Michal Ždanský Who doesn't know VLC. It is one of the most popular and feature-packed video players for Windows and Mac, which can handle almost any video format you throw at it. In 2010, the application made it to the App Store to everyone's excitement, unfortunately it was withdrawn by Apple in early 2011 due to a licensing issue. After a very long time, VLC returns in a new jacket and with new functions.
The interface of the application has not changed much, the main screen will display recorded videos in the form of tiles, on which you will see the video preview, title, time and resolution. Click on the cone icon to open the main menu. From here, you can upload a video to the app in several ways. VLC supports transmission via Wi-Fi, allows you to download a video from a web server after entering a URL (unfortunately, there is no browser here, so it is not possible to download a file from Internet repositories such as Uloz.to, etc.) or to stream the video directly from the web.
We were also pleased with the possibility of connecting to Dropbox, from where you can also download videos. However, the fastest way to upload videos is via iTunes. In the menu, there is only a somewhat simplified setting, where you can choose a lock password to restrict access to the application to others, there is also the option of choosing an unblocking filter that softens the quadrature caused by compression, choosing subtitle encoding, choosing Time-stretching audio and playing audio on background when the app is closed.
Now to the playback itself. The original VLC for iOS was not one of the most powerful, in fact in ours the test at that time video players failed. I was so curious to see how the new version would handle the different formats and resolutions. Playback was tested on an iPad mini, the hardware equivalent of the iPad 2, and it is possible that better results can be achieved with the 3rd and 4th generation iPads. From the videos we tested:
- AVI 720p, AC-3 audio 5.1
- AVI 1080p, MPEG-3 audio
- WMV 720p (1862 kbps), WMA audio
- MKV 720p (H.264), DTS audio
- MKV 1080p (10 mbps, H.264), DTS audio
As expected, VLC handled the 720p AVI format with no problem, even correctly recognizing six-channel audio and converting it to stereo. Even 1080p AVI was not a problem during playback (despite the warning that it would be slow), the image was completely smooth, but there were problems with the audio. As it turns out, VLC can't handle the MPEG-3 codec, and the sound is so scattered it's ear-splitting.
As for the MKV container (typically with the H.264 codec) in 720p resolution with DTS audio, video and audio playback was again without a problem. VLC was also able to display the subtitles contained in the container. Matroska in 1080p resolution with a bitrate of 10 mbps was already a piece of cake and the video was unwatchable. To be fair, none of the most powerful iOS players (OPlayer HD, PowerPlayer, AVPlayerHD) could play this video smoothly. The same happened with WMV in 720p, which none of the players, including VLC, could handle. Fortunately, WMV is being phased out in favor of MP4, which is the native format for iOS.
Great :)
hmm, it's better to convert avi to m4v and use all the possibilities of both streaming from homeshare and video app playback. :)
I'm asking for your advice, I couldn't find how to do it anywhere.. I have an AVI file and I want to get it into VLC as quickly as possible (probably via iTunes).. How to do it? Thank you very much!
You open iTunes, select the device (iPhone/iPad) then the application tab, at the very bottom you see another window with all the programs that allow file sharing. Drag&Drop your files.
you don't know how to download if I only have an account in the Czech appstore? Thanks
VLC is in the Czech store
I would like to add to the article that the subtitles for the film must have the same file name as the film.
Thanks, I already downloaded it from the US, I couldn't find it in Czech. I'll ask one more thing, the sound is crazy with the movies, it's like hissing, sputtering - you can't understand anything :( You have no idea where the buried dog is? The movies are in AVI format. Thanks
The problem is in VLC, it has a problem with the MPEG-3 audio codec
I have this problem too, and I reprocessed all the movies in AC3 killer, so the AAC codec does it too
The sound problem has already been solved in the current version 2.0.2.
For the author of the article: don't you think it's a bit misleading to declare that an open and multi-platform player is only for win and mac?
No. I'm not saying anywhere that it's only for those two platforms, I'm just listing the versions I have experience with.
the link doesn't work and I can't find VLC in the Czech app store, can you provide a working link? :-)
and now to the app store for the computer :)
do you think this icon is already ready for iOS7 design?
AVPlayer HD played fine 1080p MKV 17.5Mbps bitrate - VLC couldn't handle it - tested on iPad 3 (The New Ipad)