Six(6) ways to share screens between devices

Air Video

Having a second display for your computer does have some undeniable advantages — you could mirror the display to show the same content to more people or simply extend the display, so that you can have multiple windows viewable at a glance.

And now, if you have an Android or iOS phone/tablet, you don't even need to buy an additional display — the phone/tablet becomes the second display — you only need to buy the Air Video app for Rs 550 (a free version is also available, so that you can see how it works).

The developers (Avatron Software) have made a server software available for both Windows (XP, Vista & 7) and MAC (OS X 10.6 or later) on their website — simply install the app on your mobile device, the server software on your computer and connect both devices to the same network. And yes, it is cross platform enabled, which means you can use an Android device as a second display for MAC and an iOS device for Windows.

WiDi

Certain laptops (especially newer Ultrabooks) come with Intel's WiDi or Wireless Display feature. Look for a WiDi sticker or check the specifications of your machine to find out whether it has WiDi.

With WiDi, you can wirelessly connect your laptop to any HDMI capable display — the only catch is that you need to separately purchase a WiDI adapter which receives the signal from the laptop. Adapters are available from brands like Netgear, Logitech, D-link & Belkin, priced at roughly Rs 6,000.

The adapter is what outputs the signal to the display using an HDMI cable — the advantage is that it is small enough to be hidden away and achieves high fidelity transmission without any fuss.

If your laptop has WiDi and a third generation Intel Core processor, WiDi supports mirroring of 1080p full HD video, Blu-Ray playback and transmission of 5.1 channel digital audio.

VNC

VNC (Virtual Networking Computing) is one of the most commonly used methods for screen sharing. Using VNC, you can not only view the screen of a remote computer but also control it. VNC functionality is also available on mobile operating systems (using apps).

In fact, several companies use VNC as the backbone to offer remote tech support to their customers. A typical VNC setup consists of a server and client machine.

The client machine connects to the server and can be granted access to either view or to control the server machine. A single server machine can connect to multiple client machines — useful for collaboration or presentations with multiple users.

With the basics out of the way, you can try it out for yourself. Windows users can get TightVNC (www. tightvnc.com) while OS X users can use Chicken (http://goo.gl/jDBtF). If you are looking for crossplatform VNC software, then TigerVNC (http://goo.gl/pnNAw) is what you need. All of these are free and offer basic password protection for security. If you need enhanced security, you can go for paid software like RealVNC (www.realvnc.com).

Once you have one of the VNC servers installed on your computer, you can access it from your mobile device easily. Just search for VNC in the respective app stores and feed in the details given by the VNC server software.

Wireless HDMI

Normally, a good quality HDMI cable is the best way to connect an HD video source to a TV or projector.

However, there are cases when this may not be viable — for instance, if you need to mirror your laptop to a TV placed more than 5 metres away, if a cable will trip people up or if you need the video source to be moved around. A wireless HDMI solution essentially does the same job as the cable — transmits HD quality video and sound. It usually consists of two parts; a transmitter that plugs into the video source (like an HDMI-equipped laptop or media player) and a receiver with an HDMI output.

Both parts need a power connection too and you will still need two small lengths of HDMI cable; one each to connect the transmitter and receiver to your source and display respectively.

Another advantage of this system is that you can have up to four separate receivers (and therefore four different displays) paired with a single transmitter (Rs 22,000 onwards from www. latentech.com).

Web-Based Screen Sharing

Many workplaces do not allow employees to install software on a company machine. If you have a PC with limited functionality, you can use a browser based solution for screen sharing as well as remote control.

Head over to www.join.me and select the 'basic' version. It will download an executable server file to your machine. The server will then give you a unique 9-digit access code.