Gadgetory

if you're thinking about connecting your iOS device to your TV you have a few wired and wireless options the method you choose will depend on how new or old your devices what kind of video quality you're going for and of course how much you're willing to spend let's break it down if you have an eye device that uses the new lightning format you have two options the cheapest is to use Apple's digital AV Adapter which mirrors your device's screen so anything you see here will show up there just plug it into your device like this iPhone 5 then hook up an HDMI cable you can also use this slot to keep your phone charged while it's mirroring but here's the catch this adapter mirrors up to 1080p but most times you'll notice it looks more like 720p part of that is because it doesn't transfer raw video it converts it on the fly so if you look closely the image actually looks compressed still though it does the job now if you have an older iPad iPhone 4 or 4s or a fourth gen iPod Touch there is a digital AV Adapter for you - it's a little different though because mirroring is only available for the iPhone 4s and the iPad the other eye devices that use this dot connector can only use this adapter to play media on the device and some applications with video like YouTube or Netflix now if you want to get rid of cables altogether and you're willing to spend a hundred bucks grab an Apple TV once your eye device is connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the Apple TV you'll see a new button show up next to music and videos just tap it and your media will be beamed to your TV a bunch of apps are also airplay enabled like Ted and PBS and it gets better some games are airplay enabled too letting you use your iDevice as the controller while playing a game on the TV sometimes you will get a little lag but give it a try with a game like Ducati challenge to see how it works the library of airplay enabled apps and games isn't huge right now but you should see more dev supporting it over time you can also see my list of top 10 airplay enabled apps on CNET if you want to read up on all of these video connection options check out my full written tutorial on CNET how to and as always hit me up with any of your questions on Twitter for CNET I'm Sharon Backman member