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iPad Pro Watching Movies With Thumb Drive

JDLang76

JDLang76

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 1, 2018
155
57
I want to grab a 12.9" Pro to watch movies during travel. I do not want to pay for a 1tb model. So I want to figure out what I need to buy...
All I want to do is watch MP4 4k movies on it that are stored on a 1tb USB stick. But Ive seen mixed reviews on whats possible.

My question... Is it possible to watch movies off a typical USB drive with a lightning adapter and nothing else on the 1st and 2nd gen models?
Or do I need to get a 3rd gen with USB-C?

Im asking because some articles have said that 1st and 2nd gen dont actually power the usb stick. Would love clarity on this.
Thanks!
 
I am not sure about the 1st or 2nd gen, but I do know that for my 3rd gen USB-C , I am able to access files and movies through an external hard drive so if that is what you’re looking for, that would be your best bet.
 
JDLang76 said:
I want to grab a 12.9" Pro to watch movies during travel. I do not want to pay for a 1tb model. So I want to figure out what I need to buy...
All I want to do is watch MP4 4k movies on it that are stored on a 1tb USB stick. But Ive seen mixed reviews on whats possible.

My question... Is it possible to watch movies off a typical USB drive with a lightning adapter and nothing else on the 1st and 2nd gen models?
Or do I need to get a 3rd gen with USB-C?

Im asking because some articles have said that 1st and 2nd gen dont actually power the usb stick. Would love clarity on this.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

I was able to watch movies from a thumb drive on regular 6th gen iPad. I used this app and the associated card reader with it - iUSB Pro. It is a card reader that has 3 ports - lightning, usb-c and usb-a. It accepts both micro sd card and regular SD. I basically bought 64 GB card. I was able to play the movies in the app itself.

The restriction is that you play the movies in the app itself and you might find the player not that advanced.
 
DiCaprioAngel said:
I am not sure about the 1st or 2nd gen, but I do know that for my 3rd gen USB-C , I am able to access files and movies through an external hard drive so if that is what you’re looking for, that would be your best bet.
Click to expand...
Are you able to play the movie directly off the thumb drive or do you need to send it to ipad first?
 
JDLang76 said:
I want to grab a 12.9" Pro to watch movies during travel. I do not want to pay for a 1tb model. So I want to figure out what I need to buy...
All I want to do is watch MP4 4k movies on it that are stored on a 1tb USB stick. But Ive seen mixed reviews on whats possible.

My question... Is it possible to watch movies off a typical USB drive with a lightning adapter and nothing else on the 1st and 2nd gen models?
Or do I need to get a 3rd gen with USB-C?

Im asking because some articles have said that 1st and 2nd gen dont actually power the usb stick. Would love clarity on this.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
In that case, you're going to want to get the 3rd generation iPad Pro.
 
JDLang76 said:
Are you able to play the movie directly off the thumb drive or do you need to send it to ipad first?
Click to expand...

For my 10.5 Pro, I have a couple of different Lightning-based uSD card readers that I use a 400GB uSD card with. You can play directly from the storage, no copy necessary. I also have a 12.9 Pro and you have a lot more options with USB-C.
 
I have a lacia spinning hard drive that I used to transfer movies from my iPad. It works well. Never tried playing it. These days I’m streaming but glad the iPad has these supported interface.
 
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