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iPad 2 video mirroring to Mac, the cheap and dirty way

by Steven Sande Mar 25th 2011 at 4:00PM

Earlier this week, I wrote a lengthy post about how Erica Sadun and I were struggling to find a way to capture video from an iPad 2 on a Mac. Erica wanted to do screencasts, my goal was to have a good way to grab live video from an iPad 2 and broadcast it on TUAW TV Live. We both had a secondary requirement -- whatever the solution ended up being, it had to be inexpensive.

We had received many good comments from readers with possible solutions, but many of them were above our respective budgets. Erica spent countless hours searching around Amazon, looking for the perfect solution. When she finally limped in, exhausted, dehydrated, and dropped the all-important Amazon link at my feet, I knew that we had solved the puzzle. That final piece of the puzzle showed up yesterday afternoon, and I'm now able to grab video from the iPad 2 for about $104.

It's certainly not a high resolution answer to my video capture needs, but it does the job. We're simply looking for a real-time presentation and recording option, and we have it. The pieces are as follows (from right to left in the photo):

  • Apple VGA Adapter ($29.00) -- This is connected to the iPad 2, of course. The other end is connected to...
  • Sewell PC to TV Converter ($37.95) -- This was the missing piece. This box has a VGA input on one side and composite video out on the other. That composite video goes to...
  • Geniatech iGrabber ($36.99) -- This is the part that plugs into the Mac's USB port, and uses a proprietary app to display the incoming video on the Mac's display.

In case you're wondering, this setup also captures the audio from the iPad. While I wouldn't recommend this for developing professional screencasts -- Screencasts Online host Don McAllister uses a $449 Matrox MX02 Mini to input HD video from the Apple Digital AV Adapter -- the video is sufficiently clear for my purposes. Take a look at the video on the next page for a sample of what this affordable solution can provide.

While this approach is limited to 640x480/SD resolution for capture, in theory you could step it up to 1024x768 by using a different Sewell converter ($80 vs. $38, or similarly priced boxes from Pyle or Startech) and connecting it to the component inputs of the EyeTV HD ($199). Obviously that's quite a bit more expensive, but it will be our next experiment and we'll report in with the results.



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Earlier this week, I wrote a lengthy post about how Erica Sadun and I were struggling to find a way to capture video from an iPad 2 on...
 

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23 Comments

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Grace

Important: I just notice Matrox MXO2 mini doesn't work with iMacs. Now trying to find a solution who does work with the iMac :(

April 05 2011 at 12:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Grace

I am very very curious about the EyeTV HD ($199) solution. Hopefully you're able to test it soon!

March 30 2011 at 11:46 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
SProda

No luck again. Here is the actual text from the apple discussions:

Update:
I was able to connect my iPad 2 to Black Magic Intensity Pro HDMI PCI Express card and to view the iPad screen on Media Express application using HD 720p 60 (fps) setting.
Now, I need to figure out which application to use to get the Full Screen image of the iPad, as the Media Express preview is relatively small. If anyone has any idea, please advise.

Thanks
www.ezderm.com

March 29 2011 at 6:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
SProda

Please enter the &#13307515 instead of the question mark, as the software obviously is truncating my link :-(

March 29 2011 at 6:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
SProda

I was able to use Black Magic Intensity Pro card: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=13307515&#13307515

I hope this helps,

www.ezderm.com

March 29 2011 at 6:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to SProda's comment
SProda

Sorry, the above link is
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=13307515&#13307515

March 29 2011 at 6:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gustovier

No no no....

You get the apple digital av adapter and then go hdmi into the new hauppage colossus card ($145)

March 26 2011 at 2:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Zenlike

Why didn't you just got an Blackmagic Intensity Card (http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/)?
Ok, it's $199, but you get HD for your money....

March 26 2011 at 1:39 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
GrizzlyAdams

Another solution: Apple's HDMI adapter, and a Blackmagic Design Intensity card. You pay a bit more ($39 for the HDMI adapter, and $199 for the Intensity Pro or Shuttle), but you get pixel perfect results.

March 26 2011 at 12:57 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ron

How about these tips from the folks at Boinx, which by the way would make a great video effects switcher for your podcasts as well?

- Apple Digital AV Adapter and an HDMI cable and to a Matrox MXO 2
-

See more info, a diagram, and a video (in German) here:

http://www.boinx.com/chronicles/2011/3/22/demoing-ipad-apps-with-boinxtv/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boinx+%28Boinx+Chronicles%29

March 25 2011 at 7:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Ron's comment
Ron

Nevermind, it looks like that's an expensive solution...

March 25 2011 at 7:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
frank.lowney

From my limited experience, it appears that iDemo running on a Mac presents the best looking visual representation of the iPhone or iPad for screencasting because it also shows the device as a frame and that can be rotated. The iDemo app gets video either from ScreenSplitr (free) or Display Recorder (not free), both available from Cydia. I currently use ScreenSplitr but would like to try Display Recorder next as I hear that it is faster and has more features.

Apple continues to keep the API used by these apps private. I suppose that is to appease the media moguls though that's rather perfunctory. Even with an iPad One, I have a composite cable and can run that to a Sony DVMC and, from there, to my Mac via Firewire to record whatever the Videos app (or other video out supporting app) is playing with iMovie.

Making screencasting difficult hurts Apple more than anyone else IMHO. They are loosing a lot of the buzz that screencasters would create.

March 25 2011 at 6:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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