Video Preview of VLC for iPad

[MacRumors]

Yesterday, we noted that the popular open source media player VLC has been ported to the iPad and that the application has been submitted to Apple for review.

AppAdvice has been able to get its hands on the application and has posted an overview and a brief video showing it in action.

It performs very well, and all your DivX and Xvid files will play smoothly and normally, displaying all their original quality. It also supports a bunch of other formats, and it's extremely simple to use. As for the interface, it's nice and polished.

However, there are certain limitations, as less popular formats and high definition videos don't play as well. I'm confident there is still some room to improve the codecs, but since your videos are decoded at the software level, we're probably limited by the iPad's raw power. Also, it won't read Windows media files if anybody still uses them.

File management is handled directly via iTunes, and video libraries are displayed as thumbnails sitting on "shelves", offering a smooth browsing experience. The app's developers are hopeful that it could appear in the App Store as soon as next week, although it is of course subject to Apple's sometimes-unpredictable review process.

Article Link: Video Preview of VLC for iPad

 

[Skaught]

So you can put DIXV and AVI files into iTunes? I thought iTunes would only load mp4 files.

Scott

 

[ImNoSuperMan]

Looks neat. I hope they improve the few codecs which dont work as well too. Cant wait for it (or may be I can, my iPad is still atleast a week away )

 

[macdim]

So you can put DIXV and AVI files into iTunes? I thought iTunes would only load mp4 files.

Scott

This isn't the same as having the files in your library. The files won't be in your Movies or TV Shows sections of iTunes. They'll only be available to that particular app on the iPad. And they'll only be visible under the App tab in the iPad section of iTunes when you have it connected to your computer.

 

[LaDirection]

So you can put DIXV and AVI files into iTunes? I thought iTunes would only load mp4 files.

Scott

As I understand it, you load it through iTunes as data files. In other words you can't use iTunes's video player to play them back.

This is fantastic for a first build! As the software progresses and as the iPad becomes more powerful, this will really be a MUST have app!

 

[ngenerator]

Do we know what all file formats will be able to be played on the app? I haven't had time to check their site to see if there's any info yet...

 

[Major Reeves]

It will perform well once the ipad gets a cortex A9 or derivate and 512 mb ram.

 

[Helmigurt]

Pron viewers everywhere, rejoice!

Where´s the iphone version?

 

[ericinboston]

I'm a Windows and Mac user...and have tried VLC numerous times on XP for different tasks....and VLC stunk each time.

Am I the only person that thinks there are far better choices out there (freeware) than VLC? Such as Media Player Classic.

 

[kyjaotkb]

It will perform well once the ipad gets a cortex A9 or derivate and 512 mb ram.

I remember playing well DivX on 450 MHz AMD K6-II + 128 MB RAM + 8MB VGA Card w/ Windows 98.

Thus iPad raw power shouldn't be an issue for DVD-res video files...

Big ?s that remain are :
- TV out support ?
- streaming support (I can stream HD & SD TV channels from my broadband ISP server w/ VLC on the PC) ?

In addition, it would be neat if compatible with the iPhone VLC remote app.

Now, let's focus : Apple, please approve that. Now. Please...

 

[Becordial]

This is great news! Well done to the VLC team. Finally the iPad is starting to look useful to me. Now if we can just get MS Office on there too, and the processing power is doubled or at least fixed to be strong enough for normal tasks like MKV files, I'm going to have to get one.

 

[fishmoose]

Pretty neat, too bad about the hardware being to slow for mkv though. Guess iPad 2 will be more powerful and handle it better.

 

[whooleytoo]

Will it play back .flv videos?

 

[FFArchitect]

Pretty neat, too bad about the hardware being to slow for mkv though. Guess iPad 2 will be more powerful and handle it better.

Airplay handles all of this and more very well. Converts on-the-fly.

 

[nguyenhm16]

Pretty neat, too bad about the hardware being to slow for mkv though. Guess iPad 2 will be more powerful and handle it better.

The CPU is probably also too slow to play back H.264, except that there is hardware decoding support. The problem is that VLC doesn't have access to that hardware decoding support.

 

[JAWWC]

Peoples obsession with the iPhone 4s ram is getting annoying now. Why at the end does he say a iPhone 4 version might play better? Ram doesn't decode video! A under clocked a4 chip isn't going to play it better is it!?
Rant over.

 

[Ori]

I do like VLC on my mac...especially for playing MKV files which quicktime just doesn't handle well.
What would be great if the IOS allows you to open attachments with VLC. I remember Mr Jobs saying that it was a feature of IOS4, but I wonder if this is incorporated?

 

[Presssack]

What about...

What I ask my self is, if it can play the Flash fileformat .flv?

Cheers
Presssack

 

[kyjaotkb]

I'm a Windows and Mac user...and have tried VLC numerous times on XP for different tasks....and VLC stunk each time.

Am I the only person that thinks there are far better choices out there (freeware) than VLC? Such as Media Player Classic.

On a PC, VLC avoids you the hassle of selecting and installing the right, spyware free codecs, which also saves you some RAM and various video issues.

On the downside, it won't - or hardly will - use hardware acceleration, e.g. to decode HD. I have far better results when playing HD files through MPC than through VLC. However, I don't (and especially Direct Show doesn't) like very much having 2 or 3 different Divx codecs installed at the same time
Anyway, hardware video acceleration in 3rd party software on an OSX system still isn't very common these days, is it ?

 

[Talcon]

Subtitles

I wonder if it will allow you to import your own subtitles and/or if there's a way to enable subtitles to be displayed.

 

[Skaught]

I do hope that stuff like this gets added to the new Apple TV.

Scott

 

[alent1234]

Peoples obsession with the iPhone 4s ram is getting annoying now. Why at the end does he say a iPhone 4 version might play better? Ram doesn't decode video! A under clocked a4 chip isn't going to play it better is it!?
Rant over.

because parts of the file are cached in RAM and as it's decoded the data is written in and out of RAM. the more data the more RAM is needed

 

[petvas]

Airvideo is great for converting on the fly mkv files (and most other video types).

VLC is using software decoding only and that is probably why it cannot play HD mkv files. I wonder why they couldn't use hardware decoding. The fact that VLC has issues with mkv files doesn't necessarily mean that the ipad can't handle them...they should use hardware decoding.

 

[matrix07]

I wonder if it will allow you to import your own subtitles and/or if there's a way to enable subtitles to be displayed.

It support SRT file.

 

[Digitalclips]

I'm a Windows and Mac user...and have tried VLC numerous times on XP for different tasks....and VLC stunk each time.

Am I the only person that thinks there are far better choices out there (freeware) than VLC? Such as Media Player Classic.

Can't speak for PC version but OS X version rocks, I love it enables me to open Real Media without needing RP.