The Lightning Digital AV Adapter Surprise

#1

Post by pkartistry » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 12:11 AM UTC

The Lightning Digital AV Adapter Surprise
panic.com

Re: The Lightning Digital AV Adapter Surprise

#2

Post by zacharyvoase » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 12:38 AM UTC

Most cables that adapt signals from one format to another are 'active' (that is, contain a microcontroller). c.f.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_cable

Re: The Lightning Digital AV Adapter Surprise

#3

Post by drivebyacct2 » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 1:40 AM UTC

Someone is very confused as to what "AirPlay" is. This doesn't make any sense. AirPlay is a network protocol tied to mDNS/Bonjour. There's no way the Lightning controller is supporting an entire network stack plus video transcription. Calling this only half-thought-out seems generous. I thought it was well known that these were smart cables. Thunderbolt is the same way. At best the SoC is some sort of smarter adapter.

Re: The Lightning Digital AV Adapter Surprise

#4

Post by supercoder » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 1:41 AM UTC

I think they're way off on the theory the cable is running iOS.

I think what's most likely is the phone is putting out a h264 stream and the chip is just decoding it. Rather than a whole ios stack & AirPlay protocol.

Sure this shares some similarities with how AirPlay works (showing a h264 stream from the device ) but wouldn't require a whole system on a chip just for showing this feed.

Re: The Lightning Digital AV Adapter Surprise

#5

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 1:49 AM UTC

supercoder wrote: post #4

I think they're way off on the theory the cable is running iOS. I think what's most likely is the phone is putting out a h264 stream and the chip is just decoding it. Rather than a whole ios stack & AirPlay protocol. Sure this shares some similarities with how AirPlay works (showing a h264 stream from the device ) but wouldn't require a whole system on a chip just for showing this feed.

[deleted]

Re: The Lightning Digital AV Adapter Surprise

#6

Post by tptacek » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 2:14 AM UTC

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #3

Someone is very confused as to what "AirPlay" is. This doesn't make any sense. AirPlay is a network protocol tied to mDNS/Bonjour. There's no way the Lightning controller is supporting an entire network stack plus video transcription. Calling this only half-thought-out seems generous. I thought it was well known that these were smart cables. Thunderbolt is the same way. At best the SoC is some sort of smarter adapter…

You think Cabel Sasser doesn't know what Airplay is?

Re: The Lightning Digital AV Adapter Surprise

#7

Post by drivebyacct2 » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 2:16 AM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #6

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #3

Someone is very confused as to what "AirPlay" is. This doesn't make any sense. AirPlay is a network protocol tied to mDNS/Bonjour. There's no way the Lightning controller is supporting an entire network stack plus video transcription. Calling this only half-thought-out seems generous. I thought it was well known that these were smart cables. Thunderbolt is the same way. At best the SoC is some sort of smarter adapter…

You think Cabel Sasser doesn't know what Airplay is?

I honestly don't know. Someone is somehow implying that the adapter is implementing a full stack capable of being an AirPlay receiver and transcoding video on the fly. I think Cabel is wrong or has explained what they think is occuring incorrectly. /shrug

Re: The Lightning Digital AV Adapter Surprise

#8

Post by acgourley » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 2:17 AM UTC

supercoder wrote: post #4

I think they're way off on the theory the cable is running iOS. I think what's most likely is the phone is putting out a h264 stream and the chip is just decoding it. Rather than a whole ios stack & AirPlay protocol. Sure this shares some similarities with how AirPlay works (showing a h264 stream from the device ) but wouldn't require a whole system on a chip just for showing this feed.

Right, definitely just the video transport part of AirPlay. This is exactly how Miracast works too, except that's over a direct wifi connection between 2 devices.

Re: The Lightning Digital AV Adapter Surprise

#9

Post by tptacek » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 2:18 AM UTC

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #7

tptacek wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think Cabel Sasser doesn't know what Airplay is?

I honestly don't know. Someone is somehow implying that the adapter is implementing a full stack capable of being an AirPlay receiver and transcoding video on the fly. I think Cabel is wrong or has explained what they think is occuring incorrectly. /shrug

Sorry, I don't mean to sound like I'm attacking. Was seriously asking.

Re: The Lightning Digital AV Adapter Surprise

#10

Post by drivebyacct2 » Sat, Mar 02, 2013, 2:21 AM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #9

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly don't know. Someone is somehow implying that the adapter is implementing a full stack capable of being an AirPlay receiver and transcoding video on the fly. I think Cabel is wrong or has explained what they think is occuring incorrectly. /shrug

Sorry, I don't mean to sound like I'm attacking. Was seriously asking.

No, I understand. "Someone is confused about AirPlay" was more accusatory than I meant. I genuinely don't know if Cabel knows much about AirPlay, I only know what I know from working with it and uPnP/DLNA for the last some months, and it made this seem unlikely to me. He may well know more than I and I learn something new and useful. :)

Based on the anonymous comment in this thread and this tweet, I'm potentially happy to eat my words. https://twitter.com/jmreid/status/306987650001301505