Mobile Monday – Wireless Screen Mirroring using Reunion 2.0

[Editor's Note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson.]

Whether visiting or researching, it is handy to have on-hand your complete genealogy database. Sometimes you need something more portable than a laptop. Thus I have the software app Reunion installed on my iPad (an Apple smart-tablet computer). But Reunion had a major limitation. It did not support the iPad's built-in screen mirroring capability. That means I could not display its screen image on a connected television or project it onto a screen.

In mid-March, that changed with the release of Reunion version 2. I tested that new release and it does indeed support screen mirroring. There are two ways to display the screen of an iPad (or iPhone) on suitable video device. The simple cheap way is a $40 audio/visual cable kit. But talking about that would make this Tethered Monday rather than Mobile Monday. The following diagram illustrates a more technologically impressive wireless method using an Apple-proprietary technology called AirPlay.

The television or digital projector must have either a HDMI or DVI port. To that you a little black box called and Apple TV (costs about $100). You cannot connect to a VGA port because VGA does not return a copy-protection signal to the Apple TV's HDMI port, thus causing that port to shut down. Then to get your iPad's screen image to the Apple TV, both must be connected to the same wi-fi server.

For you non-Apple users, there are other wireless screen mirroring technologies out there.
Android 4.2 users – Miracast. Display devices must support Miracast.
Samsung – AllShare (proprietary) on its Android devices. Display devices must support AllShare.

There also numerous video streaming apps and devices. Investigate well before buying since they all have limitations.

The Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society hosts monthly special interest group meetings for the Reunion software product on all platforms.