MaxiVista for iPad - User Manual

Introduction

System requirements

Software Installation

How do I?

…activate the iPad as a second monitor

…configure the location of the iPad

…optimize the display speed

…launch MaxiVista automatically on Start-up

…set the IP address of the iPad manually

…Remove MaxiVista from my computer

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Tips

Introduction

MaxiVista is a multi monitor software that can turn your iPad or iPhone into a second monitor for your Windows PC. There is no extra hardware required.

Just launch the MaxiVista App on your iPad and use its high-quality display as a second monitor for your Windows PC. You can move and extend any program window from your PC to the iPad to get more workspace on your primary monitor.

The contents of the extended desktop are transmitted over any existing WLAN network connection.

Document conventions

Bold, italic type in this documentation indicates MaxiVista menu items.
File names are printed in italic letters.
All MaxiVista Options can be accessed via the task-bar icon of the Server Program. To open the program menu "right-click" the icon and select the desired command from the pop-up menu.

This symbol indicates an important note or useful hint.

System requirements

Windows Laptop-/Desktop- or Tablet PCs running Microsoft 32/64 Bit Windows XP/Vista/7, 32 or 64 Bit
iPad or iPhone with OS 3 or later
A local WLAN network connection (more info).
5 MB hard-disk space on the Windows PC.
Optional: Internet access to download future product updates.

Limitations

Hardware graphics acceleration such as DirectX or OpenGL is not supported by MaxiVista.
TV/DVD playback on the extended screen only works if your video software allows it to disable the "hardware overlay" mode (information about overlay).
All computers used with MaxiVista need to be on the same desktop to allow you to watch the secondary PC's monitor(s) while remote controlling it from the primary PC. MaxiVista is not a remote desktop software like UVNC or PCAnywhere. You cannot use an internet connection to link computers located in other facilities as the MaxiVista data protocol is optimized for local wireless or Ethernet network connections (more info)

When using Windows Vista/7, the Aero display mode is temporarily disabled while MaxiVista is activated. Aero is automatically turned back on after MaxiVista is deactivated. We will not be able to overcome this limitation for a number of technical reasons.

Software Installation

MaxiVista requires an initial installation of MaxiVista Server Program on the Windows PC and the MaxiVista App on the iPad.

Step-by-step instructions

Download the MaxiVista for iPad server program from http://ipad.maxivista.com
Install the program 'MaxiVista_iPad.exe' on your Windows PC.
Purchase the MaxiVista App in the iTunes Appstore and install the App on your iPad.
Establish a WLAN network connection between the Windows PC and your iPad.

Installation notes

Make sure that you have administrative rights when installing the server program as it includes the installation of a virtual video driver.
Important: Close any video card related software such as nView, UltraMon, PowerDesk or PivotPro before installing MaxiVista.
Screen flicker during installation is normal. Even if nothing seems to happen for a few seconds, please wait until the installation has finished and the MaxiVista icon appears in the task tray.
It is very important to reboot the Windows PC after installation.

Using MaxiVista for the first time

Run MaxiVista on the Windows PC.
Run the MaxiVista App on the iPad.
Make sure that both PCs are linked together via a WLAN network connection.
Configure any firewall to allow MaxiVista to access the network (see chapter "Firewall configuration").

You should now see the MaxiVista program icons in the lower right of the task tray of the Windows PC:

MaxiVista Program States

task tray icon

The color of the task tray icon represents the current MaxiVista status:

Icon color

Description

The icon is green

Congratulations - You made it!

The extended screen is enabled on the iPad and you should see the background of the Windows PC's desktop on your iPad.

Now, just drag any program window from the Windows PC to the iPad's monitor.

If this should fail, Windows may assume a different physical placement of the monitors on your desk. Example: Your iPad is located on the left. Consequently you are trying to move the mouse cursor to the left border of your Windows PC's monitor. Windows, however, may think that your iPad's monitor is placed on the right and expect you to move the cursor across the right border instead.

Click here to fix this minor issue in a snap!

The icon stays black or blinks yellow

The Server program could not find the Viewer program on the network.

Solutions:

It is very important to configure any firewall properly.
Proper firewall configuration should help; if not, please close and restart both MaxiVista programs to exclude the possibility of a 'hiccup' in the communication between Server and Viewer App. This might occur sometimes because of network timing issues.
If the icon does not change to green, please reboot the Windows PC to allow finalization of the virtual video driver installation and try again. If it still does not work, uninstall the Server Program on the Windows PC, reboot(!) and reinstall the software.
You can also manually define the iPad's IP address if MaxiVista cannot find the iPad on the network.
Still no joy? Please try our step-by-step troubleshooting tips.

Firewall configuration

Please make sure that TCP port 6151 is accessible on the Windows PC. If using the Windows firewall, please simply click Unblock when the Firewall security alert message pops up:

That's all!

Activate the extended screen

To activate the extended screen, run the Server Program on the Windows PC and run the MaxiVista App on the iPad.

To deactivate the extended screen, select Exit from the pop-up menu to quit the Server or quit the MaxiVista App on the iPad by clicking the Home button.

Short flicker on both screens during (de)activation is normal.
Windows disables Aero (transparent windows effects) when MaxiVista is activated. Windows re-enables Aero immediately after MaxiVista is deactivated.

Setting the location of the iPad

If you cannot drag program windows from the Primary PC to the iPad, then you may need to configure the position of your iPad relative to your Primary PC (as it may think that the iPad is located on the wrong side).

To configure the iPad position in MaxiVista, right-click the Server Program task tray icon and select the menu item Monitor Arrangement of the popup menu to open the Windows Display Properties.

Then arrange the monitor symbols according to your physical setup.

If using Windows 7, MaxiVista uses its own Windows Display Properties dialog. You must not use the Windows 7 Display Properties to configure the MaxiVista iPad screen location.

Optimizing the display speed/quality

The extended screen display performance is primarily influenced by the network bandwidth, the transmitted screen size/resolution and the CPU power of the Windows PC.

Performance optimizer

MaxiVista includes a performance optimizer which automatically finds suitable parameters for your specific network connection. The optimizer requires a test image on the extended screen in order to probe the network connection.

Activate the extended screen.
Launch the programs on the Windows PC you would like to have displayed on the iPad and move the program windows onto the iPad display.
Open the Options switch to the Optimizer Tab and click the button Optimize Now.
Wait until the optimization process has finished.

The Optimizer may need to be re-run if the screen contents differ from the one you used for any previous optimization or if you change the network connection.

The Optimizer tests all parameters and measures the display speed to find the optimal values. In rare cases, certain parameter combination may stall the WLAN router. In such case you may experiment with parameters manually:

Compression method		CPU load	Network load	Recommendations
0	Raw	Minimal	Extremely high!	Loss less unmodified picture quality. We strongly recommend avoiding this setting because of the extreme network load!
1	Loss less data compression	Minimal	Very high!	Loss less picture quality with data compression only. We strongly recommend avoiding this setting because of the extreme network load!
2	YUV 420 color reduction	Low	Medium	Loss less picture at reduced color depth. Thin lines or color variations may appear on the extended screen. We do not recommend this setting because of the network load!
3	YUV 420 color reduction and data compression	Low	Medium	Loss less picture at reduced color depth. Thin lines or color variations may appear on the extended screen.
4	JPG picture compression	High	Minimal	The JPEG compressions can cause artifacts when used at low quality settings (see below). The quality slider allows fine-tuning to control artifacts. General information about artifacts can be found at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compression_artifact. We recommend this setting for best display performance!

Parameter

Explanation

Packet size

MaxiVista updates the screen contents on the iPad in regular intervals. Each corresponding data packet is sent in the moment if it is completely filled with new data. The smaller the packet size, the more updates are sent in higher intervals and the screen appears snappier.

However, as each packet also has some extra data that is added to the actual payload, the performance may decrease if the packet size is too small as the payload factor becomes worse with smaller packet sizes.

In some cases, Wi-Fi routers or network adapters may even stall or crash at certain packet sizes. To avoid such stalling, you would need to experiment with this value.

Block size

MaxiVista rasterizes the extended screen into a number of blocks and monitors changes of each block.

You may want to decrease the block size if you have many small changes on the extended screen in different areas.

Smaller block sizes, however, also mean an increasing number of blocks to monitor that adds to the CPU load. Please experiment with this parameter to get best results between "snappiness" of the extended screen vs. CPU load. Using the internal Optimizer is a good first start.

Cache desktop background

As the Desktop wallpaper/background does not change during an extended screen session, you should keep this option enabled. In this case, MaxiVista transmits the background to the iPad only one time in order to save network bandwidth.

Additional hints to optimize the performance:

Software firewalls and other internet related 'security' products can drastically slow down the network, as they tunnel all network traffic through their scanners to process the incoming/outgoing data. This can severely reduce the performance of MaxiVista. Even temporary deactivation of such 'security' products often does not eliminate the influence of such programs.

Usually, your Internet router already includes a hardware based firewall to protect any connected computer against external threats. An additional software firewall on the local computer does not necessarily increase the level of protection but may rather cause new security issues. Also see this Wikipedia article: Software firewalls. You may consider removing any software firewall in order to increase the networking performance.

Just disabling such software firewalls often does not help as the programs stick deeply in the system. You may consider trying another firewall product or use a dedicated network connection without connection to the internet and fully uninstalling the firewall (including reboot afterwards) just to figure out whether the firewall might be the reason for the performance flaw.
Due to a Windows XP issue, the network speed may drop drastically if you have multiple network adapters enabled at the same time (e.g. Wireless LAN together with an Ethernet connection). Either deactivate all adapters which are not used for MaxiVista or avoid using the same subnet.
Router/Switches, Virus scanners and Firewalls between Primary and iPad may also decrease the speed. You can easily check whether your network connection is the bottle-neck by using a dedicated network connection, ideally with a cross-over Ethernet cable (refer to www.maxivista.com/lan.htm).
In order to increase battery life of the iPad, MaxiVista is not designed to playback full-screen video on the iPad screen. Please rather playback full-screen videos on the Windows PC.
Reduce other network traffic while using MaxiVista.

Activating MaxiVista automatically on Start-up

To launch MaxiVista on system startup, copy the Server Program icon to your MS Windows "StartUp" folder of the Windows PC. The extended screen will automatically be activated after launching the computer and running the MaxiVista App on your iPad.

Manual IP address configuration

if MaxiVista cannot find the iPad on the network, or if you want to select a specific iPad, you can manually define its IP address:

Click the Server Program icon Configuration IP address Tab click Manual Enter the IP address of the iPad and confirm with OK.

Selecting a manual IP address has the advantage that the server program does not need to poll the viewer program via UDP.

Procedure to determine the IP address of your iPad:

Open the Settings on your iPad.
Select the first section "Wi-Fi".
Tap on the little round button with the Arrow Right of your active Wi-Fi connection (screenshot).

You can find the iPad's IP address in the following dialog, e.g. "192.168.123.31" (screenshot).

If using multiple network adapters with a Windows XP computer, it is strongly recommended to define different subnets for each adapter to avoid a potential slow-down in performance (due to a Win XP bug).

Removing MaxiVista from your computer

To permanently remove MaxiVista from your computer, click Start Programs MaxiVista Uninstall MaxiVista on the Windows PC.

A reboot is required to remove the virtual graphics adapter driver.

You must reboot the Windows PC before you re-install MaxiVista.

Afterwards you can safely delete the MaxiVista program folder c:/Program Files/MaxiVista with the Windows File Explorer.

If the virtual graphics adapter driver is not removed from the Windows PC, you can do this manually: Right-click the My Computer icon on your Windows desktop Select Properties Hardware Tab Device Manager double-click Display adapters. If you find the MaxiVista driver is still listed, right-click on it and select Uninstall and reboot the system.

Troubleshooting

Following troubleshooting tips assist you in getting MaxiVista to work:

First Steps

The MaxiVista task tray icon color indicate the current program status. If the server program's task tray icon is green colored, then everything is actually running fine. You should see the desktop wallpaper/background of your Primary PC on the iPad screen. Now just drag any program window from your Primary PC to your iPad. If this should fail, configure the correct position of your iPad.
If you can drag to the iPad screen but if the screen update rate is poor, please check out the performance tips.
If the task tray icon is yellow blinking or black, please check whether you have you configured the Firewall properly. The Windows PC must be granted access to the local network in order to be able to send the display contents to the iPad.

For unknown reasons, sometimes the built-in Windows firewall locks programs even if you granted access. In this case, the firewall exception rule may need to be reset: Close MaxiVista, open the firewall settings and delete all MaxiVista related "exceptions" rules and launch MaxiVista again. Make sure that you unblock MaxiVista if the firewall warning message appears.

Please note, that certain firewall products may still affect the network connection, even if they are 'disabled'. For testing, you may consider uninstalling any network related 3rd party software and reboot your PC just to see whether it resolves the issue.
Ensure that the network adapters and drivers are installed properly and that the network cable is firmly connected.
Make sure to have the latest drivers for your network interface adapters installed (especially when using Windows Vista/7). It may be necessary to check for updates.
Close all running programs on the Windows PC except MaxiVista to eliminate the risk that another application lock the network or filter out any network traffic. Especially, "security" software may block network traffic.
If you chose manual network configuration in the MaxiVista configuration, carefully check that you have entered the correct IP address of the iPad.
If you use the automatic network settings, it may be that the UDP ports are blocked by your network's security credentials. In this case, you may try to enter the IP address of the iPad in the Settings of the MaxiVista server program. The MaxiVista server program then does not need to send UDP polls to the network.
Are you using an iPad with Jailbreak? Bummer. MaxiVista knows Jailbreak, too. ;-)

Verify general network functionality

Ensure that the Windows PC has the TCP/IP protocol installed:

Click Start -> Run "type cmd" (always without the quote characters) -> confirm with OK. to open the terminal window.
In the terminal window, type "ping localhost" and press Enter.
If you receive "Request timed out", the computer's TCP/IP configuration is seriously malfunctioning. Further help can be found in the Microsoft Knowledge base.

Find out the IP addresses

To continue troubleshooting, you need to know the IP address of the computers. These are the unique IDs under which the PCs can be identified and reached on the network.

On the Windows PC do the following to retrieve the IP address:

In the terminal window, type "ipconfig" and press Enter to output a list of network adapters on the computer and their respective IP address (labeled "IPv4").
IP addresses for local network usually begin with 169.254.x.y or 192.168.x.y (whereas x and y is a number between 0..255 each). If the IP address does not begin with either 169 or 192, the network adapter is most likely connected to the internet instead of a local network. MaxiVista however does not work over the internet.
The value x represents the "subnet" and both computers must have the same subnet value to be able to communicate.
The last value y is the individual ID of the PC. This value must be different for each network adapter on the Windows PC vs. iPad.

Chapter "manual IP address" describes how to retrieve the IP address of your iPad.

Check basic networking

From the Windows PC, try to call the iPad with the ping command (video tutorial):

In the terminal window, type ping x.x.x.x (where x.x.x.x is the IP address of the iPad) and then press Enter.
If you receive "Request timed out", the calling PC cannot find the iPad on the network. Further help can be found in the Microsoft Knowledge base.

Check for port conflicts

In very rare occasions, it may be that the ports being used by MaxiVista are already occupied by another application:

In the terminal window of all PCs, type "netstat -a" and then press Enter.
Check the output whether any other application is using a port that is also used by MaxiVista (Please find the ports used by MaxiVista by default in chapter "Firewall"). If a port is already occupied by another program, try to change the port used in that application or close the application before using MaxiVista.

Still no joy?

We are sorry for the inconvenience you have experienced.

Unfortunately, the complexity of computer networking, with its infinite parameters and possible hardware/software configurations, does not enable us with the ability to provide individual remote support on networking issues.

We recommend you seek assistance with your local dealer or system administrator.

Technical Support

If you have any technical problem that cannot be solved by above tips and which is not related to network connections, please visit: http://support.maxivista.com