It seems to be the easiest way to transfer any kind of video file from usb memory stick to ipad. The best thing about this trick is: you don't need jailbreak.
First you need:
1) Apple Ipad camera connection kit (CCK)
2) USB memory stick (with no more than 4 Gb storage space)
3) Filebrowser on your Ipad (or other app that allows you to open and manage the photo library)
4) AVplayer on your Ipad (or other player that supports multiple video formats: avi, wmv, mp4, mkv etc.)

How it works

1) Create the folder DCIM on the USB drive
2) Insert the video file you want to copy into the folder DCIM on the USB drive
3) Rename the file as PICT0001 (next file must be PICT0002, and so on)
4) Insert the USB drive in CCK and then insert the CCK in Ipad
5) Ipad will automatically open the file in photo app
6) Import the video file in photo app; it appears there as blank white icon with "avi" on it
7) Now run filebrowser and open your photo library
8) Choose "imported", select the avi file and tap "open in", then select avplayer (or other player that supports this kind of files)
9) The video file appears in "inbox" folder of avplayer: now you can rename it as you wish, play or move it to 'documents" folder
10) Now you can remove the original file from photo library

Enjoy!

The only warning: in my case that works not for all mkv files. For any avi or wmv file it works great

Thanks for the info. I don't want to jailbreak my ipad. So, this is probably the easiest way. I followed the direction to import a FLV file (created by realplayer). Everything worked as expected until step 9. The Inbox in avplayer is empty. Later, I found this only works for avi or wmv file. I'll try a avi file to see if it works. Is there a way to make it work for flv or rmvb file by this method?

If I connect my ipad to pc and use Itune to transfer files to ipad, avuplayer can play any kind of video. But, the point is I try to skip the middleman (pc); especially during travel.

Andrew

Originally Posted by tilden99

Thanks for the info. I don't want to jailbreak my ipad. So, this is probably the easiest way. I followed the direction to import a FLV file (created by realplayer). Everything worked as expected until step 9. The Inbox in avplayer is empty. Later, I found this only works for avi or wmv file. I'll try a avi file to see if it works. Is there a way to make it work for flv or rmvb file by this method?

If I connect my ipad to pc and use Itune to transfer files to ipad, avuplayer can play any kind of video. But, the point is I try to skip the middleman (pc); especially during travel.

Andrew

Due to apple limitations in ios 5 you cannot transfer via "open in" files larger than 250 Mb. Maybe that's the point. Also you can try to use different name for video files: mov0001 instead of pic0001. Hope this helps.

Does mov format increase file size larger than 250mb?

We test on this and it ends up that iPad pops up an error message saying that the iPad can not support USB stick because it requires too much power.

But it works when connecting with SD card:
[How-to] Copy Photos and Videos from Camera to iPad- Sync Camera with iPad[/TD]