Anyone ever figure out a tablet solution as a monitor?

I

iceycat

New member
I was looking into this about a year and a half ago and didn't find much. I did see an interesting one that was sold on B&H for awhile but it an SD small monitor, not an HD tablet. I'd like to take my ipad and turn it into a monitor for my AF-100 somehow because I can't seem to find proper focus very easily with that stupid little fold out integrated LCD screen. I always think I'm focused on there and then I edit my footage and I'm not. What about the Microsoft Surface, that's basically a mini laptop in a tablet form right? Anybody have any luck getting one of those to double a a monitor? I know you can get a small HD monitor but those cost hundreds of bucks and that's the price of a tablet already which would allow me to do all kinds of other things with it too besides just being a monitor.

I can't believe there isn't a mainstream solution to this yet!

I don't care if it's wireless or tethered with a cable. Does anybody know if the Microsoft Surface can get around this as it seems to have the correct ports for USB and it's more of a pc? Or are there any up and coming products that might work?
 
The camera can't deliver a video signal via a USB connection. It would have to be through HDMI, so the device would need an HDMI input. I think (might be wrong) that there's been a handful of laptops that have HDMI in (HDMI out, however, is pretty common on laptops and even desktops). But HDMI in on a tablet with a mobile OS-- I don't see it ever happening. Maybe a rugged style tablet with a full Windows OS on it, but then that's a heavy laptop and not like an iPad or Android tablet.

Now I do think that this will be a common feature that we'll be able to use in five years or so. The GH3 can do it, but just not well from what I hear. But it will be through wireless connectivity built in to the camera, not by plugging in some output from the camera into an input on the computing device.
 
There are wireless solutions, but they are not cheap and there is some delay so not necessarily that useful for a shooting monitor. Teradek cubes take HDMI or SDI input and stream H.264 AVC via WiFi that tablets can pickup.
A decent LCD monitor is cheaper.
 
Yeah Teradek looks amazing, but WAY out of price range. Yes, I know I can get a monitor for about the same price as a tablet but it's a question of what the thing can do. I can spend $400 on a small monitor to view my camera on. Or I might want to spend $400 on a tablet that I can view my camera on, check my email on, check my script on, use as a digital slate, tab over and wirelessly check my GoPro on, and get access to internet, GPS, director's viewfinder apps, editing apps, etc, etc. IF someone were to eventually make it so that tablets could suport this functionality it would be FAR more useful to spend the money on that as a production tool and only have to carry one lightweight, easily rechargeable multi use display into the field instead of one specialized, heavier, bulkier display that can't do anything besides show a picture on a screen.

It would also be a money saver. What if someone made a plug for my current ipad that I already own that allowed me to plug in via HDMI and see the output on my tablet for say $30 instead of dropping hundreds on a new small HD monitor? Or what if it was a wireless device that plugged into the back of the camera and could pair with my tablet the way my GoPro does and I could have the display as a director while a camera man runs the camera down the dolly track without having to trip over a tethered cord?

I guess that's why it's a big deal, because it would really open up some freedom and functionality as well as being very cost effective if someone were to make the tech compatable. That's why I wanted to know if anybody had heard of any new developments along this vein since I was last looking into it a year and a half ago.
 
Dedicated specialized products generally perform better than one device fits all solutions. Of course you could just skip the camera altogether and shoot your films on a iPad.:cheesy:
 
Stumbled across a product called the LiveShell from Cerevo that seems really interesting allowing any camera's HDMI cable to plug into it and stream it online. There appears to be iPad support for it as well, though it seems like it may only be an interface for the webstream. Perhaps not quite what I'm looking for but with a price point of only $300 that's not bad. Anybody familiar with this product, could it be used to make an adhoc WiFi network to use the tablet as a monitor? I understand it's primary purpose seems to be direct to web server WiFi streaming, but I wonder if it could be used in the way I am looking for also?
 
I recently bought a Google Nexus 7 tablet spebecause it integrates with a Canon T2i using an Android app called DSLR Controller. It works well, and can be used to control the camera via USB cable for video or stills.
It supposedly works with a number of other Canon DSLR's.
 
ZuluTime said:
I recently bought a Google Nexus 7 tablet spebecause it integrates with a Canon T2i using an Android app called DSLR Controller. It works well, and can be used to control the camera via USB cable for video or stills.
It supposedly works with a number of other Canon DSLR's.
Click to expand...

Is it just control functions? That would be typical. No monitoring.
 
iceycat said:
Stumbled across a product called the LiveShell from Cerevo that seems really interesting allowing any camera's HDMI cable to plug into it and stream it online. There appears to be iPad support for it as well, though it seems like it may only be an interface for the webstream. Perhaps not quite what I'm looking for but with a price point of only $300 that's not bad. Anybody familiar with this product, could it be used to make an adhoc WiFi network to use the tablet as a monitor? I understand it's primary purpose seems to be direct to web server WiFi streaming, but I wonder if it could be used in the way I am looking for also?
Click to expand...

Don't see why not. It probably does a unicast link to one or a small number of receiving WiFi devices. The only question is how bad is the latency? 12-15 frames behind real time is typical for streaming devices. Ok for a director's monitor maybe, but not for a camera operator.
 
Razz16mm said:
Is it just control functions? That would be typical. No monitoring.
Click to expand...

I don't know about DSLR Controller, but Helicon remote let's you control and monitor certain Nikon and Canon stills cameras via Android or iOS devices. http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconremote.html I use it take bracketed exposures beyond what my camera's software allows. Would love to see something like this for the AF100. How awesome would it be to have an app that helps design and fine tune scene files? Something like Adobe's kuler? https://kuler.adobe.com/#themes/rating?time=30

Shawn
 
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