Yes, exactly this. Sure, it's annoying when someone holds up an iPad in front of me, but I can usually see around it. I just don't understand the concept. They're watching their iPad, not actually watching the show. So in effect, they watched a video. Boggles my mind.
Actually kind of facing that dilemma now...all 3 of our kids are very active in sports. DS13 is now in his 5th year of football and DS10 is in his 4th year, and DD10 is a year round lacrosse player. The boys have asked me to start taking video of them, so they can watch game tape on themselves and see what they're doing. We didn't even own a working camcorder, so I just ordered one. However, not sure how I want to handle it. I want to film them, because I definitely think it will help them to watch film of themselves and see what they're doing. At the same time, since it's live action, I can't just point the camera and leave it, you need to follow along. But I very much like to see them playing with my own eyes, not through a camera lens. My luck...if I record every other play, the one I'll miss is one where they make a great play or a really bad one they can learn from.