Alternatives to AVPlayerHD

[SiameseJesus]

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

[JoeShades]

Streamtome

[Menneisyys2]

Originally Posted by SiameseJesus

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?

[SiameseJesus]

Originally Posted by Menneisyys2

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]

Originally Posted by SiameseJesus

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?

Originally Posted by SiameseJesus

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.

Originally Posted by SiameseJesus

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]

Originally Posted by Menneisyys2

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]

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]

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]

Originally Posted by Khryz

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).

[mikepro]

I know a few people that like Good Player

[Menneisyys2]

Originally Posted by mikepro

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]

Originally Posted by Khryz

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]

Originally Posted by LJ50

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]

Azul is the best imo

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

[Menneisyys2]

Originally Posted by rgr555

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.

[rgr555]

hmm never had any problem playing anything.

[Menneisyys2]

Originally Posted by rgr555

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.

[rgr555]

Originally Posted by Menneisyys2

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]

Originally Posted by rgr555

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.

[Benbikeman]

Originally Posted by rgr555

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

AVPlayerHD is the best all-round app in my experience. I literally haven't found anything it won't play.

[penguintri]

Is there any news what's happened to avplayer? I really want it to be updated for the iphone 5!

[Menneisyys2]

Originally Posted by penguintri

Is there any news what's happened to avplayer? I really want it to be updated for the iphone 5!

Suffice it to say that it'll be back some time.

[cooa99]

has anyone tried buzz player ,

I found it to be much better

cooa99

[Benbikeman]

Originally Posted by cooa99

has anyone tried buzz player ,
I found it to be much better

Better in what regard?

[Menneisyys2]

Originally Posted by Assimilated

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.