Recording the screen of an iPad 2

Question

First of all: This question is not directly programming related. However, the problem only exists for developers, so I'm trying to find an answer here anyways since there are maybe other people on this community who already solved the problem.

I want to record the screen of the iPad 2 to be able to create demo videos of an app.

Since I'm using motion data, I cannot use the simulator to create the video and have to use the actual iPad itself.

I've seen various websites where different methods were discussed.

• iPad 2 <==> Apple Digital AV Adapter <==> Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro <==> Playback software <==> TechSmith Camtasia screen recorder on the playback software to circumvent the HDCP flag

• iPad 2 <==> Apple VGA Adapter <==> VGA2USB <==> Recording software

• ...

Everyone seems to have his own hacky solution to this problem.

My setup is the following:

• iPad 2 (without Jailbreak)
• Apple Mac mini with Lion Server
• PC with non-HDCP compliant main board
• Non-HDCP compliant displays

It doesn't matter whether the recording has to be on the mac or on the PC.

My questions:

• Is it possible to disable the HDCP flag programmatically from within the application itself?
• HDMI offers a better quality than VGA. Will the first method I've listed work with my setup although I don't have a full HDCP chain?

• What about the Intensity Extreme box? Can I use it and then connect to the Thunderbolt port of the mac mini and record from there?

  Is the Thunderbolt port of the mac mini bidirectional and is also suited for capturing? Is the mac mini HDCP compliant? If it does not work due to my screens not being HDCP compliant, will it work if I start the recording software, then disconnect the screens? Will it work if I use an iPad 2 over VNC as a screen since it has to be HDCP compliant if it sends HDCP streams?

• If I have to fall back to the VGA solution: Will the VGA adapter mirror everything what's showing on the iPad 2 screen or do I have to program a special presentation mode which sends everything to the VGA cable instead of the iPad screen? Will the proposed setup using VGA2USB be qualitatively high or would you recommend other tools?
• What about the Apple Composite AV Cable? Maybe another approach?

Answer 1

I decided to use the Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro together with the Apple Digital AV adapter on a machine with a working HDCP chain.

This approach worked well, capturing is possible in 720p with the iPad's screen centered within the captured video. Therefore, capturing happens not at the full native resolution of the iPad's screen, and black borders are introduced to fill the 720p video frames.

Answer 2

I posted info about displaying HDMI HDTV output to a non-HDCP monitor. Look for my posts. Perhaps it will be of use. Or, how about just using a cell phone to record a video of your tablet's screen, with proper lighting, low reflectance, etc. Won't be 100% but might be sufficient.