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Playing AVI files on iPad

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Bodhi395

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 23, 2008
817
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I've read that the iPad now supports AVI files, specifically, "Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format"

I'm not that knowledgable about video file formats, but does this mean that most of the AVI files that you can download from the internet will work? Or is this some specialized version of an AVI file that is not common?

I always hated having to convert standard AVI videos to a format itunes can read, so if I could use most standard AVI files that would be great.
 
.avi is only a container for a variety of codecs, "Motion JPEG" being one of them and mostly used on photo cameras with the ability to shoot video.

.avi files downloaded from the internet most likely use Divx/Xvid as a codec, thus they will not be playable by the iPad.
 
On my iPhone i'm using AirVideo from the AppStore to play .avi .mkv or whatever from my computer.

Can't wait for the iPad to try it :D
 
A good compromise would be to use something like Air Video which can convert "avi" video files on the fly.

edit: Seems I was beaten to the punch :)
 
Basically this means that you can playback the videos you shoot on your digital camera on the iPad with the camera connection kit... very helpful, but not full support for avi files.
 
bzz said:
On my iPhone i'm using AirVideo from the AppStore to play .avi .mkv or whatever from my computer.

Can't wait for the iPad to try it :D
Click to expand...

Geoffrois said:
A good compromise would be to use something like Air Video which can convert "avi" video files on the fly.

edit: Seems I was beaten to the punch :)
Click to expand...

Planning to do that too! AirVideo rocks! It even handles rmvb on the fly! I hope it optimizes the resolution for iPad automatically!
 
I just downloaded air video yesterday. After the avi is converted, is it stored anywhere on the iPad? I guess I'm a bit afraid of it chewing up my storage space.

Can anyone confirm/deny?
 
Great, that's exactly the question I was going to ask.
We, in Europe, are still waiting for the iPad to hit the shelves, but one of my main concern was regarding the videos, because I would find it a pain to have to covnert all the audio files I want to see on the iPad.
So it seems AirVideo looks like a very interesting app.
However, how do you transfer the videos on the iPad (since, obviously, you can't do it via Itunes...)? Is it wireless?

Thanks!
 
Air Video does not technically transfer videos to iPad, it converts them to h264 on the fly and streams to your iPad like Netflix or ABC Video apps do. And yes, you need wireless for that. So far Netflix is good enough for me (plus handbrake to convert videos to h264 to watch them offline).
 
feefeefee8 said:
Just convert AVI files to iPad supported format mp4 or h.264.

Videora iPad converter is freeware.
Click to expand...

I've found, at least on my 2 ghz macbook, that it takes forever to convert a video from avi to mp4. Usually in the hours range. So its quite impratical for me to convert my large video library.

I agree with others about using airvideo. I've tried it and it works great at streaming videos right to my ipad.
 
Ok then, it's not what I am looking for!
Well, I guess I will have to concert everything...
Is there a program that can do batch convert???

Thanks :)
 
Bodhi395 said:
I've found, at least on my 2 ghz macbook, that it takes forever to convert a video from avi to mp4. Usually in the hours range. So its quite impratical for me to convert my large video library.

I agree with others about using airvideo. I've tried it and it works great at streaming videos right to my ipad.
Click to expand...

Quicktime X has a built in ability to convert any video file to be compatible with iPhone OS devices, as well as Apple TV. Works pretty quickly as well, in my experience.
 
Bodhi395 said:
I've found, at least on my 2 ghz macbook, that it takes forever to convert a video from avi to mp4. Usually in the hours range. So its quite impratical for me to convert my large video library.
Click to expand...

I use iSquit to convert 350MB Xvids to iPhone format in about 5-6 mins per episode.
 
With Air Video , do you just have your pc turned on and it browses through the files on your home pc ?.


Also i used videora but found it awful for converting the audio would be out of sync with the movie.
 
Justinf79 said:
Quicktime X has a built in ability to convert any video file to be compatible with iPhone OS devices, as well as Apple TV. Works pretty quickly as well, in my experience.
Click to expand...

What's quickly for you?

For me using quicktime to convert an AVI file to Apple TV format, it seems to take almost real time, so a 2 hour movie will take 2 hours to convert.
 
dino26 said:
With Air Video , do you just have your pc turned on and it browses through the files on your home pc ?.


Also i used videora but found it awful for converting the audio would be out of sync with the movie.
Click to expand...
yes, you download a server on your desktop and then tell airvideo where to look on your computer. the free version has a handful of randomly picked files / folders within the chosen folder to choose from, and you have to refresh to see more. in the paid version, all the files / folders are available to chose from.
 
I'm converting one of Tyler Perry's movies in Avi format in Air Video right now because live conversion had too much buffering. It should take 2 and half more hrs. Air Video is awesome.
 
spinnerlys said:
.avi is only a container for a variety of codecs, "Motion JPEG" being one of them and mostly used on photo cameras with the ability to shoot video.
Click to expand...

While the iPad can play .AVI camera video, the issue becomes getting them on the iPad. iTunes Photo sync will not recognize .AVI files for transfer. Hopefully, the Camera Kit transfer screen will. I was able to email myself a small .AVI file shot on my Casio and I was able to save it to the "saved photos" album and play it, but iTunes seems to only recognize .MP4 formats.
 
Some Mac users might not that knowledgeable about video file formats. In other words, iPad supports some types of video cameras watch their AVI footage via the camera card reader accessory, it won't let you watch downloaded AVI movies on the iPad. If you want to play AVI movies downloaded from the internet on you iPad or iPad 3G, you can convert your AVI files to iPad friendly format. AVI files with JPEG compression is high quality, but it's HUGE. So you can also convert them to MP4 format for your iPad. I've been using Handbrake for this. Usually works great with no problems. Takes a long time on my iMac though (avg 4 hours per 2 hour movie). So I also use a third party program called iPad Video Converter for Mac. it works pretty for me, There is a free trial version without time limit and can convert full avi video.
 
nasa25 said:
I just downloaded air video yesterday. After the avi is converted, is it stored anywhere on the iPad? I guess I'm a bit afraid of it chewing up my storage space.

Can anyone confirm/deny?
Click to expand...
Nothing is stored on the iPad. :)
For anyone who's not sure on how it works, you can either live-convert a non-apple spec video whilst you watch it in real time(nothing is saved), or you can do a full conversion(with the quality/cropping/aspect ratio of your choosing).
The full conversion saves the converted file in the same folder as the original file, with "- airvideo" on the end of the file name.
So, for example, if the original file was FunnyVideo1, the converted video would be FunnyVideo1- airvideo.
From here, you can sync the converted video to iTunes(if you want to store it on the device), and can then delete the original video on your computer - which makes sense, because when watching a converted or compatible video file in Air Video, it's easier to 'seek' on the timeline, that it is when it's live-converting.
 
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