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SiameseJesus

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 20, 2012
3
0
Hi,

I just got an iPad and went to download AVPlayerHD and it's saying it's not available to download at the moment. Does anyone know why it's not available? Also are there any decent alternatives around, I'm going mainly be playing mkv files.

Thanks :)
 
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Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
Hi,

I just got an iPad and went to download AVPlayerHD and it's saying it's not available to download at the moment. Does anyone know why it's not available? Also are there any decent alternatives around, I'm going mainly be playing mkv files.

Thanks :)

1, I've just received a mail from the AVPlayerHD folks. They state they don't know when the player reappears in the AppStore. They've been asked by Apple to remove them because of the bugs introduced in the last version.

2, if you have MKV files, you'll always want to remux to native iOS formats (mp4 / mov / m4v). Under iOS, there is simply no way to play back local (the above-recommended StreamToMe streams remote files from a desktop) MKV's flawlessly, not even on jailbroken devices. Are you sure you can't remux?
 
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SiameseJesus

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 20, 2012
3
0
1, I've just received a mail from the AVPlayerHD folks. They state they don't know when the player reappears in the AppStore. They've been asked by Apple to remove them because of the bugs introduced in the last version.

2, if you have MKV files, you'll always want to remux to native iOS formats (mp4 / mov / m4v). Under iOS, there is simply no way to play back local (the above-recommended StreamToMe streams remote files from a desktop) MKV's flawlessly, not even on jailbroken devices. Are you sure you can't remux?

Ah that's a shame. Hopefully it will be back up soon.

The impression I got from reading forums and stuff was that you could simply drag an MKV file into itunes and play it using something like AVPlayerHD, is that not possible? I can remux if needs be, can you recommend any software?
 

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
Ah that's a shame. Hopefully it will be back up soon.

It won't be, unfortunately. It's still not known when it is back. Weeks? Months?


The impression I got from reading forums and stuff was that you could simply drag an MKV file into itunes and play it using something like AVPlayerHD, is that not possible?

Surely possible with a lot of other titles (BUZZ Player, It's Playing etc. - unfortunately, all these titles have their own shares of bugs and problems) too, but none of them is able to deliver seamless playback, "thanks" to Apple's pretty stupid restrictions. Hence the need to remux.


I can remux if needs be, can you recommend any software?

Subler is by far the best. I've posted tons of posts here on using it under e.g. ML; check out my prev. posts, particularly in the Apple TV forum.
 

SiameseJesus

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 20, 2012
3
0
It won't be, unfortunately. It's still not known when it is back. Weeks? Months?




Surely possible with a lot of other titles (BUZZ Player, It's Playing etc. - unfortunately, all these titles have their own shares of bugs and problems) too, but none of them is able to deliver seamless playback, "thanks" to Apple's pretty stupid restrictions. Hence the need to remux.




Subler is by far the best. I've posted tons of posts here on using it under e.g. ML; check out my prev. posts, particularly in the Apple TV forum.

Excellent, thank you :)
 

yegon

macrumors 68040
Oct 20, 2007
3,403
1,979
Hope it returns to the store. The iPad version is still a champ but I want an update that takes into account the 5’s increased res.
 

Khryz

macrumors 6502a
Jan 7, 2007
940
1
I was just searching for this today too, wanted to grab the iPhone version. I have the iPad version though, so I hope it returns soon as well.
 

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
I was just searching for this today too, wanted to grab the iPhone version. I have the iPad version though, so I hope it returns soon as well.

It won't in the next 2-3 weeks at least(!), it seems. What kinds of videos do you plan to play back? There may be equally good (or even better!) alternatives for a specific video type. For example, today, I've discovered the new "nPlayer" - it simply ROCKS when it comes to multiple subtitle displaying (and is, in this regard, considerably better than AVPlayerHD).
 

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
I know a few people that like Good Player

Yup, GoodPlayer is great if you know its limitations - basically, it shouldn't be used for 1080p software decoding (in that regard, there're a lot of better titles - ProPlayer etc.) and there are no DSP's in it (for DSP's, use It's Playing.).
 

LJ50

macrumors member
Jun 3, 2011
94
3
I was just searching for this today too, wanted to grab the iPhone version. I have the iPad version though, so I hope it returns soon as well.
Same story here. The iPad version is terrific, played all the mkv's I've tried no problem at all.

Hopefully they sort out whatever issues they have and get the iPhone version released again.
 

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
Same story here. The iPad version is terrific, played all the mkv's I've tried no problem at all.

Hopefully they sort out whatever issues they have and get the iPhone version released again.

They will - but it's still not known when. I'll announce here when I hear something from the re-release.

In the meantime, as far as MKV playback is concerned, you have the following alternatives:

- BUZZ Player (HD) (it's currently offered at a discounted intro price of $2 / $2, which makes it a very good buy for new customers; note that it won't play MKV files with DTS audio!),

- It's Playing (note that it stutters a bit more than the other, recommended titles; however, the excellent and absolutely unique DSP's it has may make up for this problem)

- HD Player Pro (if you don't need TV output)

- and, if you're jailbroken and don't need iPad 3 Retina screen support, XBMC.

But, of course, remuxing will always be the best.
 

rgr555

macrumors 6502
Mar 8, 2012
274
0
Azul is the best imo

but i have tons of videos in there it crashes and doesnt repeat sometimes
 

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
Azul is the best imo

but i have tons of videos in there it crashes and doesnt repeat sometimes

IMHO, there are better titles than Azul. For example, its H.264 decoder is particularly bad at 1080p. Get something better.
 

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
hmm never had any problem playing anything.

You may not have noticed the difference because you many not have directly compared to, say, the video decoding speed and CPU usage to other, better-optimized players.

BTW, in my yesterday's, very long article ("TUTORIAL: This is how you can watch Windows Media / Silverlight Internet TV streams"; I can't link to it to avoid self-promotion) I've compared all the iOS players' Windows Media / Silverlight streaming playback compliance. In this regard too Azul has proved to be inferior to the best players (GoodPlayer, XBMC etc.): it accepts direct MMS links only and even that with restrictions; for example, it you can't even bookmark your MMS links because of a bug. All the other players can bookmark / list their history.

This is was just one (the most recent) example of it being inferior to the best players in the category.
 
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rgr555

macrumors 6502
Mar 8, 2012
274
0
You may not have noticed the difference because you many not have directly compared to, say, the video decoding speed and CPU usage to other, better-optimized players.

BTW, in my yesterday's, very long article ("TUTORIAL: This is how you can watch Windows Media / Silverlight Internet TV streams"; I can't link to it to avoid self-promotion) I've compared all the iOS players' Windows Media / Silverlight streaming playback compliance. In this regard too Azul has proved to be inferior to the best players (GoodPlayer, XBMC etc.): it accepts direct MMS links only and even that with restrictions; for example, it you can't even bookmark your MMS links because of a bug. All the other players can bookmark / list their history.

This is was just one (the most recent) example of it being inferior to the best players in the category.

which program is the best for watching videos/all codecs?
 

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
which program is the best for watching videos/all codecs?

There isn't a best app, unfortunately. AVPlayerHD was pretty close to it but even it had some lacking functionality (ASS subtitles, streaming etc.) some of the alternatives did much better. It all depends on what content (codec, video parameters, subs etc.) you want to play back.
 

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
Better in what regard?

Well, in some regards, it's indeed better; for example, ASX / WMV streaming. And it's available in the AppStore, unlike AVPlayerHD ;-)

Unfortunately,

- the removal of AC-3 support has rendered its MKV hardware playback support almost absolutely useless. AVPlayerHD is orders of magnitude better at that. I've been trying to talk to the dev on this matter (he, so far, hasn't answered my e-mails); hopefully he'll fix the (major) bugs rendering MKV playback (currently) useless.

- the software video decoders of the app, generally, aren't as good as that of AVPlayerHD.
 
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