iPad VideoPane - Watch videos while doing something else

RDAR said:

This tweak allows you to take videos and play them anywhere. You could basically be watching a video and surfing the internet or go on facebook. Basically it lets you multi task on your iPad better. It's sort of like what Quasar was but instead of multiple apps you can just open watch videos playing being on another app. Still this is pretty impressive. Just though I'd let you guys know. Here is a screen shot of it in action. You can make the video as big as you want and even dim in a little. You can't watch two videos at once though. Once you play one it pauses the other video.
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Wows!! Absolutely wonderful! At last we can have at least a fraction of what Windows RT / 8 / Samsung's / LG's Android windowing is capable of! I'll check it out at once and report back.

(I've, of course, loved Quasar. I've recommended it in several of my past articles.)

I picked this up yesterday and I'm loving it. Very useful! An added bonus is that you can detach a video and then lock your phone and the audio continues to play.

My only complaint is that if you start watching a video normally, then detach it, the video starts over from the beginning.

Also as a feature request, I would be happy if there was a way to completely hide the video window (via an Activator action) but keep the audio playing.

Quickly purchased it on my 6.1 iPad 2.

1, can only play back HW-accelerated videos; SW playback will, obviously, NOT be windowed. Neither will semi-hardware MKV playback (that of, say, nPlayer).

2, iOS5, 6 and 7.0 only. Has the "firmware (<< 7.0)" dependency, meaning it won't install on 7.1+. Will soon test with hacked iOS version, on 7.1b3, and report back.

3, otherwise, WONDERFUL! $2 well spent!

Menneisyys2 said:

Neither will semi-hardware MKV playback (that of, say, nPlayer).

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1. With some players with semi-HW MKV playback support (e.g., HD Player Pro), playback does start under VideoPane - but stops after around 10 seconds (when the next chunk of MKV is remuxed) and is, therefore, completely useless.

Unfortunately, Infuse Player (one of the best HW MKV players) isn't at all supported.

2. Also tested on my iPad 1 running 5.1.1. Works flawlessly. A screenshot:



(Original: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/11936279614/ )

Needless to say, with nPlayer, only the (default) QuickTime playback is supported (when playing back an iOS-native file, of course). If you switch to Hardware decoding with (non-default) QuickTime to enable volume boost, the video will mute and stop after 10 seconds. With the Hardware decoding + (default) OpenGL ES combo (which allows for viusla DSP's as well), you won't be able to switch to windowed playback at all.

All in all, this tweak is far less flexible than Quasar used to be. But at least it's existing and running just fine on all the iOS versions (5.1.1, 6.1 and 7.0.4) and iPads (1/2/3) I've tested.

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RDAR said:

Yeah, I couldn't get any of my avi or mkv files to work on it.

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Yup, they aren't iOS-native and, therefore, can't be played back. Don't even try.

But all the MP4s worked flawlessly on any app, didnt matter if it was my own mp4 file i transferred to ipad or mp4 videos in the apps, they all worked great.

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Yup, mp4's are iOS-native.

anyone getting it to work well with the WatchESPN app?

Netflix video won't play with videopane installed. Anybody having this problem?

koakuma said:

Netflix video won't play with videopane installed. Anybody having this problem?

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I just bought it. I had to disable it for Netflix because I'm having the same problem. It detach Moviebox videos but not XBMC videos. It would be great if he could get it to work in both but mostly XBMC. Beside that, it;s definitely worth the 2 bucks. No regret here.

caribsa said:

I just bought it. I had to disable it for Netflix because I'm having the same problem. It detach Moviebox videos but not XBMC videos. It would be great if he could get it to work in both but mostly XBMC. Beside that, it;s definitely worth the 2 bucks. No regret here.

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XBMC doesn't use QuickTime playback with iOS-native files; hence the lack of VideoPane support. (Actually, I don't recommend XBMC any more for iPad users. Only use it if you want to play back some special WMA audio formats not supported by anything else on iOS. See my dedicated articles here at MR.)

@Menneisyys2 - I use XBMC to watch TV shows. I don't have cable since I work full time and also in school full time. I pay for Netflix and count on XBMC to watch the few reality shows that I love. I'm not a huge TV watcher and cable is just too expensive for the limited television I watch. I dumped the home phone also for $14.99 VOIP from VoicePulse (I give that number to all my creditors and acquaintances, only friends and family has my cell ). It hardly goes down since xfinity internet service in my area is quite stable, expensive but stable.
I will definitely check out your article.

caribsa said:

@Menneisyys2 - I use XBMC to watch TV shows.

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OK, I thought you watched local files. For streaming, XBMC is indeed excellent.

Great tweak! I was searching for something like that for months. Can watch live TV and read the forum at same time.

Menneisyys2 said:

1. With some players with semi-HW MKV playback support (e.g., HD Player Pro), playback does start under VideoPane - but stops after around 10 seconds (when the next chunk of MKV is remuxed) and is, therefore, completely useless.

Unfortunately, Infuse Player (one of the best HW MKV players) isn't at all supported.

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I noticed with AVPlayer h.264 MKV's would detach but play at twice the speed, and of course, AC3 audio would not work.

Really love the tweak, but for me its very limited due to native playback support only. I get why though, guess will just have to wait for something like Quasar again (if that ever happens )

That being said, does netflix use the native player still? I think it no longer works with videopane and he said he would work on fixing it...if it doesn't use the native player how can he fix it?

Any videopane supported player got a rewind button or gesture, preferably 30 seconds?

Love this tweak! This definitely should be native on iPads. Come on, Apple, make it happen in iOS 8.

nfl46 said:

Love this tweak! This definitely should be native on iPads. Come on, Apple, make it happen in iOS 8.

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Don't hold your breath. Multiwindow / pane multitasking would make iOS far too complicated; therefore, Apple will never implement it. Not even with some easy gestures like those of Windows 8's pane switching.

Unless there will indeed be a 12+" iPad Pro. On it, a single-window operating system (the current iOS state) would be ridiculous.