Panic Software, purveyor of Mac OS X applications, was curious why its Apple's $49 Lightning Digital AV adapter wasn't performing very well. The picture quality was lacking, displaying odd video artifacts and failing to output full 1080p video. So Panic cracked open the case, and what should it find... but a tiny ARM computer chip inside. It's got an Apple logo on top, and markings indicate it might have 256MB of memory within.
Why does the adapter need a processor, though? Panic Software's theory is that the device actually delivers video via AirPlay streaming. Your iOS device would compress the video, than the adapter would decompress it and deliver it to an HDMI-equipped TV. The video artifacting, a common issue with video processed...
from The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/
