Thinking about getting an iPad for VJing...which one?

[vjscott]

So based on some nice reviews of VJ apps for the iPad, I'm thinking of getting one for some simple music video mixing for a small venue. I know nothing about Apple products and was wondering if the basic 16GB iPad is good enough for this.

Also, I assume I'll need a cable to ouput the video to a projector or monitor, but should I also plan on using an external hard drive to store and play my videos?

Any other considerations I should think of?

I thought about buying Virtual DJ Pro but at $350 that's not that much less than an iPad and a VJ app. True, VDJPro does much more, but I'm not even sure my laptop is powerful enough to run it.

[nutcracker]

You cant use an external storage device with iPad to store clips so get one with enough space, my 32 gb is full with 7 hours of clips without audio so go for 64 gb if possible.
iPad 1 won't run many visuals apps, iPad 2 struggles with some apps.

output cables available are composite video, vga or hdmi at £30 each minimum.

so you're looking at a new 64gb model ideally with a few accessories.
It's not looking as economical now is it?

Tbh you'd be better off with a new laptop unless you really need an iPad for other things.

[devonmiles]

thats not entirely correct. you can use external storage like this seagategoflexsattelite but for this particular occasion it is questionable if the latency is small enough for mixing and cueing. aside from that, the ipad was never meant to be a replacement for traditional computers, its rather a supplement and its strength comes to play when you use it as a controller, sampler, or generative visuals layer on top of your laptop performance.

[KidKDN]

i would suggest at least a 32 gb, ipad 3 right now as the new dock connector mean more pricy connectors ( 30pin accessories are going to be a fire sale soon ! )

i use a ipad 2 64 gb wifi in my set up as both a controller and a video source, and i am planning on getting another one soon to use only as a controller ( a 16 gb ) probably a a ipad 2 to keep cost low !

as for using it as a video source .. there is no perceived latency with generative visualizations, but clip launching is a different issue !

i use touchviz ( hexler.net) as my main app for triggering video clips on the ipad and on my ipad 2 there is a noticeable 5 ms ( ish ) lag between selecting a clip and it showing up on the screen ( keep in mind i use 30-60 sec clips 640x480 w/mjpg etc etc ) so the files size are typically larger than the avg vj clip. Moreover this issue goes away with you use shorter clips .

I suggest using touchviz, it is stable and beside a little lag ( honestly only on big files ) it is the best vj app for ipad right now !

also it is worth noting not all apps use the same type of connectors ! Some only output via vga some will work the the composite and some with the HDMI and some only airplay ! the major ones touchviz and vjay seem to use all of them but do your research first !

Last thing .. i believe there is no composite cable for the new lighting port so if u pick up the latest ipad 4 no old school analog without and extra box ( scanny / downscaler ) ! thus why i suggest an ipad 3 ( if u use a v4 )!

[wax808]

I've used Touchvis also. And Colorcode VJ and a few others. Last gig I did was for a local rapper. I DJ'ed and controlled the video with my iPad 2. All wireless with my own locked down router hooked up via ethernet to an Apple TV. Then that Apple TV was connected via HDMI to the main projector. It had to be done this way because it was a huge venue.

I was amazed that Touchvis could play back and mix very high resolution files. I'm pretty sure they were 720p. I also like using the trick of the direct camera feed and pointing it at the crowd. There is a bit of lag doing this wirelessly to the Apple TV though.

I now have an iPad 4. Because its a monster of a machine and has a wicked processor. I'm using it for VJing and a DJ back up tool.