.mkv player for iPad

[ravenvii]

Originally Posted by Menneisyys2

I don't know of a NAS-specific version of Air Video - only that of Plex (see http://wiki.plexapp.com/index.php/FA...Server_and_NAS ). The NAS***** one ( http://wiki.nas*****.org/doku.php?id...airvideoserver ) isn't really running on commercial NAS servers (AFAIK). I may be wrong though.

EDIT: it seems the 4-free (remove the - from the word!) is a non-allowed word; hence the asterisks above. It doesn't seem to have to do anything with the NAS4-Free (again, remove -!) so I post this addition knowing I'm not breaking the rule - after all, the NAS4-Free project is just unlucky to have a, by spammers, commonly used character sequence in its project name.

Plex might be better for streaming directly from a NAS. But if you have a 'dumb' NAS, you can use Air Video -- just have the server point to the NAS directory on the Mac. Boom.

[Menneisyys2]

Originally Posted by ravenvii

Plex might be better for streaming directly from a NAS. But if you have a 'dumb' NAS, you can use Air Video -- just have the server point to the NAS directory on the Mac. Boom.

Yup, but, then, you need a "middleman" - a full x86 device, always powered on, always consuming power etc. This is what "Ratatapa" wanted to avoid.

[finalcut]

I want to stream my videos to my ipad as well but my NAS HDD is a WD World edition II.

Would it be a better idea to buy a mac mini and then plug all my HDDs that contains all my movies/series that I riped from dvds?

[Menneisyys2]

Originally Posted by finalcut

I want to stream my videos to my ipad as well but my NAS HDD is a WD World edition II.

what format are your videos in? mkv? mp4 / m4v / mov?

[finalcut]

Originally Posted by Menneisyys2

what format are your videos in? mkv? mp4 / m4v / mov?

mostly .avi but some mkv as well

something I want to add, I dont know if this could be an issue or not, it has to work 2x. My wife is watching movies or series on her ipad as well in same time with me.

[Menneisyys2]

Originally Posted by finalcut

mostly .avi but some mkv as well

That's bad news. You absolutely must jailbreak to be able to play them back without stuttering if they're 1080p. Without jailbreaking, it's absolutely impossible to play back anything non-iOS-native from streaming sources using hardware decoding.

Originally Posted by finalcut

something I want to add, I dont know if this could be an issue or not, it has to work 2x. My wife is watching movies or series on her ipad as well in same time with me.

So, you want to show the same video absolutely synchronized? Today, there's no solution for that. However, it can certainly be programmed if (and only if) you converted the ones you plan to play back synchronized to two (or more) iDevices at the same time. I'll write such a video player as soon as I have some free time - probably even this week. You'l, however, need to find a friend that has a dev account so that he's able to deploy the app on your iPads.

[finalcut]

Originally Posted by Menneisyys2

That's bad news. You absolutely must jailbreak to be able to play them back without stuttering if they're 1080p. Without jailbreaking, it's absolutely impossible to play back anything non-iOS-native from streaming sources using hardware decoding.



So, you want to show the same video absolutely synchronized? Today, there's no solution for that. However, it can certainly be programmed if (and only if) you converted the ones you plan to play back synchronized to two (or more) iDevices at the same time. I'll write such a video player as soon as I have some free time - probably even this week. You'l, however, need to find a friend that has a dev account so that he's able to deploy the app on your iPads.

no, my wife would watch something else on her own ipad mini.

But if I give up on mkv and I'd only watch .avi? What would you suggest? Mac Mini that runs 24/7 and then plug my HDDS on the mini and stream withsomething?

[Menneisyys2]

Originally Posted by finalcut

no, my wife would watch something else on her own ipad mini.

With plain NAS streaming, it's certainly possible - NAS servers can serve several, different files concurrently. With Plex running on your Mac Mini (see below) - I have to check. (Let me know if interested and I fire up my Plex server + clients.)

But if I give up on mkv and I'd only watch .avi?

It's not iOS-native and, therefore, can't be played back with hardware acceleration when streaming - without jailbreaking. (Again, let's "thank" Apple for their absolutely silly and overly restrictive rules.)

What would you suggest? Mac Mini that runs 24/7 and then plug my HDDS on the mini and stream withsomething?

If you don't mind having an x86 desktop always on and/or don't want to remux / convert your MKV's / AVI's to streamable, iOS-native MP4 (M4V / MOV) files, then, it's a very good choice. But, again, depending on the size of your library, perhaps the (one-time) conversion to iOS-native MP4's would be preferable to fully avoid having to use a "middleman" for streaming.