Best video player apps for ipad

[iPad100]

I wanted to get some advice from users who may have tried any or all of the following video apps for iPad (see attached image for App Store listing):

CineXPlayer
Movie Player
OPlayer HD
BUZZ Player HD
AVPlayerHD

I have the old VLC Player (the one removed from the App Store) but wasn't impressed. I was hoping to get opinions and/or reviews of the above players, and any others people might suggest. My main needs are as follows:

- Playback of non-Apple formats (mainly MKV, XviD, DivX, etc.)
- Subtitles (.srt, .sub formats)

Thanks in advance!

 

[MachThree]

I've been using AirVideo app which has a converter app that runs on your PC or Mac and converts videos on the fly (requires a network connection to your PC / Mac), or before hand where it will save the vid to your hard drive and automatically add it to iTunes for you so that you can sync it to the iPad yourself and play it back later on without an active network connection to your PC / Mac. Seems to work with all my .avi, .mkv and .mp4 files that I've tried.

There's a slightly crippled version on the app store that you can download for free. The full version is $3.99 last I checked.

I've also tried LiBox which is totally free and it seems to work as well, but it does require network connectivity to work.

 

[matt_90036]

The streaming has never worked for me. There are two reasons for it.
1) I can't stream when I'm on a plane, bus or train
2) streaming from the pc is slow

I got myself cinexplayer which plays most of my movies that I have on my hard drive.

 

[iPad100]

The streaming has never worked for me. There are two reasons for it.
1) I can't stream when I'm on a plane, bus or train
2) streaming from the pc is slow

I got myself cinexplayer which plays most of my movies that I have on my hard drive.

I tend to agree - the streaming option is fine if you're on a network, and I'm guessing it has to be the same netwkr for iPad and source computer (or does it stream over internet as well?).

I've tried ZumoCast (free version for trial) and while playback was fine, the source computer (MacBook Pro) was really working hard to convert on the fly (dual core processors were maxed out).

So I would prefer to either convert or find a decent player for the non-Apple formats. I have shared my quick 'n' dirty conversion guide that I use for most MKV and XviD conversions here: http://www.ipadforums.net/ipad-gene...uick-conversion-method-mkv-xvid-avi-ipad.html

Any problems with CineXPlayer? Do you find the iPad labouring under any conditions, such as with particular formats or resolutions (HD 720p, etc.)? As there's no fan you don't get the aural warning of high processor load (i.e. the fan doesn't click up to max. speed to cool the processor), and I'm not sure how to check the actual processor load on an iPad.

I have read some complaints about overheating, but not specifically tied to video playback. The main issue seems to be poor/jerky playback - as the Apple formats are supported via hardware decoding, the other formats rely on only software decoding for playback, and this can overload the iPad.

 

[matt_90036]

No I have not played HD movies on cinexplayer. But I did play 700mb in size movies downloaded from torrent sites (legally of course). The movies played fine with no interruptions and quite smoothly. I did not convert them as the movies that I downloaded were in avi format supported by cinexplayer.
I did try VLC player but I was disappointed because it kept on crashing.
Sorry I don't now any other specifications of the movies that I have.

 

[666fff]

I use VLC, I'm surprised you guys don't like it. It's never crashed on my iPad and playback is flawless. I don't know if anything supports mkv, I've avoided them as much as possible when I've downloaded films (legally of course )

 

[Anthy]

Has anybody tried Azul Media player? What do you think of that?

 

[saab9k]

yes vlc works great on iphone and ipad.

 

[Thphilli]

XBMC. The only player you should have.

*Free
*Plays 720p high profile [email protected] videos flawlessly (basically any 720p video)
*Allows you to stream from ANY network share
*Can be remote controlled by ANY Android phone or ANY iphone/ipod/ipad or ANY computer on the same network

Seriously, what can compare to this? Is there a single other player that can play 720p high profile mkv files? I contend there is NOT.

 

[gweb]

XBMC for iPad?

Where did you find the XBMC app?
For now i can only find a remote, and thats not what this thread is about.

I have just recieved my iPad 2 and i really would like to play my videos (mkv, avi aso) with srt subtitles on my iPad. I just have no clue how, and i would really love to see the VLC player coming back.

 

[DontUnderstandMyIpad]

XMBC only runs on jail broken devices.

 

[SweetPoison]

XMBC only runs on jail broken devices.

It does?

 

[DontUnderstandMyIpad]

It does?

Well, if you want to be that picky, XMBC could theoretically run on non-jb iPads, but since Apple doesn't allow it in the AppStore, the only way to install it is through Cydia

 

[SweetPoison]

It does?

Well, if you want to be that picky, XMBC could theoretically run on non-jb iPads, but since Apple doesn't allow it in the AppStore, the only way to install it is through Cydia

I knew that. I was testing you.

 

[iPad100]

It does?

Well, if you want to be that picky, XMBC could theoretically run on non-jb iPads, but since Apple doesn't allow it in the AppStore, the only way to install it is through Cydia

So, Apple rejected it for the app store, or it was never offered? If it was rejected, do you know the reasons given?

I ask because there are a bunch of video players on offer, so I'd be curious as to why one was rejected.

BTW, I started this thread some time back and have since tested a number of players. To be honest, most perform rather poorly for things like WMV and FLV, but rather well for DivX, XviD, etc. MKV is so-so, but MKV can be very easily extracted and repackaged into MP4 (very often the video codec used is x264, or at least XviD/MPEG-4, so it requires no recoding) which is a much better option for playback on non-JB iPads.

Of the players I tried here is my subjective assessment.

(1) I currently use:
- BUZZ Player: good playback on most formats (excellent for FLV, which is handy), reasonable settings/options, OK GUI, subtitles handled (.srt or .sub with same name as movie is picked up automatically, muxed subs not recognised)
- OPlayer HD: good playback on most formats (better than BUZZ for WMV), reasonable settings.options, basic GUI, handles subtitles

(2) Players I tried and rejected (my opinion/experience only):
- VLC: didn't play back as well as BUZZ or OPlayer HD, basic GUI (no longer available in app store)
- YXPlayer/YXPlayer2: didn't handle files as well as BUZZ or OPlayer HD, basic GUI
- Azul: Crap to use, crap playback, lots of flashing lights but no substance
- eXPLayer: plays OK (not as good as BUZZ or Oplayer HD), impressive but unnecessary GUI (overkill IMHO)
- Movie Player: pretty crappy player for WMV, didn't bother trying much else, OK GUI, not sure about subs
- WMV Player: absolute rubbish, played nothing, I want to demand my $$$ back but am not sure how - any suggestions?

All in all, if you want to play XviD/DivX AVIs most players work well. Subtitles are handled reasonably by most, but I like the way BUZZ and OPlayer HD do it. WMV will play on most players, but playback can be jerky and audio sync can be a problem - I found OPlayer HD to handle it the best, and BUZZ is OK. BUZZ dies a great job with FLV files, which are not so common but often you get a web download in this crappy format and BUZZ handles playback well (OPlayer HD is also OK, but most others had problems with FLV - very jerky, no audio sunc, etc.).