720P MKV iPad 2 - Which Player?

[rk1985]

Hi all,

Has anyone had success with 720p MKVs? I've tried OPlayer and the results have been poor. I know I can convert the video or mux if needed, but I'd really love to just be able to transfer my MKVs over and play them on the iPad. Has anyone had success with BuzzPlayer, AV Player, or any of the other alternatives? I'd like to use this while traveling so Air Play isn't an option.

Thanks!!

 

[odj310388]

Vlc?

 

[Bluemeanie1976]

Why not just convert them to mp4? isn't that easier than running around the town trying to find another solution?

 

[rk1985]

Why not just convert them to mp4? isn't that easier than running around the town trying to find another solution?

You honestly think spending dozens of hours converting videos is easier than downloading a simple application that would play the files natively? Hmm.

In regards to VLC, the iPad2 jailbreak isn't available yet. I plan to try VLC as soon as I can.

 

[nigelquest]

MKV works on VLC (last version from the app store) on my iPad 2, but the video is so choppy its unwatchable. I believe this is due to the fact it uses software and not hardware processing. The jailbroken version may be able to take advantage of hardware acceleration. Any app that can do this and supports the container shoudl be able to run smooth.

 

[JeffLebowski41]

xbmc should take care of you, once the ipad2 is jailbroken. Haven't been following the ipad development, but the appletv version taps the hardware to help with rendering mkv. I'd imagine the ipad build would as well, or at least will in the near future.

 

[G77]

BuzzPlayer is very good. But i dont have iPad 2 yet so i cant try....

 

[Bluemeanie1976]

You honestly think spending dozens of hours converting videos is easier than downloading a simple application that would play the files natively? Hmm.

In regards to VLC, the iPad2 jailbreak isn't available yet. I plan to try VLC as soon as I can.

Well, find a simple application that does it then. Until then, I'll lob them in handbrake overnight, and have them working with no issue. You know if you transcode them overnight, you hardly notice the effort.

I've used cinex, VLC, etc, and frankly they are awful.

 

[nchesher]

I just installed AirVideo to watch my HTPC library on my iOS devices and it works great. The bonus is that I can catch up on my shows on the go. It works really well.

 

[kreach]

This solution works for me;
Use Subler, import the MKV video, and save the file as M4Vl The conversion process takes about 1 min to 3 min and the end result is playable on apple TV/ Ipad; Of course, the video has to be h264, and subler changes the container from MKV to M4V;
Works for ~99% of the files;

 

[wallstreetcrash]

This solution works for me;
Use Subler, import the MKV video, and save the file as M4Vl The conversion process takes about 1 min to 3 min and the end result is playable on apple TV/ Ipad; Of course, the video has to be h264, and subler changes the container from MKV to M4V;
Works for ~99% of the files;

Does that include x264s? i.e. TV shows available online

 

[kreach]

Well all MKV's i download [] seem to work with this option...
With the big size ones [> 2/3 gb] i sometimes have problems. but mostly resolved by a change of setting. u... did not check x of h, need to get home before i can answer that;

 

[rk1985]

Thanks for the responses guys. For now I'll just mux the file to mp4 and play with the stock player. Once the jailbreak becomes available I'll try xbmc and let you know how it turns out.

 

[wallstreetcrash]

This solution works for me;
Use Subler, import the MKV video, and save the file as M4Vl The conversion process takes about 1 min to 3 min and the end result is playable on apple TV/ Ipad; Of course, the video has to be h264, and subler changes the container from MKV to M4V;
Works for ~99% of the files;

Excellent!

EDIT: Half of my MKVs work, others don't.
I'm guessing profile problem?

 

[spacepower7]

As a bonus, the newest version of Subler can search TVDB for all the info/metadata for your mkv files.

It even knows s1e7 in the mkv file name means season one episode seven.

 

[matsh00]

Thanks for the responses guys. For now I'll just mux the file to mp4 and play with the stock player. Once the jailbreak becomes available I'll try xbmc and let you know how it turns out.

Did you figure this out? I'm having the same problem

 

[rk1985]

Did you figure this out? I'm having the same problem

Nope. It's been a major struggle...

I'm seriously disappointed in the iPad 2's performance as a media player. Most of the MKV files I've muxed have had serious audio issues. Video looks great but audio doesn't work properly.

I'm even having serious issues with standard definition xvids. I've tried playing them in OPlayer and other third party media playback software and the audio is always horrendously out of sync.

The iPad is a really impressive device in a lot of ways. Media playback sucks though.

 

[kalex]

Did u try goodplayer?

 

[wallstreetcrash]

Audio is fine here.
For Xvids I use VLC and it's fine.

And transcoding mkv to mp4 works 50-50. I think some embossed use higher level when encoding so it doesn't always transcode.

 

[Ashwood11]

I'm seriously disappointed in the iPad 2's performance as a media player.

The iPad2 is not a media player. You are disappointed in the performance of the apps that play the video on the iPad2.

 

[blueroom]

Actually the iPad is an excellent movie player. It's very fussy about the format H.264 + AAC + AC3.
For encoding movies stick with the Handbrake ATV2 preset and if you have an AppleTV2 you can use AirPlay and it'll play with the AC3 (DD5.1) or AAC (stereo) soundtrack.
I much prefer a player that plays one very good format rather than struggle with the quagmire of ancient codecs from the past.

 

[rk1985]

The iPad2 is not a media player. You are disappointed in the performance of the apps that play the video on the iPad2.

If that wording makes you sleep better at night, then so be it. The iPad2 struggles to play video if not encoded in one format. The fact that my friend's Galaxy phone can play xvid files perfectly (with no conversion or 3rd party software I might add) while my iPad2 can't is disappointing.

Thanks for the GoodPlayer recommendation. I will try that out. Anyone else having issues with the audio being out of sync using OPlayer? Perhaps there's a setting I'm missing.

 

[sampath]

Thanks for the GoodPlayer recommendation. I will try that out. Anyone else having issues with the audio being out of sync using OPlayer? Perhaps there's a setting I'm missing.

Yep, have the same problem with OPlayer and I suspect it's a performance issue rather than anything to do with settings.

Did you have any luck with Goodplayer?

 

[hustmobile]

I am the developer of GoodPlayer...
720P MKV/H.264 is not possible for GoodPlayer to play smoothly.

And as far as we knew, there is not app now on App Store to play 720P MKV/H.264 smoothly.
We did not get the iPad 2 so far, but we nearly tested all the players available on iPad 1. Since the bottleneck is the software decoding, I guess the iPad 2 could not play 720P MKV/H.264 smoothly too.

In short, IMHO, 720P MKV/H.264 is not possible for App Store application now. Just wait for jail broken and use the iOS XBMC.

Yep, have the same problem with OPlayer and I suspect it's a performance issue rather than anything to do with settings.

Did you have any luck with Goodplayer?

 

[derlisz]

Av player hd duo core support

As of today Av player HD is supporting duo core capability of ipad's 2 a5 processor and it's now capable of somooth playback of unconverted mkv. So far I've only tested 720p files but I doubt that it will be able to playback anything more than that without stutter.