iPad video apps

One of the most powerful, and least advertised tools for the iPad is that (1) you can stream movies from your Mac or PC (within the same WiFi environment), and (2) it is possible to play video formats beyond what Apple allows for. Apple’s video app, and its connection to the iTunes store are worth looking into, but if you are like most people who already have plenty of videos in a variety of formats on your PC’s or Mac’s, what’s the use in buying a video which you may already have?

There are two simple answers to this predicament. You can stream your movies (and potentially reformat them for use natively on the iPad) using the Air Video Stream app (a free version, and the full version for only about $3.00). I’ve had this app for over six months, and it actually works! There are a few caveats to observe though, life is much better for you if the computer with which you are streaming the videos has some appreciable horsepower (i.e. a big, modern CPU). If I try to stream full screen video form my little NetBook, the results are not always worth the effort… But, if you have a big tower PC, with some real power, this might be a really useful (and relatively cheap) app to get.

Air Video Streams Any Video to Your iPad, is the Best $3 I’ve spent in the App Store
http://lifehacker.com/5516405/air-video-streams-any-video-to-your-ipad-is-the-best-3-ive-spent-in-the-app-store

IPad Review: Air Video – How to Stream Your Video Library to iPhone or iPad
http://www.ismashphone.com/2010/05/ipad-review-air-video-how-to-stream-video-libray-iphone-ipad.html

At this point in this review (at least in how I was intending to present it…last week) I would have then proceeded onto a review of the iPad VLC app (which works really, really, well!), but one to the VLC developers sued Apple, regarding the DRM strictures places upon this open source app…The result is that Apple was impelled to pull this app from the App store…IF you already have it (as I happily do) you are fine, but there is little to no reason to cover anything more about this app in that you won’t be able to get it…

Things are not all lost however; there are still some comparable apps out there, one of which is the CineXPlayer app for iPad. This app allows you to play Xvid and .avi files on the iPad (you merely need to load them into the app during one of your regular iPad syncing sessions…).