watching movies and tv in brunnhilde

I have been wanting to set this up in Brunnhilde for quite some time and finally the time is ripe. I recently upgraded to a iPhone 5S from a 2-year-old 4S. For this application it is my iDevice of choice for watching movies and streaming TV online in the home on wheels.


my 64GB gold 5c - i had to wait 5 weeks even though i went online and order it 3 minutes after the opening of the initial launch preorder; and most the tech analysts pissed on apple's move to make a gold phone as bling

so to prove they are wrong i am among the millions of iSheeps were hellbent to get one; i don't care for any object that is gold except that used in the electronics and PCB inside them, but the champagne color 5s is an object of desire

In the above photo I place the iPhone face down for a functional reason - to minimize the fine scratches on the anodized aluminium back. Apple switched from glass surface on the back side starting from iPhone 5 to reduce weight while increase the display size as well as thickness. This comes with a tradeoff of foregoing with the very scratch resistant back surface. To keep the 5s iPhone from the inevitable scratches, I am still trying to get into a habit of resting it face down on the glass display side when not in use.

I have a 22" LCD (with LED backlights) TV in Brunnhilde. I have been thinking of the best way to view streaming video and TV (as opposed to terrestrial broadcast DTV). While the iPad can do this it is not always the most enjoyable experience. I want to be able to watch them on the 22" LCD TV. There are a few options to achieve this with the iPhone and use it's data plan. One option is to buy an Apple TV. The second option is to buy an Apple Lightning to AV adapter. There are tradeoffs.

22 inch lcd tv in brunnhilde - it is a rare one with 1920x1080 resolution for such small size

Apple TV:
The first approach is to use an Apple TV. The ($99) Apple TV would be supplying the digital AV to the LCD TV through a HDMI cable. How does the Apple TV receives the streaming video? It would be supplied by the iPhone via AirPlay. At first glance this seems to be the more elegance solution as there would be no wire connecting the iPhone which I can use to choose and navigate what I want to watch.

There is however some challenges and short comings with this approach. The AirPlay interface requires a WiFi local network. Also the Apply TV set top box requires 120Vac power supply. The additional AC power supply for the Apply TV adds additional load to the coach batteries which is something I am very reluctant to do.

Lightning to AV Adapter:
The second approach is to use a Lightning to AV adapter.

This is a wired approach that requires buying the $49 adapter. The AV adapter will form a signal bridge between the iPhone and the LCD TV. It converts the digital AV payload on the lightning interface into that of the HDMI.

While the Lightning AV Adapter has a port for attaching to a 5Vdc power supply this approach requires less power consumption compared to the method involving an Apple TV. It is also less chance for things to go wrong as with using the AirPlay technology. I settled on the Lightning AV approach. According to the descriptions on Apple Store the adapter would allow one to "mirror" the screen image on the iPhone onto the HDTV. This is ambiguous because mirroring means the resolution of the video signal sent to the TV will be in the iPhone's rectna display resolution of 1136x640 instead of TV's 1200x760 or 1980x1080. While nowhere does the spec says it, I expect the adapter to be able to mirror the iPhone display, or output the video only to the TV without displaying the image on the iPhone screen at all. What would determine which depends upon the conditional access rules set by the provider.  

As soon as I brought the Lightning AV Adapter home I first test it out on my television at home first. I tested out 5 different streaming video services that are important to me: Netflix, Deutsche Welle, NHK World, PBS, and Youtube. It all want as I expected. On some programs the video content is mirrored. On some programs the video content is outputs to the TV only but "letter box". On Netflix the video content is output to the TV only and is properly displayed as it should on an HDTV (hence it is sent to the TV in 1080 format).

watching mad men on netflix

the netflix movie (or tv series) are output only to the LCD TV (hence it is not mirroring); note that the adapter has provision to connect to a 5V power source to keep the iPhone battery from drained down

i control the content and navigation on the iPhone

in all 1080 HDTV full glory

I bought a 10 feet long HDMI cable so I can have the iPhone in my hands while watching TV in bed. I am happy to made the right choice between the two options. The second option using the Lightning AV adapter is most energy efficient. The ~54W of power consumption is mainly incur by the LCD TV. That consumed by the iPhone and the adapter is negligible compared to that consumed by the TV. It is also the cleanest.

how many comedians does it take to put grapes into white chocolate? the best line uttered by one - "i heard that white chocolate is not really chocolate..."; america pop culture at its best...

 with a 10-foot hdmi cable the iPhone now is within reach for navigating contents

as you can guess, netflix works best - the result is movies with OAR in 1080 HD glory; instead of mirroring the video is "TV-out" to the TV only in 1080 video format

 properly letterbox as it should be - the last tycoon is shown in 2.35:1 panoramic OAR

while i object to the over-the-top kung fu movie like action scenes this is actually a beautifully shot movie with eye candy sets of Shanghai at the turn of the 20th century; a lot of care had been placed in the authenticity of the sets, props, costumes, and casting in keeping of the period and locales

 nhk world is mirrored so it is shown on the tv in 1136x640 letterboxed to 1200x720

deutsche welle (deutsch world) is also mirrored so it is shown on the tv in 1136x640 letterboxed to 1200x720

france 24 is also mirrored so it is shown on the tv in 1136x640 letterboxed to 1200x720

youtube is also mirrored so it is shown on the tv in 1136x640 letterboxed to 1200x720

pbs is not mirrored but it is shown on the tv in 1136x640 letterboxed to 1200x720

you can see downton abbey on pbs has black bars on all 4 sides due to 1136x640 letterboxed to 1200x720

So of all the streaming video it is not surprising at all Netflix is the hands down winner. It has the best user interface. It has the best CODEC. It shows movies and TV shows in OAR more than any paid TV that cost over 10 times. In fact the movies I tested look sharper in this setup because of superior LTE performance over my Comcast's home "broadband" which always suffers from bit rate jitter due to load fluctuation.