Hub Recommendation

Tech Support
1

Need a recommendation for a hub to do presentations projecting to 2 television screens. Will be using an iPad Pro.

Thank,
Richard

2

I’m not sure if you can project onto two screens. The iPad Pro itself doesn’t support it natively.

This doesn’t mean that there isn’t some form of doohickey which will output an incoming signal to two different screens, but whether it will support an iPad is another matter.

3

This will likely require two devices and three cables. However, you can’t just use any old device/cable just because the plug fits. Everything needs to all use/support the same standard and/or resolution.

First, you will need an iPad to HDMI dongle. Depending on which iPad you have, that would either be a Lighting to HDMI or USB-C to HDMI dongle. However, if the later, be sure it supports the iPad. Just any cheap USB-C to HDMI dongle for a Windows desktop may not work. Of course, Apple makes dongles which also have power passthrough if you need it. Obviously, those will work for you.

Then you will need an HDMI splitter. A basic HDMI splitter should theoretically work so long as it supports the resolution you are using (1080p, 4k, etc.). Be sure it is a splitter, not a switch. A switch will switch back and forth between the two outputs, while a splitter passively feeds the same signal to both outputs at all time.

There is one additional possible concern with the splitter you choose. I haven’t tried using one with my iPad so I’m not sure if the iPad cares, but some source devices care more about what resolution the end device reports than others. Some splitters will report their own resolution, while others will pass through the resolution of the TV attached. Passing through the TV resolution is fine if both TVs report the same (even better if they are matching models). However, when the TVs each report something different, it can confuse the source device. Some slitters will only pass through the smaller resolution when they are different which means the better/bigger TV will get the same lower quality/smaller picture. You can alleviate confusion by using a splitter which reports its own resolution rather than passing through the TV’s resolution. Of course, most cheap splitter’s won’t even mention this in their listings. So if you find one that does (look for EDID), then it is more likely to be a quality item. For example, I have used the below linked product with success (although I have not tried it with an iPad):

Notice that that splitter has a couple dip switches on it, which you can use to force a specific size/resolution. As is explained in the listing:

  1. 00: Mixed EDID: always follow the lowest resolution of the displays connected to output 2 in order to support all displays show the source.
  2. 11: Copy EDID: output 1 is prior port a. When output 1 is connected to one display, another display which connected to output 2 will follow the Resolution of output 1. b. When output 1 is disconnected, output 2 will output 1080p only.
  3. 10: Default 1080p output: output a default 1080p source, in this case all outputs will display 1080p if they support resolution 1080p and above.
  4. 01: Default 4Kx2K output: output a default 4Kx2K source, in this case all outputs will display 4Kx2K if they support resolution 4Kx2K and above.

Of course, you will then need three HDMI cables. One to go from the dongle to the splitter, and two to go from the splitter to each TV. Make sure the HDMI cables all support the same HDMI version/standard or that could present additional issues.

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