Posts Tagged ‘ScreenSplitr’
DemoGod with iPhone remote control support
Posted by c0diq in DemoGod, ScreenSplitr on August 18th, 2009
Tonight, I was able to get DemoGod to control the iPhone remotely. It will require a quick update to ScreenSplitr though. I have yet to finalize how I will let users decide the “viewer mode only” vs “remote control”. The remote control will be based on vnc. Most precisely, it will require installing the Veency package on Cydia. For the viewer part, I have 2 solutions between Flashlight-VNC and TightVNC Java Applet. Both work, TightVNC seems a bit faster. I am thinking I will provide an option for users to choose which one they prefer.
Here’s a quick video I made using Screenjelly. Obviously there are a few issues left to be resolved.
About DemoGod
Feedback has been great. So far people like it. There are a few questions and remarks that I need to address.
1. DemoGod is NOT using the VNC protocol. ScreenSplitr supports 2 mode, a VNC mode and a non-VNC mode. In the VNC mode, you can control your iphone remotely but you need to install Veency on the iPhone. The first version of DemoGod doesn’t allow you to control your iPhone remotely and is using the non-VNC mode of ScreenSplitr. I am using a proprietary format to stream the “video”. If people are interested in controlling the iPhone from DemoGod, let me know. I can add it easily.
2. About non-jailbroken iphone support. It will most likely never be possible for 2 reasons. First reason is that ScreenSplitr has to run in the background and it’s prohibited by Apple. Second is that I am using an undocumented API to capture the iPhone screen.
3. About the poor refresh rate. Because I depend on the undocumented API to capture the screen on the iPhone, I am highly dependent on the speed of that API. Unfortunately, it can only take 2 to 3 pictures per second. So that’s why it’s slow, not because of the CPU (although saving the image as jpg takes some cycles). The other app TVOut, which has a better framerate, does not use the same mechanism. They register themselves as a MobileSubstrate extension to hook themselves when an application launches and grab their CA layer before it’s rendered on the screen. It’s way more intrusive and can cause your apps to crash. Also, you have to select first the app you want to “hook” and it doesn’t work if you want to capture the SpringBoard. Some apps don’t even work (OpenGL?). Instead ScreenSplitr seems to be working well with all apps. I am going to start looking into this other method though or maybe simply add DemoGod support to TVOut.
4. Windows support. Very unlikely. I leveraged iPhoney and it only runs on Mac. It would take too much resource on my part to port it.
DemoGod for ScreenSplitr
Now you can pretend to be Steve Jobs during a keynote. Show live iPhone demos on your Mac.
Download DemoGod now for free.