Infinite Loop / The Apple Ecosystem

iPhone gains two new TV Out utilities

Over the weekend, the iPhone gained not one, but two TV Out utilities to …

A general iPhone TV-out solution has long been the goal of iPhone hobbyists. This last weekend, the iPhone took not one, but two big steps along the long path to solving this problem. Although Ars has previously introduced a way to compile TV out support to any given application, until now, there hasn't been any general solution that would provide TV out for already-compiled, existing apps. Today, we can point you to two working solutions that can be installed via Cydia on your jailbroken iPhone.

The TVOut project

Over the weekend, the open source iPhone TVOut project from Backgrounder developer Ashikase made a huge step forward. A rough prototype has been released for jailbroken iPhones via Cydia as part of the Big Boss repository. The software lets you pick applications on a case-by-case basis and pipe their video out to TV. The software works with the underlying OS and feeds the application's video out to an attached cable.

To say this is preliminary is an understatement and, at the same time, hides the rich potential of exactly how awesome the technology can be. The software only works reliably with non-OpenGL graphics (although some OpenGL programs are compatible) and you cannot as yet use it to monitor SpringBoard, the iPhone's Finder-style launching application. (It's the one that displays your application icons and lets you tap to run them.) The Readme page for the application details further how-to and limitations.

We downloaded a copy of the software to a jailbroken device and gave it a try. Below, for your viewing pleasure, is a video of the results in its full hands-on glory.

What you see here is first the TVOut Preferences application, which I initially set to provide video out. The application presents a list of all applications found on the device. In order to enable an app for TVOut, the preference must be switched from OFF to ON. In this video, you see the iPhone switch from TVOut Preferences, through SpringBoard (not seen with this version) and onto launching Calculator. The video out cable was attached through the entire process and the feed was recorded live.

You cannot see this on the video, but when using this software, the entire iPhone screen goes blank as it exports TV out. That means that there's absolutely no way to tell where your fingers are with respect to on-screen elements, which is why my interactions in the Calculator portion of the video are so haphazard. As I learned this morning, it's nearly impossible to use the software you're demonstrating if you can't make a match between finger position and on-screen graphics. Developer Ashikase shares the reason for this design choice: mirroring slowed the system and framerate.

On the other hand, the results are far far improved over screen data shipped by WiFi via Veency, the jailbreak VNC server. As you can see from this video, the latency was absolutely minimal and the frames per second quite high. With Veency, which is actually a terrific VNC utility, a scrolling list would jump instead of providing the smooth feedback shown here. There's just not enough bandwidth to transfer data in the fashion that a direct video cable provides.


If TVOut showed an amazing step forward, then Plutinosoft's Screensplitr will blow your mind. Finally, we have a general TV out solution for the iPhone and iPod touch. Take a peek at this demonstration video from Sylvain Rebaud, aka c0diq. Screensplitr offers full video mirroring (the iPhone shows the same display as the video-out feed) for the entire OS.

Of course, there's a cost to this more general approach. The frame rate is way reduced, down to a few frames per second, providing a noticeably rougher presentation than the TVOut software and a lag between interactions and updates. To get a sense of this, below is a recording I made of the mobile iTunes Store, scrolling down a list and then selecting an item to move to the detail screen.

Although the video feed is of lower quality, the way you use ScreenSplitr is a great improvement; it's simplicity itself. To run, you tap the icon and the mirroring launches. An "On" bubble appears next to the application icon, letting you know that TV Out is enabled. To switch it off, just tap the icon again. This single-serve approach is simple to use and a very welcome approach for enabling mirroring.

ScreenSplitr demo

Why mirror?

Despite its initial limitations, the TVOut and ScreenSplitr projects have some pretty exciting potential. When mature, users will be able to provide live demonstrations, create product videos, and be able to interact with software on much larger screens.

The first steps you see in these videos may seem modest, but they are revolutionary in that they will transform iPhone user interactions. Extending the iPhone—including an external screen and adding external accessories like keyboards—has the potential to redefine the handy gadget in your pocket into a fully able, mobile, and dockable Unix platform.

Both programs are quite new and rough around the edges. What you see here is just the base realization of the technology. I have few doubts that both applications will continue to grow, develop, and improve.

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