Best video player apps for ipad

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Originally Posted by itpad

AV player HD gives really good results for 720p video

However, there is an youtube video about EC player vs AV player HD playing "1080p" video. EC player plays the video flawlessly but AV player HD suffered from minor stuttering.

Seriously, I don't know what to believe anymore.......

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It depends on the format you're trying to play back.

H.264(!) 1080p MKV's will play better on the EC Player. Everything else (WMV, ASP etc.) on AVPlayerHD.

For example, check out the WMV playback bible at iPhone Life (I can't post a direct link; Google for "Playing Back WMV Videos – the Complete(!) Roundup" and follow the first link). It also states AVPlayerHD is way better than EC Player for that, while also stating the latter should be preferred to play back H.264 1080p MKV's.

It's pretty bad and should be avoided. The WMV playback bible I've just mentioned doesn't recommend it either.

At MacRumors (Google for ".AVI on iPad 2" to find the thread), I've posted an extensive "cons" list of the player. Let me cite it entirely (note that it's written as an answer to a guy that just laughed at people claling VLC bad (and, then, after showing him the list below, he just stated he didn't have the time to argue - pretty bad excuse...); therefore, it's a bit personal):

"- does VLC support the iPad 3 Retina screen, as does almost all the other players, including AVPlayerHD, GoodPlayer and ALL the other, high-end ones? Of course not.

- does it have camera roll access, as does ReplayerHD Pro, PlugPlayer, Play Any Video Format - PlayerX HD, XBMC, RushPlayer+ etc? Of course not.

- does it have ANY support for ANY kind of embedded subtitle in any kind of a video file? Of course not.

- Does it have the highly useful audio boost, as does several apps like GoodPlayer or It's Playing, the latter even in HW decode mode? Of course not.

- Saturation / brightness / contrast change? Speed change (slow/fast playback, with several players, even in hardware-decoded mode)? Fine-tuned scrubbing? Does it show the target frame while scrubbing? Heck, not, not even the timestamp! App password? Moving videos from iTunes dir away? Media list sorting? Folder support? Audio playback in background? Bookmarks? Access to local Music / Videos library? Quick filename search? Playlists? HDMI / VGA output? Multiple audio tracks in ANY kind of video formats? You guessed: NOPE! While the best players (GoodPlayer, AVPlayerHD, XBMC) support at least 80-90% of these.

- Heck, can you even change the aspect ratio of the video, or, can you zoom in, as you can in stock Videos? Nope, not even that.

- Does it support hardware playback with MOV / M4V / MP4 files? Of course not. FLAC, WMA, OGA, WAV, WavPack, Ape Monkey? Not one of them, while most other video(!) players happily play at least part of these formats (and for example XBMC every single of them, even lossless / 24 bit WMA's.)

What about the 1080p MSMPEG4 results? (A video format comparatively simple to decode, at least compared to AVCHD.) Awful. The same stands for OGG Vorbis streams. And, of course, H.264 AVCHD.

You don't believe me when it comes to H.264 AVCHD "quality" well demonstrating the "speed" of the decoder? Well, just check out ..."

Sorry, can't continue as there was a link there... hope you find the original, full post. Nevertheless, the part I've copied already has some valuable info.

ah, Menneisyys . Have you started writing IOS guides instead of Windows mobile? Welcome. :)

Thanks :) Had to switch - after all, WM is dead and I love my iPads :)

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Originally Posted by yusufjee

So no one has tried flex:player which is a FREE application and plays everything smooth except mkv which stutters.

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I'd advise against FlexPlayer - it's pretty weak.

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Originally Posted by yusufjee

Also is there a way of increasing volume in these applications? Some of the videos i watchi have low volume and its hard to hear without complete silence. I am wondering which of the applications mentioned in this thread has setting to increase/gain the playback volume

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Several apps support volume boosting: TTPlayerHD, PlayerXtreme (this title has a pretty bad boosting algorithm though), BUZZ Player HD, eXPlayer HD, GoodPlayer, XBMC and "It's Playing".


Of the bunch, I recommend GoodPlayer for software-based decoding (everything BUT mov / m4v / mp4 files) and the next version (the, in the AppStore, currently available one is pretty crappy) of "It's Playing" for hardware (mov / m4v / mp4 files) decoding. Or, of course, XBMC for both kind of playback - but, of course, it only works on jailbroken devices, "thanks" to Apple.

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Originally Posted by cidd

You can try Oplayer HD, works pretty well

cid

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Just keep in mind that

- OPlayer is especially weak at playing back any kind of WMV3 (WMV1/WMV2 are OK) or MPEG-2 TS (aka DVB) files
- its H.264 decoder is definitely weaker than that of AVPlayerHD at 1080p
- it has no nice features liek audio (volume boost, reverb etc.) or video (brightness, contast, saturation etc.) DSP's
- its 1080p60 MTS support is def. weaker than the best of the bunch

Also note that you must enable hardware MP4/M4V/MOV playback (it's disabled by default, enable at: Settings / Plugin / Use QuickTime)

On another note, it has a very good MSMPEG4 and OGG Vorbis video decoder.

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Originally Posted by nanolake

I have a number of mkv, xvid, ogg and avi files and have looked far and wide for a good player to run on my iPad. I have pretty much tried all or the more populars one and find that each of them have their quirks. For example, I have one file that Azul would just crash on while GoodPlayer would play at an extremely low frame rate. I have another file where audio seems to be out of sync with video with one of the other player. VLC player which unfortunately got remove (though I got it before it was removed) was best but no good to me if I cannot get updates. Overall, I found Falcon Player to be the best all rounded player and had successfully play all my files with the highest frame rate I can find which is even more evident when you do Airplay to your TV. The downside was it could not play a AVHCD file at a decent frame rate which is super high resolution I had though from my camcorder. Neither could the other players though.

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Let me chime in a bit. I've found it a bit on the average side.

- It has no outstanding features except for hue changing (during SW playback only) not found in any other player.
- its codecs are not as good as those of the best players (GoodPlayer, AVPlayerHD)
- its MPEG 2 TS is particularly bad
- it has absolutely no non-HTTP network share support (its built-in browser is nice, though)
- in hardware MOV / MP4 / M4V playback mode, it offers no access to the audio / subtitle tracks
- no audio DSP's (incl. audio boosting)
- no special zoom modes (e.g., vertical stretching)
- poor support for embedded subs in MKV files (and no ASS support at all)

All in all, I don't recommend it. Get something better.

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Originally Posted by sherax

I use this player for iPhone
PlayerXtreme for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad on the iTunes App Store

they also have iPad version
PlayerXtreme - IT PLAYS ALL for iPad on the iTunes App Store

I think this is the best player so far, It played HD 720 movie format flawlessly for me. It has got plenty of other options, like live network streaming and playback, Library management etc.

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Sorry for (again) being a courier of bad news, but I myself don't recommend PlayerXtreme at all. Why?

- absolutely no support for MP4 (mov / m4v) subtitle / multiple audio tracks

- its audio boost functionality (a $1 IAP itself) is very bad and doesn't come even close to the quality of that of GoodPlayer. The sound becomes highly distorted when you enable it, unlike with GoodPlayer. Do NOT purchase / use it!

- its networking support (another $1 IAP) is completely buggy and non-working. With UPnP / SMB network sources where GoodPlayer (and a lot more, network-aware apps) worked just fine, it refused to stream or even load the filelist. (This problem was, by the way, mentioned by a lot other users as well in the AppStore.)

- its H.264 AVC software decoder is far inferior to even the average ones (e.g., that of GoodPlayer) in 1080p, let alone the best ones (most importantly, AVPlayerHD). At 720p, it doesn't even come close to the majority of other titles. Unfortunately, its MSMPEG4 decoder (see the Big Buck Bunny 1080p AVI test) is also VERY bad. The WMV decoders are somewhat better but are still not in the same league as, in this respect, the best players.

etc etc.

(I've, of course, published a full review of the app.)

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Originally Posted by Ampress

Does it play the file without first copying it to your ipad?

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Most streaming (vs. pre-downloading)-capable multimedia players refrain from cluttering up your Documents directory with strictly streamed content.

Of the bunch, I recommend GoodPlayer for mp4/mov/m4v files unless you're streaming them from Samba (SMB) shares. If you do use the latter, use eXPlayer HD by Zhigang Chen ( eXPlayer HD for iPad on the iTunes App Store ) instead, as it supports hardware decoding over these connections (unlike all the other players).

For AVI files, which, generally, have MSMPEG4 codec in them, the preferred player depends on the resolution. 1080p? Forget GoodPlayer. 720p? GoodPlayer will be fine.

For 1080p playback, you'll want to use something else. Unfortunately, the player that has the best MSMPEG4 (and H.264, and VC-1 / WMV) decoder, AVPlayerHD by EPLAYWORKS.Co.Ltd. ( AVPlayerHD for iPad on the iTunes App Store ), only supports FTP access and not even streaming over it. That is, it's completely insufficient for your needs.

Finally, as usual, you should also consider going the jailbreak + XBMC way. Then, you won't have any problems – everything just works.

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Originally Posted by Cybershaolin

On my side, I use 8player and it plays every file I have on my Synology DS210+ locally or outside my local network, Wifi or 3G. I just love it.

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I'd clearly stay away from 8player. It's a mediocre player with pretty bad software decoders and lack of features. Go for something better.