I Hate, Hate, HATE Trying to Watch Video on My iPad

[AlonzoMosley]

It seems every video I try to watch has a different issue. I have had my iPad 4 for over four years, and I usually give up trying for about a year at a time - and watch vids on my Android phone (seamlessly) or my Windows PC (with nary a hitch), and even on my Samsung teevee off a USB stick. But I'm getting on a long flight, and appreciate Apple's battery power.

I have three movies - two MP4 and one MKV.

I dragged the MP4's into the native "TV" app using iTunes, and the MKV into PlayerXTreme.

One of the MP4s is fine.

One has no sound - even though it has sound on the PC and on Android phone.

The MKV's video is in super slo-mo, maybe a few frames per second, while its sound is fine. (In other words, by the end of the first minute, the title music is wrapping up but the onscreen lion is still trying to roar).

I have uninstalled and reinstalled PlayerXTreme. I have tried in VLC Player. I am on 10.3.3.

ARGGGGGHHHH!!!!

 

[scifan57]

Have you tried these instructions for converting the videos to an iPad friendly format? How to convert video files for ipod/ipad/iphone... | Official Apple Support Communities

 

[Abula]

For years i was disappointed, but last few years i been pretty happy, INFUSE 4 was a game changer app, it was paid app but worth money, the support for all movie formats was there, even licence for DTS/Dolby, i never had issues with MP4 or MKV with it, that said i used it on IPAD Air2, weather the Ipad4 can run with its hardware its up to you to test, but i think you can test it without going with the pro version until you know.

Recently i moved to nPlayer Plus, mostly because i had some issues INFUSE 4 with ipad air2 with x265 HEVC 10bit, sometimes it played fine, but most of the time it had issues, given that its a newer codec with bigger compression and no native support for hardware was understandable, so i tested nPlayer Plus (also paid) and to my surprise it was much better, not perfect but at that point was better, since that time INFUSE 5.0 has come out so many updates for both (infuse and nplayer), and to me nPlayer is still better, but both are very good atm, i prefer more the folder organization of nlplayer to the faincy metadata of infuse, this is a totally personal thing.

I would suggest to give a shot to both and see how it runs on your ipad before committing to either.

 

[AlonzoMosley]

Have you tried these instructions for converting the videos to an iPad friendly format? How to convert video files for ipod/ipad/iphone... | Official Apple Support Communities

I thought MP4 WAS the "iPad friendly format"???

 

[scifan57]

I thought MP4 WAS the "iPad friendly format"???

Have you tried putting those videos into iTunes on your computer and syncing them to your iPad and playing them in the built in videos app on your iPad?

 

[twerppoet]

I thought MP4 WAS the "iPad friendly format"???

It is, and it isn't.

MP4 isn't a simple file format like docx, txt, or pdf. It is a specification for a wide range of formats that cover a wide range of video resolutions, frame rates, audio sampling rates, and more. Not every device is compatible with every MP4 flavor. If you grab files created by people using other devices, they may not have picked the most device agnostic choices. This is why it's generally better to run your videos through a computer app like HandBrake and optimize them for the device you are using.

I'm not sure how they compare with PlayerXtreme, but you might try other apps like AVPlayer, VLCPlayer and OPlayer. They generlly have more codecs and flixibility than the built in TV app.

 

[AlonzoMosley]

Have you tried putting those videos into iTunes on your computer and syncing them to your iPad and playing them in the built in videos app on your iPad?

I dragged the MP4's into the native "TV" app using iTunes

(I have tried VLCPlayer as well).

Thanks for the suggestion, twerppoet... I thought the "family" of codecs in the MP4 container was supposed to be ubiquitous across Apple's software. Recognize, the overall objective is to be EASY. Files that require a lot of tweaking to move between platforms means either the file will get abandoned, or the platform. Twenty years ago, I would have said something different, but we've certainly reached a point where we should be able to expect some level of singularity!

 

[Abula]

Have you tried INFUSE or nPlayer?

 

[Willster]

I have a problem going the "other" way. I shot a brief 4K video on my iPad Pro, transferred it to a memory stick and tried to play it on my Panasonic smart TV. No joy, the TV doesn't even see the file on the memory stick.

 

[AlonzoMosley]

I have a problem going the "other" way.

Oh that stinks. My folks have a Samsung TV that's about a year older than my Samsung TV, and I notice there are a lot of files that play on mine (MKVs for sure) that don't on theirs (off USB sticks)... Mine is billed as a "Smart TV" and theres is not.

Is it possible to update the firmware on the TV? It may have caught up.

Both Samsungs show all files on the stick, regardless of if they're playable or not. (There are options to show only certain types of media vs. all files - check and see if maybe you haven't ticked a default display option somewhere?)

I presume you've played other files / can see other files from USB sticks before?

(And from what I understand, the technical term for USB stick or memory stick is actually "computer sticky thing".)

 

[Willster]

Thanks, I'll check some of the settings on the TV.

They had some comical names for USB memory where I used to work, such as "USB pens" or "Thumb drives", no idea where they got these names from ...

 

[AlonzoMosley]

Have you tried these instructions for converting the videos to an iPad friendly format? How to convert video files for ipod/ipad/iphone... | Official Apple Support Communities

Of course, for this to work, iTunes has to sanction the file format - and in MKV's, it does not. So you can't import it into iTunes in the first place, in order to convert it...

 

[Aerofly]

Could the OP just use 'Handbrake' on the PC to convert the MKV files to mp4 format for the iPad. Handbrake is by far the best video converter I've found for 'lossless' conversions.

Steve

 

[scifan57]

Could the OP just use 'Handbrake' on the PC to convert the MKV files to mp4 format for the iPad. Handbrake is by far the best video converter I've found for 'lossless' conversions.

Steve

I'm sure he could.

 

[AlonzoMosley]

Note - the frustration comes from the need to have multiple convertors and players, particularly given that Apple is purported to be the media-friendly platform, yet I have almost no trouble playing and moving files on and between WIndows and Android...! I have used HB in the past, will look into it again...