iPad Mirroring using 2 screens, does it support 1080 resolution?

Question

2.5 years of mac and iOS development and i haven't found an answer to something.

I'm working on a project utilizing iOS 5.0 and apple TV's airplay to display one UIScreen on the iPad and a separate one on my Apple TV. I have 2 separate view controllers and they display fine on each respectively.

The issue is that the apple tv screen size returns at 720p not 1080p. So i get a bordered view controller at 1280 X 720 displayed and not a full screen representation of 1920 x 1080. The effect is my view controller is cropped not scaled.

I tried the naughty things like changing screen bounds of the UIScreen and the view controller bounds but that doesn't work.

Simply put:

Does iOS 5 support a full screen 1080p view controller to be displayed? if so how did you do it?

EDIT:

So the question is modified that if only 720p is possible to display then how do i get the app to display its view controller fullscreen and not cropped/letterboxed?

Answer 1

Apple TV only supports 720p, but it should be noted that the Digital AV Adapter supports 1080p (1920x1080). I suspect that if a next gen Apple TV is released, it will support 1080p and may support displaying it over AirPlay.

That issue aside, I faced exactly the same problem as you - I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out why my view was inset when displaying both via the Digital AV Adapter and over Airplay on my Samsung TV. I finally figured out that it was an issue with how my TV was configured for the ports that I was using. When I found the "Just Scan" option for the relevant inputs, it solved the problem and I got a perfect edge-to-edge image. The 1080p output using the Digital AV Adapter is gorgeous and I'm having lots of funny creating an app that leverages it.

In the process of investigating, I learned about the new iOS 5.0 overscanCompensation property of UIScreen (http://developer.apple.com/library/IOs/#documentation/UIKit/Reference/UIScreen_Class/Reference/UIScreen.html). This was not the source of my difficulties, but you might want to play with it's settings to see if it solves your issue.

Answer 2

Since the apple TV does not support 1080p (only 720p) it won't work.
Take a look at his tech specs: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipod/family/apple_tv

Update: The newest apple TV now supports 1080p.