In my previous review, I didn't particularly like the initial version of Movie Player HD+, which, with the just-released update, has just been renamed to Media Player PRO. It also received a price bump; now, it costs $1.99.
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(the update list. As usual, click for a larger, clearer shot.)
Unfortunately, the new version as weak as was back in September:
- the H.264 and WMV decoders are way inferior to those on the, in this respect, best apps; for example, the also-$1.99 yaPlayer (see THIS), AVPlayer, nPlayer (note that, in addition to having a good H.264 decoder, it now also supports hardware MKV decoding) etc.). Even low-bitrate 720p videos (for example, the standardized Harry Potter test video) are not properly played back on the lightning-fast iPhone 5, let alone 1080p ones.
- no 16:9 (widescreen iPhone 5 / iPod touch 5) support
- no MTS support
- no SSA subtitle rendering enhancements
- very poor SD MPEG-2 DVB TS support (low decoding speed, incorrect aspect ratio, no audio track selection / any kind of subtitle rendering support)
- of course, no AC-3 support any more. At least the app displays a warning upon first encountering a file with AC-3 as follows:
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(The screenshot also shows the lack of 16:9 screen support)
Note that the previous, 1.3.0 version, released 07/Nov, had already-removed AC-3 support; it, however, didn't display any error message upon first parsing them, unlike the new version. At least in this regard the new player is indeed better...
Verdict
All in all: I do not recommend this player at all, particularly not at the new, raised price. Spend your hard-earned dollars on something better: It's Playing, GoodPlayer, BUZZ Player, yaPlayer, nPlayer etc. or get a decent free app like Moli_Player.
(the update list. As usual, click for a larger, clearer shot.)
Unfortunately, the new version as weak as was back in September:
- the H.264 and WMV decoders are way inferior to those on the, in this respect, best apps; for example, the also-$1.99 yaPlayer (see THIS), AVPlayer, nPlayer (note that, in addition to having a good H.264 decoder, it now also supports hardware MKV decoding) etc.). Even low-bitrate 720p videos (for example, the standardized Harry Potter test video) are not properly played back on the lightning-fast iPhone 5, let alone 1080p ones.
- no 16:9 (widescreen iPhone 5 / iPod touch 5) support
- no MTS support
- no SSA subtitle rendering enhancements
- very poor SD MPEG-2 DVB TS support (low decoding speed, incorrect aspect ratio, no audio track selection / any kind of subtitle rendering support)
- of course, no AC-3 support any more. At least the app displays a warning upon first encountering a file with AC-3 as follows:
(The screenshot also shows the lack of 16:9 screen support)
Note that the previous, 1.3.0 version, released 07/Nov, had already-removed AC-3 support; it, however, didn't display any error message upon first parsing them, unlike the new version. At least in this regard the new player is indeed better...
Verdict
All in all: I do not recommend this player at all, particularly not at the new, raised price. Spend your hard-earned dollars on something better: It's Playing, GoodPlayer, BUZZ Player, yaPlayer, nPlayer etc. or get a decent free app like Moli_Player.
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