Use your iDevice as an extra display for your Mac • Hacker News Board

Re: Use your iDevice as an extra display for your Mac

#81

Post by drinchev » Mon, Dec 15, 2014, 6:34 PM UTC

iron_ball wrote: post #70

iancarroll wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a working download link in the footer, not sure why.

I downloaded the application, and it prompted a restart to install a driver, but did nothing further. duet.app does nothing when I open it, and plugging in my iPad does nothing either. Looks like we have to wait for the App Store release to install the iPad half of the app.

After installing, there is an icon in my menubar that says I should open duet on my iOS [1]. I believe we wait for the iOS app tomorrow and see what's the price and how this thing works

1: http://i.imgur.com/1fEHPLF.png

Re: Use your iDevice as an extra display for your Mac

#82

Post by xmr » Mon, Dec 15, 2014, 7:17 PM UTC

wodenokoto wrote: post #19

The iAccessories pictured looks really beautiful. Anyone know what brand it is?

If you like these you may also like Grovemade - http://grovemade.com. Initially I even thought it was from them.

Re: Use your iDevice as an extra display for your Mac

#83

Post by iamhenry » Mon, Dec 15, 2014, 7:35 PM UTC

I signed up for the newsletter and the download button appeared but it just hangs there and I can't download the app. How do I download the app?

Re: Use your iDevice as an extra display for your Mac

#84

Post by mistercow » Mon, Dec 15, 2014, 7:53 PM UTC

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #79

alexggordon wrote: post #55

I've been beta testing duet for about a month now. As a person that travels a lot, it's awesome. The developers have done an incredible job, and have been very responsive in fixing the bugs I've reported to them. However, a couple of things to note. Firstly, this is lag free, but still not something you should play videos on. I'm not sure what the framerate is, but I'd be surprised if it's over 30fps. I believe this…

They claim 60fps with no lag.

That figure could refer to "typical" usage, where most of the screen doesn't have to update.

Re: Use your iDevice as an extra display for your Mac

#85

Post by cooleyandy » Mon, Dec 15, 2014, 8:19 PM UTC

alexggordon wrote: post #55

I've been beta testing duet for about a month now. As a person that travels a lot, it's awesome. The developers have done an incredible job, and have been very responsive in fixing the bugs I've reported to them. However, a couple of things to note. Firstly, this is lag free, but still not something you should play videos on. I'm not sure what the framerate is, but I'd be surprised if it's over 30fps. I believe this…

This app would be pretty useful when the new bigger iPad comes out.

Re: Use your iDevice as an extra display for your Mac

#86

Post by eddieroger » Mon, Dec 15, 2014, 8:24 PM UTC

MagicWishMonkey wrote: post #71

eurleif wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is already built-in: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14264

Woah, do you know if this works with the new retina display iMacs?

At the risk of answering without a guaranteed answer, "probably not," given the amount of the power necessary to drive that screen and complex architecture inside the box to make it work. But Target Display Mode as a thing has been around for a while.

Re: Use your iDevice as an extra display for your Mac

#87

Post by rayiner » Mon, Dec 15, 2014, 8:33 PM UTC

If you want a proper external monitor to go with your laptop, invest in something like this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1021217-REG/asus_mb168....

Re: Use your iDevice as an extra display for your Mac

#88

Post by knd775 » Mon, Dec 15, 2014, 8:49 PM UTC

jscheel wrote: post #63

I know this is nit-picky, but Duet is not "the first app that allows you to use your iDevice as an extra display". It's not even the second. There's an opportunity here for better copy to differentiate themselves. Also, I've always thought this would reduce the life of your ipad. Has anyone noticed this?

How? Like the display burning out or something? Maybe something battery related?

Re: Use your iDevice as an extra display for your Mac

#89

Post by leehro » Mon, Dec 15, 2014, 8:50 PM UTC

This is really interesting technically, a couple tidbits I dug up looking in the mac app bundle:

1. There are a couple of OpenGL shaders in the bundle for converting the screen image to HDTV color space/format (420v.fgsh) and some kind of passthrough.

2. They appear to be using x264 to encode the screen with defaults of 1280x720, 1000kbit, superfast preset. (Defaults.plist)

So on the mac side, they're definitely capturing the screen and sending a streaming video. Not surprising, but the curious part is how they manage to get the iPad to stream in that data over USB. I suppose something like HTTP Live Streaming[1] could work. Place small files into the device's Documents area, and they get streamed. It would be awesome if something else was going on here - like a named pipe.

1. https://developer.apple.com/streaming/