Apple TV and ipad resolution/size query.

[v-600]

I've linked a couple of photos that might need a bit of a description.

Photo1

Photo2

The black lines are the size of the projector image if my laptop is connected directly to the projector (currently using displayport to vga). The projector can output 1024x768

The image in the middle is the size I get if I send a 4:3 image (seems to not depend on specific resolution on the laptop, only aspect ratio) from my macbook or my ipad to the projector via an appleTV.

As near as I can work out the ipad is sending a 4:3 image to the appletv that is being postboxed e.g. 2048x1536 displaying at 720p.

Then the appletv is sending a widescreen image to the projector that is getting letterboxed (and losing detail) e.g. a 1280x720 signal displaying on 1024xsomething smaller than 720.

All resulting in a smaller image in the middle of the screen that has lost a lot of detail, especially with text (things are worse if you find an app that forces portrait mode but I can forgive that a bit, especially if I can solve the overall shrinking problem).

You can force the appletv to use specific resolutions that fill the screen, but all that does is stretch the image, not change the output images resolution (my children correctly pointed out that this is an oval, not a circle. I don't want to think what would happen if we looked at squares and rectangles).

What I would like is for the 4:3 image sent from the ipad to display full size and in the correct aspect ratio on my board. I've been trying to find a solution over the weekend but am stumped. The best thing I could find is something like reflector or airparrot running on the mbp and just not use the appletv, but thats not an ideal solution. We haven't got any widescreen projectors here either.

Any help gratefully received.

EDIT: fixed broken links

 

[Tyranicus]

I don't think there is any way to do what you want to do. The Apple TV is designed for use with 16:9 TVs and, regardless of what display resolution it is set to, will operate under the assumption that the display is 16:9.

 

[v-600]

You may be right. I know though if you play widescreen content on an ipad it passes it through without letterboxing, unlike if you watched it on the ipad directly. I was wondering if there was a similar passthrough mode for the display if you had it hooked to a projector.

 

[Ichinisan]

Apple TV does have a way to turn-off overscan compensation and gain a little bit of extra detail in both dimensions, but it still outputs 16:9 720p/1080i/1080p. In vertical 3:4 orientation, your iPad will display less detail. Better in horizontal 4:3 orientation. Even better if you get a 16:9 iOS device (iPod touch 5th gen, iPhone 5, 5c, 5s, 6, 6 Plus, ...but the new iPod touch 6th gen would be best).

Then you still have the problem of a 16:9 device being scaled to 720/1080, then scaled again and letter-boxed to 4:3 1024x768...but at least you'd minimize the issues.