Stream media onto iPad 2?

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Batman

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#153596 2-Oct-2014 13:22

is there an
- easy
- free
- reliable
- over home wifi
way to stream any media file on my PC to my iPad 2?

I don't want to have to spend hours setting up only to have unreliable streaming to iPad 2 ... thank you for any suggestions

trig42

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#1145552 2-Oct-2014 13:30

Not free, but all the rest - Plex Server on your PC (that bit is free) and the Plex App on the iPad ($4.99).

StarBlazer

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#1145553 2-Oct-2014 13:30

Easy, no! Not that I've found. I'm sure I've heard of people using PLEX.

Streaming at home, I use the Synology DS Video app to watch directly from the NAS.

If I want to watch offline, I use the Synology DS File with VLC but it's a 3 step process; download the file to DS File, Share the File with VLC (which actually creates a copy of it) then watch using VLC. Technically a 4th step as I have to then delete the DS file copy to preserve space on the iPad.

Procrastination eventually pays off.

Batman

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#1145558 2-Oct-2014 13:35

if it's not easy that's fine, I will give my laptop to my wife to watch the media when she wants to.

ONE CLICK :D

(shared drives, just click on the file, plays in VLC :D!)

thanks i won't bother

Batman

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#1145559 2-Oct-2014 13:35

hence i am debating getting her a Yoga 2 Pro vs X1 carbon (as light as possible)

wellygary

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#1145563 2-Oct-2014 13:40

I use Filebrowser to pull Mp4s (both SD and HD) directly off an SMB share, via wifi on an ipad 2,

Things other than MP4/avi will need to be streamed into another app like VLC,
but MP4/avi files can be played natively and use hardware decoding, one click play
The app is not free, but well worth it....

http://www.stratospherix.com/products/filebrowser/

fizzychicken

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#1145568 2-Oct-2014 13:46

I used the free version of air video and then paid for the full version, always worked fine for me. runs as a service on the pc and can stream any format on the fly or convert for watching later on the ipad
air video HD
Air video server on the pc started to report errors when I shut my pc down and that started to annoy me as there was no apparent fix for it.

So I then switched to Player Extreme which able to do the same from any share/network/ftp etc and didnt need any app running on the PC and was very fast at any format, but for some reason they did an overhaul in the latest major version and it stopped just about everything working in the app on my ipad2, it no longer connects to ftp and the interface is buggy.
PlayerExtreme

So I now use OPlayer, which is much better than playerextreme and has a great interface but has AC3 issues (licensing problem so wont play the sound on AC3 videos) but it was easy to download a small utility on my pc to fix these files. fixes
OPlayer

I'm pretty sure they all have free versions, I tried them all for a while and ended up paying the few dollars for the apps.
I currently use Oplayer a lot as it can connect to my FTP on the NAS and the share on the PC so I can stream or download and watch later on (at work lunchtime or one the treadmill etc). If it had no AC3 license issue (which they claim they may fix at some point) then I would say it would be the best player I've used so far, if you do get it remember to up the cache setting within the app or it will be jerky on an ipad2.

https://keybase.io/fizzychicken

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Batman

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#1145578 2-Oct-2014 13:57

oh dear ... ok i will stick to using a windows 8 laptop :D

zaptor

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#1145581 2-Oct-2014 14:00

Haven't used it recently, but Air Playit worked flawlessly:
https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/air-playit-streaming-video/id449212860?mt=8

Only "catch" is you need an Air Playit server running on your PC (which was free last time I checked).

Batman

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#1145585 2-Oct-2014 14:02

ok thanks ... might have a winner ... IF it works :D

khull

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#1145586 2-Oct-2014 14:02

I use Ace Player works well for most media types - DLNA and SMB capable. Make sure your wifi can keep up with some streams

SaltyNZ

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2degrees

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#1145634 2-Oct-2014 14:21

fizzychicken: I used the free version of air video and then paid for the full version, always worked fine for me. runs as a service on the pc and can stream any format on the fly or convert for watching later on the ipad
air video HD
Air video server on the pc started to report errors when I shut my pc down and that started to annoy me as there was no apparent fix for it.

Never had that, but have sometimes found I needed to reboot my ipad if downloading to the device didn't work. Otherwise, my vote is for AirVideo HD.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

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xontech

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#1146692 3-Oct-2014 15:19

Yep, Air Video FTW here too

BigPipeNZ

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#1146735 3-Oct-2014 15:43

zaptor: Haven't used it recently, but Air Playit worked flawlessly:
https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/air-playit-streaming-video/id449212860?mt=8

Only "catch" is you need an Air Playit server running on your PC (which was free last time I checked).

I've used that. It works pretty well (it can also convert media easily to other formats so you can store it on your ipad or other devices)

Plex is also awesome (providing your PC can handle the transcoding). Better than airplayit IMHO as it grabs all the metadata etc and sorts things like episodes and so on.

Its only something like $5, so it's well worth it if you can 'stretch' to that enormous sum of money.

bigpipe.co.nz
https://www.facebook.com/BigPipeNZ
https://twitter.com/BigPipeNZ

jonathan18

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#1146794 3-Oct-2014 16:57

I did a lot of research on the available iOS video playing apps when I got an iPad at the beginning of the year, and I was looking for many of the same features you were, though I was happy to pay, provided the app would do what I needed (and really these apps aren't expensive in the grand scheme of things!), and this needed to include:

* playing videos from our NAS
* ability to download videos directly onto the iPad from the NAS for off-site viewing
* Dolby Digital support (given most of my videos have this), which meant it would inevitably cost something (given the cost of licencing)

The best app I found was nPlayer - only cost $6.50 (which is cheap, given how well it works); while not the most beautiful interface it's performed flawlessly and has played every video I've asked of it.

Found here: https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/nplayer/id539397400?mt=8

I'd completely recommend trying this out.

mattgreen

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#1147013 3-Oct-2014 23:04

jonathan18: I did a lot of research on the available iOS video playing apps when I got an iPad at the beginning of the year, and I was looking for many of the same features you were, though I was happy to pay, provided the app would do what I needed (and really these apps aren't expensive in the grand scheme of things!), and this needed to include:

* playing videos from our NAS
* ability to download videos directly onto the iPad from the NAS for off-site viewing
* Dolby Digital support (given most of my videos have this), which meant it would inevitably cost something (given the cost of licencing)

The best app I found was nPlayer - only cost $6.50 (which is cheap, given how well it works); while not the most beautiful interface it's performed flawlessly and has played every video I've asked of it.

Found here: https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/nplayer/id539397400?mt=8

I'd completely recommend trying this out.

+1..Well worth the $6.50. For the telly I have XBMC on Raspberry Pi but for the iPad 2 we use nPlayer (both play directly from the NAS). It plays everything I've thrown at it - mostly x264 in mp4/mkv etc.

I used to use Air Video which was also great, but you need a PC on somewhere for the server. With RPi/nPlayer + NAS we have a silent, low power, always on setup.