Air Display and Music Server Enhancement Ideas (Update)

Now it is $1.99.<br />

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That's weird. They keep lowering the price.

Where do you see it's less than $9.99? Is there a coupon code for Air Display?

At least for today.

For $2, you can't really go wrong. <br />

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If you are curious, here are <a href="http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/5420586/1/snap?h=49d9b4">four snapshots from my iPad</a> displaying my Mac mini music server.<br />

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1. The first is displaying with Splashtop.<br />

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2. The second is the exact same display, using my erstwhile favorite VNC program (Remote Touch 4).<br />

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3. The third shows the default setting in Splashtop's preferences.<br />

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4. The fourth shows that it indeed changes the display in the home machine. (It keeps the name of my Samsung TV).<br />

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I think Air Display works quite similarly, but permits you to use the remote display as a second display, rather than simply mirroring the primary display. For my purposes, mirroring is what I want. So $3 (now $2) was well worth the meals I will have to skip for the next week or so.

Chris, I hate you! What you say about a detrimental effect from running more stuff on the player has to be correct. it is in conformance with basic audiophile principles, Murph's corollaries, costs more money, and is annoyingly inconvenient. It has to be right. Pooh, after forty years of being an audiophile I wish I could move on to something easier an cheaper. JD

Try my other hobby: Marine reef aquariums.

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If anyone thinks that audiophiles can be a little - eccentric - they should hang around an aquarium society meeting sometime. <br />

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-Paul<br />

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Thanks for the heads-up! I currently own neither Mac Mini nor iPad but I picked up Splashtop anyway. I'am going to get the iPad 2 soon and the Mac Mini as soon as the next hardware update (hoping it'll improve 1080p playback and transcoding material from my NAS).

I have a Macbook pro and I want to use an iPad (or similar device) as my screen. My Macbook pro is where my hi-fi is so I would love to see the screen and make song selection from my couch.<br />

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Problem: I don't want to use a Wireless Internet connection. Therefore my only solution is Bluetooth but I believe the iPad does not allow this (?)<br />

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Does anyone know how to make this possible or is there another solution?<br />

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I saw the thread and at last I find a remote control for the JRMC, even better for the whole PC. It is just $0.99 from iTune Store. Most important of all, it works.

Maybe by tomorrow they will pay us to take it.

I read all the posts on Splashtop and started using last night. It's a huge improvement in screen resolution and basic functionality on my ipad vs. the iTap VNC I was using. A couple issues though, not sure if others have had:<br />

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-Sometimes takes three or four attempts to connect upon opening the app.<br />

-Was experiencing some 1 second music "drops" when switching back into ipad apps while music was playing. (using Pure Music for playback).<br />

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I know maybe I shouldn't be switching in and out of ipad functions as it appears that quits the splashtop application and am thinking this is the issue. But, not sure if this is what's really causing the drops or stutters, or maybe it's PM settings. Just kind of nice to read CA posts while I'm listening on the sofa!

The one thing I hate about Splashtop is that it installs, without your permission, the Soundflower Kernel extension. This is so audio as well as video will get transferred to your iPad. Although I can see the use for it, for our purposes it is probably a bad idea.<br />

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You can remove it and reboot and it is gone:<br />

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<code>sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/Soundflower.kext </code><br />

<code>sudo rm -rf /Applications/Soundflower </code><br />

<code>sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/Soundflower* </code><br />

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The first line is the most important.<br />

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I don't know if that is causing your music dropouts, but it is a good bet.

Yeah, I did notice that pesky Soundflower extension. If fact, first time I pushed play on the iPad after installing, music was coming through my ipad instead of my system so it automatically chose Soundflower as the output device. I will uninstall per your instructions...no need for it.

Hope someone can help?????????<br />

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I have a Macbook pro and I want to use an iPad (or similar device) as my screen. My Macbook pro is where my hi-fi is so I would love to see the screen and make song selection from my couch.<br />

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Problem: I don't want to use a Wireless Internet connection. Therefore my only solution is Bluetooth but I believe the iPad does not allow this (?)<br />

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Does anyone know how to make this possible or is there another solution?<br />

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Just thought I would throw that out there. (grin)<br />

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Wireless network can (arguably) affect sound quality, but usually any effect is either inaudible or so minor, the convenience of having remote wireless access far outweighs the slight sonic degradation. At least, I think, for most people. <br />

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You can cetainly use bluetooth, but is more difficult to do. <br />

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Try the wireless first, and listen with it on and off. If you hear a problem, you can always try bluetooth or even infra-red connections. But you may not hear any difference or degredation using normal high speed wireless connections. <br />

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-Paul<br />

Thanks Paul. I don't have wireless internet at home, nor do I want to.<br />

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Any idea how to do this via Bluetooth?<br />

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Is the CIA spying on you over your WiFi?...;-) Actually, there are good reasons to consider disabling ALL networking an a Windows PC operating as a bleeding-edge audiophile music server. Not least of which, the same part of the kernel handles both audio streaming and networking. I am told (but am not competent to confirm) that this is not a problem with Mac OS. <br />

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Just enable wireless on your MacBook Pro and on the iPad, and they can talk to each other, if not the internet. <br />

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Same with Bluetooth really, though it is a lot more complex and much <i>much</i> slower. I strongly recommend just using a normal wireless connection. <br />

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But if you really want to know. <br />

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<i>It turns out I don't have time to type this up right now, and the screen shots I took of doing it are horrible. I will redo them later tonight or tomorrow and post it for you. <br />

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<i>Essentially, you just setup a bluetooth connection, pair the devices, select 'Use Device as a Network Port', add a Bluetooth network interface in Network Settings, configure it, and Bob's your uncle. A slow and crippled uncle on a very short leash, but still... -Paul<br />

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Many thanks for this! Much appreciated!<br />

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Do you know what app for the iPad I can then use to see my Macs screen then?

when you have music stored on a NAS...?

Eh- there are a ton of remote screen apps, as well as the REMOTE app you can use that will directly control iTunes, or iTunes/Amarra, iTunes/Pure Music, etc. <br />

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However, they are probably not usable over a bluetooth connection. I just tried it here to write up the instructions for you, and it was so pitifully slow, from 12 feet away, that it was unusable. <br />

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Bluetooth also appears to suck more juice on the MacBooks than normal wireless. Why that should be so, I don't know. <br />

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I'll still send you the detailed instructions if you want me to, but I strongly and seriously advise against using this method. <br />

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Your basic wireless on your Macbook and iPad is at least 100X the speed of Bluetooth, and much easier to setup. It also won't affect your music to any degree more than Bluetooth. Perhaps less, if it draws less power.<br />

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Yours,<br />

-Paul <br />

Do what you need to do with Splashtop or whatever application, and then turn it off. I noticed that when I turned it off CPU consumption went from about 30% per processor to about 2%. If you think the GHz signal itself is messing with you, check <a href="http://educate-yourself.org/ct/">this</a> out. You are in good company.

Thanks Paul,<br />

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When you mean basic wireless will work is this still based upon me having internet WiFi at home?<br />

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Not exactly - wireless communications, WiFi or Bluetooth, is really separate from internet access. You can certainly have one without the other. <br />

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Both your iPad and the Mac have wireless communications already built in, and you easily configure them in an "ah hoc" network, not connected to the internet. They can then talk to each other. <br />

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And your iPad can control your Mac Mini very easily, at speed. <br />

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It does mean you have to enable WiFi wireless, but then, Bluetooth is also wireless, just much slower and of much more limited range. <br />

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There are a couple tradeoffs, but they are minor. Of course, if the intention is to avoid wireless altogether, then you need to find something other than an IPad. And it would be a whole lot easier to just put a wireless access point or router into the mix, as well as perhaps being a little more secure. That applies whether or not you connect the wireless network to the Internet. <br />

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-Paul<br />