, but the ūmi also requires a $99 annual service fee. FaceTime on an iPad 2? Free. ūmi has better resolution than FaceTime does, providing full 1080p video calling over the somewhat lo-res FaceTime image on the iPad, but the iPad can do so much more than just do teleconferencing. It may be time for Cisco spokesperson Ellen Page to get a new gig.
Erica and I also discussed the fact that by feeding the iPad 2's video mirror into a capture device, such as an Elgato Video Capture, it would be possible to grab fairly high quality movies of an iPad screen for training or demonstration purposes. Video mirroring FTW!
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This morning, fellow TUAW blogger Erica Sadun and I both played with the video out features of the new iPad 2. While Erica discovered...
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Hate to be that guy, but wasn't this implied, when Apple stated that Video Mirroring works with all apps?
March 20 2011 at 3:03 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHmmm... this gets me thinking: Now with the iPad 2, Skype will at last do a nice client for the big screen....
March 16 2011 at 10:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHow about Kinect? Lower price tag, much better features, always TV-connected but much more power-consuming.
Have you seen this? Head tracking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBsTimrYTIQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=154s
it does work but.... of course requires a jailbreak but yes you can definitely do this with a iphone 4 been doing it for months now, you need the app "mirror out 2 tv" and if you have a old ipod cable the app "re-supported" will let you use it, i actually use it to face time in my car on my video monitor but it works on any tv as well
March 16 2011 at 4:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplySince you guys are testing..
Can you try and do the following
1) dual mirror with HDMI and say VGA on the HDMI 30pin passthrough
2) plugging in the camera adaptor to the 30pin passthrough
Plugging (2) into a dock
I'm really keen to see if this stuff works but may have to wait months to find out being international and what with current shipping times.
Would like to see AirPlay enabled with FaceTime.
March 15 2011 at 5:32 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply"by feeding the iPad 2's video mirror into a capture device such as a Elgato Video Capture, it would be possible to grab fairly high quality movies of an iPad screen for training or demonstration purposes."
Since the Elgato Video capture device only allows analog composite video or S-video input, and as far as I know there is no adapter that gets S-video out of an iOS device, you're going to be limited to composite video.
I've tried this with my iPhone 4 and the Elgato device, and can report that the quality is roughly equal to VHS videotape. As with VHS, saturated colors--especially reds and magentas--bleed badly. Text at normal sizes is often too blurry to read. There may be a training scenario where video of this quality would be acceptable, but I doubt most people would be happy with it.
Yeah, the capture size is 640x480. And no component cable option, let alone HDMI. I've been searching for a good quality solution and the best I've come up with is this:
http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/h264prorecorder/
Of course, it's pricy and not yet available, but it sounds like it will enable the kind of quality that an HDMI feed can offer.
Nothing new as we, Deaf people, already have Video Phone for more than 10 years.
March 15 2011 at 2:47 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyPresumably, you can mirror with the rear camera as well? If so, the video feed into a recorder would produce higher quality video.
Roll-on iPhone5 (hopefully this feature will appear on that device).
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