HDMI out and gaming

[imjhonfre]

thanks a lot! im going to read it

[Connector]

Originally Posted by imjhonfre

hello, toucharcade comunity,

im starting this thread becasue id like play on my tv screen through hdmi, i dont know much about this so what could you tell me? my tv is samsung (not a smart tv, just a normal tv) it is LED technology, 32 inches, it has hdmi ins, pc/dvd in, audio and video ins (those ins that you use with your wii/xbox/ps1,2,3 etc). will any iphone-tv hdmi work?

how much are those "wires"? (im not american, maybe wire is not the right word and we dont use dollars here but itll give me an idea)

where are those sold? only on appstores?

any idea about its length?

ive heard people talking about "components" "AV" and hdmi (AV and components sounds strange, what are those)?

ps: i got an iphone 4s

Your tv is fine, it will work with hdmi.

Get this cable: 25 foot hdmi cable for $6.20.

http://www.amazon.com/Link-Depot-HDM...oot+hdmi+cable

This cable has worked for me. At first I was going to get a 15 foot cable, but man, now I am happy that I got the 25 foot cable as one person recommended, cause I use my ipad in more unexpected places than I thought. Plus you need a long cable so you don't get constrainted.

This generic cable is good quality, doesn't circle up, and has been very reliable, no problems even at 25 foot. Highly recommend it for $7. Don't get a 6 ft cable, your ipad needs space to move. Get the 25 foot even if you don't need the length now, it is plenty cheap and good.

For the hdmi connector, couldn't find a cheap alternative on amazon. I wouldn't risk a couple of bucks to get a china one and constantly getting a not recognized on my ipad errors or having other issues.

The ones in the applestore are probably your best bet. Make sure you get the right one cause they make new lightning connection ones too. They are around $40 at the applestore or online.

Hdmi is one standard which is the most recent, but in the old days, they had vga out, rca out, etc... But since hdmi is the latest and greatest for tv use, get it.

Nightc1 could probably help you with hdmi iphone 4s stuff. He just bought one. Please ask if you want any more info.

[Connector]

Nova 3

Airplay Game

Gameloft Duo Gamer Joystick

HDMI TV

New Ipad

Apple HDMI Adapter

25 ft HDMI Cable

[nightc1]

I just picked mine up through a seller on newegg.com. I think it was around $25. I grabbed a couple 25' HDMI cables to go with it but I gotta say at a desk that its far too long. 15' or 12' is better. 6 is fine though too depending on how close you sit. On the downstairs TV I just unhook the one from my appletv and use it and stand a couple feet back so it's like an arcade experience.

I'll post some new pics in the morning. Going to load up several games and try to get some better detail shots.

[nightc1]

Took 35 pics tonight (well more than that but I deleted a bunch). I'll sort through and post them in the morning. The best game by far was Pilots Path. Heck it let me set the resolution to full 720P. So no borders at all. I took some pics at a distance but got closer as well to show the detail. I played nearly all the way through after burner without even trying. That was hard to get a good pic due to the high action. In one of the levels near the end called clouds or something the HDMI side lagged while the regular display on the iPhone was perfect.

Anyway it's a bunch if different game pics. Hope it helps show off how the detail is IMO better or equal in many respects than even the iPad. Not trying to hurt anyone's feelings. iPhone 4S does HDMI out masterfully. Probably not having to push as massive a display helps.

[Connector]

Originally Posted by nightc1

Took 35 pics tonight (well more than that but I deleted a bunch). I'll sort through and post them in the morning. The best game by far was Pilots Path.

Anyway it's a bunch if different game pics. Hope it helps show off how the detail is IMO better or equal in many respects than even the iPad. Not trying to hurt anyone's feelings. iPhone 4S does HDMI out masterfully. Probably not having to push as massive a display helps.

Better??? Do you realize that ipad retina resolution is 2048x 1536 and iphone 4s resolution is 960x640??? How the heck can it be even close or better??? Ipad 2 is 1024x768, so even that resolution is better than the iphone.

1080p is 1920x1080, so ipad retina is far far better than 1080p. So ipad retina is downscaled to 1080p. The iphone 4s resolution is far worse, so it has to be upscaled to 1080p. Upscaling is always worse than downscaling.

And nothing I have seen from your screenshots even comes close to my ipad retina screenshots. Look at our Afterburner climax pictures, there is a huge difference in your pictures and mine. Anyway, it doesn't hurt my feelings one bit, and if you do post screenshots, we can compare some since I can take some more pictures. But remember I am taking pictures from a crappy iphone 4 with low low lighting in my room, so in real life, the hdmi ipad looks much better than what you see. I realize you somewhat have the same problem, but there is no way that ipad retina hdmi is worse than iphone 4s hdmi. No way possible.

Here is a screenshot of pilots path, we can compare from that to start. You realise it is an airplay game right? That is why it is full screen for all of us ios users. If you post some more pictures, I will try to take some to match. Try posting some iphone only and universal games. I have a feeling that running iphone only games on 2x mode is similar to what you are seeing. But maybe you can prove me wrong. Hehe

[september]

Originally Posted by Connector

Better??? Do you realize that ipad retina resolution is 2048x 1536 and iphone 4s resolution is 960x640??? How the heck can it be even close or better??? Ipad 2 is 1024x768, so even that resolution is better than the iphone.

Exactly, not to mention PPI of the screen. TV can hide some imperfections, but generally at an overall quality sacrifice, to some people it may look better but to others it'll be fairly obvious. But at the end of the day like they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so that's all that really matters I guess.

[syntheticvoid]

Thanks for the info Connector. Yes, I did get one of the cheap Chinese adapters... So that's probably what the problem is.

I am going to get the kids a "real" adapter for their birthdays (all 3 have birthdays in the spam of a month)... So I'll see if that makes a difference. Any clue if the official Apple adapters work on both the iPad and iPod/iPhone? Cause the cheap Chinese one I got only works on my iPad... Not with an iPod. =o/

I did get a top notch official cord... So that's all good, and our TV is a 44 inch with 1080p (not 1080i)... I might also get a lightning adapter for our new iPhones... See how those look...

Anywho... Thanks for all the great info in this thread... It's great knowing there's pretty much a whole support system here for HDMI iOS gaming. =oD

[nightc1]

It's hardware. What you see on the screen can be a different experience over what is shown on tv over hdmi. Go play some Pilots Path or Chopper 2. I see the same 720P image that an iPad owner does. Infact, I read somewhere that the max game resolution from any iDevice is 720p. My screen resolution on my device has little to do with what is going out over HDMI for those games that push hdtv resolutions. For non-optimized games, I'm getting 13.5:9 (1.5:1) aspect ratio instead of a 12:9 (4:3)... so for landscape gaming, I get a wider native image than what iPad puts out. It has skinnier black bars on a 16:9 tv because it's closer to that format. No matter how high res the iPad gets on it's own screen, it's still pushing a 4:3 image for unoptimized games.

Granted there will be HD versions of games on an iPad that'll just look better because they have more content on the screen or other tweaks. But comparing apples to apples (pun intended ) with the same software and stuff.. unless a dev makes special use of HDMI on iPad over iPhone... or turns off certain graphics or something... the iPhone version is by default closer to the aspect ratio of a standard widescreen tv. So squares and circles don't look like rectangles and capsules. See Manos below.

But putting all that aside for a moment, it's easier to hold an iphone as a controller for a long period of time. Period. You can say no, it's easy to hold an ipad and use it as a steering wheel for hours... but nay... nay I say. Yes there are exceptions where you can use a phone for a controller with an ipad or a separate controller.. but that is pretty scarcely supported.

..........onto the pics....

Getting pictures is tricky. I need to use a real camera next time instead of an iPodTouch4. None of these look as good as real life. The only reason I'm posting the lossy looking Pilot's Path image is just to show it's full widescreen at 720P. IT looks heavenly in person with the helicopter floating. So here's a list of what's below:

1. After Burner Climax - Fairly close shot to show some detail. This game moves blazing fast though... getting a good picture with an ipodtouch is a pain... I threw out about 15 or so pictures of this alone.

2. Pilot's Path - as mentioned, only showing because it's 720P. This is a terrible picture compared to real life where the details are crisp and vivid.

3. & 4. Manos The Hand of Fate - To show a retro inspired platformer. Note on the second picture squares be square. No funky aspect stretching stuff going on here and that's how I like it

5. Mikey Shorts - To show off something more modern that has sharper graphics. Plus this picture just came out pretty decently which is nice considering the issues I had taking pics.

6. & 7. Frederic The Resurrection of Music - To show off more details in hand drawn graphics... plus... it's just cool.

[nightc1]

Originally Posted by syntheticvoid

I am going to get the kids a "real" adapter for their birthdays (all 3 have birthdays in the spam of a month)... So I'll see if that makes a difference. Any clue if the official Apple adapters work on both the iPad and iPod/iPhone? Cause the cheap Chinese one I got only works on my iPad... Not with an iPod. =o/

HDMI Video is only supported on iPodTouch 5th gen, iPhone 4S and above, iPad 2 and above.

Iphone 4 & 4th gen IpodTouch only support airplay and hdmi of Audio. They are also supposed to support showing pictures from the pictures app... but I haven't tested that.

Make sure your kids have the right devices before you buy a bunch of expensive cables that won't work.