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Alternatives to AVPlayerHD

yousifabdullah said:
Hei Menneisyys2,

I noticed CineXPlayer has updated its app a few days ago with a new UI and music playback support with Dolby Digital Plus, as well as Live TV. I'm sure you have tried it and talked about it before, it seems the app is solid with MKV and AC3 support on the iPad version (iPhone version doesn't support MKV for some reason).

So you think it's worth 3,59€? They had me at new UI and music playback, as I'm looking for a single app to handle all multimedia needs. Too bad it isn't Universal and lacks parity with the iPhone version.
Click to expand...

Posted the full review, with benchmark videos, at https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=17232088

Basically, I don't recommend it over nPlayer or AVPlayerHD. Only check it out if you can / want to make use of its Dolby Digital features, built-in Web browser or TV station directory. As a standalone video player, it's considerably weaker than nPlayer or AVPlayerHD.
 
Do any of the now AC3 licensed players use a certified AC3 decoder from Dolby? Or is the decoder based on open source ones, like ffmpeg?
 
Mackan said:
Do any of the now AC3 licensed players use a certified AC3 decoder from Dolby? Or is the decoder based on open source ones, like ffmpeg?
Click to expand...

I will ask the nPlayer / AVPlayer devs and report back.
 
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Menneisyys2 said:
I will ask the nPlayer / AVPlayer devs and report back.
Click to expand...

Just got an answer from the nPlayer devs:

"Hi, We integrated Dolby's object code into nPlayer because using Dolby's object codec is required as part of Dolby license."

That is, AVPlayer must also have Dolby's own decoder.
 
Menneisyys2 said:
Just got an answer from the nPlayer devs:

"Hi, We integrated Dolby's object code into nPlayer because using Dolby's object codec is required as part of Dolby license."

That is, AVPlayer must also have Dolby's own decoder.
Click to expand...

Thank you, nice to hear. :)
 
I thought that AVPlayer was an all-round excellent program, best video player in the store...until they had to drop all those codecs. Now I have a 30gb library of video without sound. :mad:

More and more I am becoming convinced that what I really need is not an iPad but rather a tablet with a fully open source OS, on which any open source software can be installed without restrictions.
 
Drewvt said:
I thought that AVPlayer was an all-round excellent program, best video player in the store...until they had to drop all those codecs. Now I have a 30gb library of video without sound. :mad:

More and more I am becoming convinced that what I really need is not an iPad but rather a tablet with a fully open source OS, on which any open source software can be installed without restrictions.
Click to expand...

Consider remuxing your movies. With tools like MKV/MP4Tools, you can quickly convert the DTS tracks to AC3 or AAC ones. Then, AVPlayer will be able to play back these files.

Given that your library's only 30 GBytes, remuxing can be done in a few hours at most, assuming you use the automatic (batch) mode of these remuxers.

Note that I've written several tutorials on MKV/MP4Tools - just look around in this very forum, or, the Apple TV forum here.
 
Menneisyys2 said:
Note that I've written several tutorials on MKV/MP4Tools - just look around in this very forum, or, the Apple TV forum here.
Click to expand...

Thank you kindly. I will do just that for part of the files, I think, at least with the ones for which I cannot obtain a DTS-free alternative file.
 
Menneisyys2 said:
Don't bother with AVPlayerHD if you have SSA subs. AVPlayerHD's SSA support has always been bad. Go for HD Player Pro instead.
Click to expand...

I see no app called HD Player Pro in the app store only a rip off app called HD Player which doesnt work.

I was using Its Playing which now is next to useless due to their words "We were forced to remove four audio codecs from It's playing: DTS, AC3, EAC3 and MLP"

Im happy to pay...I just want a drag and drop app that plays all movies!
 
wrkactjob said:
I see no app called HD Player Pro in the app store only a rip off app called HD Player which doesnt work.

I was using Its Playing which now is next to useless due to their words "We were forced to remove four audio codecs from It's playing: DTS, AC3, EAC3 and MLP"

Im happy to pay...I just want a drag and drop app that plays all movies!
Click to expand...

Yup, it's been removed (it was at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hd-player-pro/id429610228?mt=8 ).

I'll try to mail the dev again. (He hasn't answered my previous one, back in Aug/12). I'll ask him to tell me what happened.
 
Any idea if av player plans to get subtitles embedded in mkvs to work over FTP steaming? Rather annoying, also what's the reason for it not to be able to turn subtitles on (FTP streaming)? Seems really weird....
 
I think the best player is nplayer. It s work very well with my ipad (flowing).
 
Menneisyys2 said:
wrkactjob said:
I see no app called HD Player Pro in the app store only a rip off app called HD Player which doesnt work.
Click to expand...
Yup, it's been removed (it was at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hd-player-pro/id429610228?mt=8 ).

I'll try to mail the dev again. (He hasn't answered my previous one, back in Aug/12). I'll ask him to tell me what happened.
Click to expand...

Are you sure that "HD Player" (without "Pro") is a rip-off? They seem to have the same author (Khoa Tran Anh). Also "HD Player" also plays SSA/ASS subtitles and Hi10p (10-bit) video fine, just like "Pro" was supposed to do.

It just seems he changed the business model or something. It's a bit sneaky, because while the app seems free now, you need the codec pack (in-app purchase) to make it work for most videos.
 
GHDpro said:
Are you sure that "HD Player" (without "Pro") is a rip-off? They seem to have the same author (Khoa Tran Anh). Also "HD Player" also plays SSA/ASS subtitles and Hi10p (10-bit) video fine, just like "Pro" was supposed to do.

It just seems he changed the business model or something. It's a bit sneaky, because while the app seems free now, you need the codec pack (in-app purchase) to make it work for most videos.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I should have been more specific: my "yup" only referred to the Pro having disappeared from the AppStore, not to "HD Player"'s being cr@ppy. Assuming it has the same features and performance of its ex-Pro version, it might be a good buy for the ASS / SSA folks.

The dev seems to have entirely gone for the IAP way in all his apps - he doesn't have any non-freemium titles any more in the AppStore. That is, he doesn't really bother supporting his paying customers (including me) by both keeping (in Appstore) and further updating the app they've paid for. Well, this is what I REALLY dislike.

Unfortunately, he haven't answered my mails either (sent two of them back a year ago and a month ago; both were positive as, generally, I had found the Pro version easy to recommend). That is, I'm not sure he even reads his mails so I'm not sure he'll read my mail on whether he plans to re-list the Pro version. Nevertheless, I've just sent him another mail. (Could you also mail him to see whether he reads his mailbox? According to http://atk-inc.com.vn/about.php?name=About , his address is anhkhoa86 AT gmail.com )
 
Menneisyys2 said:
Posted the full review, with benchmark videos, at https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=17232088

Basically, I don't recommend it over nPlayer or AVPlayerHD. Only check it out if you can / want to make use of its Dolby Digital features, built-in Web browser or TV station directory. As a standalone video player, it's considerably weaker than nPlayer or AVPlayerHD.
Click to expand...

Hei Menneisyys2, how are you?

I'm glad that I took your advice and didn't get CineXPlayer. Instead I bought nPlayer, which was updated today to version 2.0 and I'm very happy with it.

nPlayer now comes with a beautiful new UI (it's flat, too) and most importantly, a fix for the forced overscan with Apple's Lightning adapter you talk about here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1578989/. I tried it out myself and added a picture of it in action with my 4th gen iPad—thank you for writing that thread and making nPlayer devs aware of the issue!

Put simply, it's the best media player on the App Store currently. The new update comes in handy for myself now that I traded in my PS3 to support my purchase of the PS4 in the future, meaning that I can't enjoy Blu-ray or anything at this time. Without the stupid black bars however, I can just hook up my iPad to my TV and use nPlayer. Brilliant.

~ Yousif
 

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Here's a list of all the fixes and updates to nPlayer in version 2.0:

- Upgraded User Interface
- Modified app icon
- Support browsing file list while playing a movie (mini player mode)
- Support file indexing search for rapid file search
- Support favorite playlists
- Support recently played lists
- Support m3u8, m3u playlist
- Support image files : JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, TIFF etc...
- Support sorting files in ascending or descending order
- Support subtitles background
- Fixed buffering issue of playing QuickTime formats
- Fixed AC3 encoded audio play bugs
- Fixed ID/password register bugs of multiple ID in a single domain
- Fixed overscan issue of HDMI TV out
- Fixed seeking issue on WMV file playing
- Fixed SMI parsing bugs
- Fixed unintended screen brightness down with nPlayer menu fading out while playing videos with lyrics information.
- Fixed compatibility issue on symbolic linked directory browsing
- SMB stability improved
- UPnP/DLNA connection stability improved
- Other miscellaneous bugs are fixed
 

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yousifabdullah said:
Here's a list of all the fixes and updates to nPlayer in version 2.0:

- Upgraded User Interface
- Modified app icon
- Support browsing file list while playing a movie (mini player mode)
- Support file indexing search for rapid file search
- Support favorite playlists
- Support recently played lists
- Support m3u8, m3u playlist
- Support image files : JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, TIFF etc...
- Support sorting files in ascending or descending order
- Support subtitles background
- Fixed buffering issue of playing QuickTime formats
- Fixed AC3 encoded audio play bugs
- Fixed ID/password register bugs of multiple ID in a single domain
- Fixed overscan issue of HDMI TV out
- Fixed seeking issue on WMV file playing
- Fixed SMI parsing bugs
- Fixed unintended screen brightness down with nPlayer menu fading out while playing videos with lyrics information.
- Fixed compatibility issue on symbolic linked directory browsing
- SMB stability improved
- UPnP/DLNA connection stability improved
- Other miscellaneous bugs are fixed
Click to expand...

Anyone having stuttering and video/audio sync issues with this new update, when using streaming?
 
There's a new update for AVPlayer (2.0!) - has anyone tried it yet?
Is it safe to update, or has somebody noticed any problems?
 
yousifabdullah said:
Here's a list of all the fixes and updates to nPlayer in version 2.0:

- Upgraded User Interface
- Modified app icon
- Support browsing file list while playing a movie (mini player mode)
- Support file indexing search for rapid file search
- Support favorite playlists
- Support recently played lists
- Support m3u8, m3u playlist
- Support image files : JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, TIFF etc...
- Support sorting files in ascending or descending order
- Support subtitles background
- Fixed buffering issue of playing QuickTime formats
- Fixed AC3 encoded audio play bugs
- Fixed ID/password register bugs of multiple ID in a single domain
- Fixed overscan issue of HDMI TV out
- Fixed seeking issue on WMV file playing
- Fixed SMI parsing bugs
- Fixed unintended screen brightness down with nPlayer menu fading out while playing videos with lyrics information.
- Fixed compatibility issue on symbolic linked directory browsing
- SMB stability improved
- UPnP/DLNA connection stability improved
- Other miscellaneous bugs are fixed
Click to expand...

Would it properly play 1080p files on an iPad 3?
Does it support DTS?

I'm also looking for a player that supports 3D files.
 
pandabunny said:
There's a new update for AVPlayer (2.0!) - has anyone tried it yet?
Is it safe to update, or has somebody noticed any problems?
Click to expand...

It's safe enough. All it looks like is that they skinned the UI a bit. No DTS, though this isn't really an issue for me. I think It's Playing seems to have slightly smoother video in "best" quality setting and better subtitle font. Of course 3.8 is the last version with AC3. Back up your old .ipa from iTunes if you want to test with the possibility of rollback.
 
Amazing Iceman said:
Would it properly play 1080p files on an iPad 3?
Does it support DTS?

I'm also looking for a player that supports 3D files.
Click to expand...

It depends on the video format. For example, 1080p H.264 content is no problem and can be played natively using QuickTime. MKV should pose no problem either, unless the content is hi10p. For a more detailed explanation, refer to this post by Menneisyys2: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1547504/.

DTS support as of this writing is NOT included in nPlayer or any other player available in the App Store currently. This may or may not change, I've heard that some developers are negotiating the license for DTS support, so keep your eyes open.

I have no info on 3D other than it's not supported by any player in the App Store as of this writing. I don't see it changing either as the iPad lacks an autostereoscopic display and anaglyph 3D is simply a mess.
 
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