Connect an iPad to a Projector

On the bottom of the iPad, just below the Home button, is the 30-pin dock connector port. This is the port that you plug the power or USB adapter into when charging the iPad.

The 30-pin connector port is used to attach a number of accessories and adapters to the iPad, such as:

• iPad Dock
• iPad Keyboard (docking, not wireless)
• Camera Connector
• SD Card Reader
• VGA Adapter
• Audio Visual (AV) Adapter

Here, I'm going to show you how to connect the iPad to a projector using a VGA Adapter.

An iPad VGA Adapter typically looks like the cable shown on the right.

On one end of the cable you'll see a plug that fits into the 30-pin dock connector port.

On the other end of the cable is a standard VGA socket. Note that this is a socket - you'll need to remember this for the next step.

There are many other adapter cables with plugs that fit the iPad 30-pin connector port, to enable you to connect to lots of different devices such as:

• Laptops and Other PCs
• High Definition TVs
• Home Cinema Receivers
• Stereo Receivers
• Cameras
• Projectors

We're only concerned with projectors here, but as a word of caution different makes and models of projector may have different input sockets for you to connect your iPad to. Most come with at least a VGA adapter for their input sockets as standard, so to get started using a projector you won't need to buy any alternative cables or set anything up differently to the method I describe here. This last point will become clearer in Step 3.

The projector I'm going to use as an example here is the Optoma PK301, which is shown on the right. The top image is that of the Universal to VGA Cable that comes as standard with this projector.

On one end of the cable is a Universal plug that fits into the Universal I/O port on the rear of the projector. This is the port that appears on the far left of the center image.

On the other end of the cable is a VGA plug. This is the VGA plug that you should connect to the VGA socket of the iPad VGA Adapter, which I described above.

Having connected these adapter cables to both the iPad and projector and then to each other, you'll have successfully hooked up your iPad. You should now be able to share presentations, photos, music videos, movies... or pretty much anything else through iPad apps that support VGA output. When you launch the app, you'll need to select VGA output.

The number of iPad apps that support VGA output is currently small, but growing. The list below gives those apps that you should have no problem in using a projector with.

• YouTube (for video)
• Photos (for images)
• Netflix (for movies)
• Keynote (for presentations)