iPad Air 2 or mini 3 for storing and watching videos

[peterpan123]

Hello, I am considering to buy an iPad Air 2 or a Mini 3 for watching videos. Is it easy to copy videos from DVD to these devices for watching? Which one do you recommend? Is it easy to connect these devices to an external hard drive or a SuperDrive?

 

[mwebb]

Hello, I am considering to buy an iPad Air 2 or a Mini 3 for watching videos. Is it easy to copy videos from DVD to these devices for watching? Which one do you recommend? Is it easy to connect these devices to an external hard drive or a SuperDrive?

The iPad Air 2 has greater color accuracy (nearly 100% color gamut vs. about 62% on the Mini 2 and 3). This may change when the Mini 4 is released.

nPlayer in the app store is the only way to get your Handbrake ripped legacy DVD collection onto your device. VLC will get the videos there, but seldom play the audio. I purchased nPlayer which is licensed by Dolby to play AC3 audio, which is essential. nPlayer just released (Aug 26 I believe) a version which can also play DTS. The app is under $5, which is a bargain. BTW you use WiFi transfer to move the actual files into nPlayer. The website will explain the process.

You'd better get 64gb if you have much of a collection. Since you are ripping DVD's which only have 480p, your file sizes may be smaller, but still about 400mb per DVD.

Make sure you have an exemption for ripping your DVD's. Some countries prohibit conversion even if the original publisher has not released an electronic version.

 

[firedept]

Hello, I am considering to buy an iPad Air 2 or a Mini 3 for watching videos. Is it easy to copy videos from DVD to these devices for watching? Which one do you recommend? Is it easy to connect these devices to an external hard drive or a SuperDrive?

Very easy to copy videos to iPads. I just rip them with Handbrake and put them directly into iTunes. I then sync them to my iPad. That simple and does not cost me a penny. Just make sure you get enough storage on your iPad to cover all the movies you want to take along. My iPad is 128GB, so handles lots of movies no problem.

 

[rigormortis]

vlc for IOS was forced to drop support for an audio codec that handbrake (dvds ) and broadcast television likes to use, which was A52 AC3. if you have videos that use AC3 your forced to use the old vlc player that was removed from the app store several years ago

there has been rumors that some day VLC might include A52 AC3 support as an in app purchase

i usually do what firedept says and use iTunes to sync them.

i have a hd home run that is uPNP and VLC can access the tv tuner on my wifi network, but because the tv station broadcasts using A52 AC3 i get no audio -- i could be totally mistaken here -- and its the hd home run that is using A52 AC3 , but i intended to mean , it just does not work