VLC Video Player for iPad and iPhone There no doubt that the iPad is a great devise for watching movies, but up until now users had been pretty limited as to what theyve been able to watch on the tablet because Apple limited playback to MP4 files and its proprietary Quick Time format. Any other files, including those encoded with the very popular DivX and AVI formats, had to be converted: a long and cumbersome process that many just couldnt be bothered with. The VLC Player from VideoLan has long been the best PC media player out there with its packed feature set and its ability to play just about any file without breaking into a sweat. This week, the official iPad VLC App finally made it through Apples approval process thanks to Apple relaxing their previously draconian approval rules. The media player previously fell foul of the rule which prohibited the release of any app that duplicated a technology already provided by Apple. They also would have gotten knocked back for allowing the playback of video content not bought in the iTunes store. This turn around by Apple is really a blessing for iPad users because now their very shiny and very expensive gadget can play just about any video file including HD 720p MKR files - that should give the iPad a break from its critics as it begins to evolve at last into a more flexible and useful machine. Loading movies onto the app is, as you might expect, done through iTunes, but instead of choosing the files in the movies tab, you have to sync the files using the new file transfer feature found in the apps tab when you connect your iPod to your computer. This ensures that the new movie files will only show up in the VLC Media player app instead of the videos folder of the iPad, eliminating any potential for confusion. Playback is generally very good when playing videos in the AVI or DivX format but some problems do arise with other formats (such as Real Player files and high definition MKV). Common issues are minor annoyances such as a temporary drop in resolution and some much more serious frame rate issues that can make a film unwatchable. These issues are not deal breakers and should be fixed in future updates that should bring extra functionality such as subtitles and, hopefully, integration with AirPlay when the iPad is finally updated in November. Current shortcomings aside, the VLC app mainly works and is absolutely free; giving it a big thumbs up from us here at JOE.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 01:29:30 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015