5

I have bunch of training videos, mostly in .wmv format on my computer. Well, I tried to find a player in appstore to watch those videos right away, without converting them - I couldn't find any good one. Anyway I thought that converting all that files would be a solution. Then I could watch them in default player.

For many reasons it's turned out not to be that straightforward and in reality is quite arduous task.

First of all folders hierarchy - itunes just ignore that. I needed to find a way to put all that files into one directory without loosing their order (remember it's training video lessons, so it's very important). I've managed to put all files into one folder and named them like 0001_lesson.wmv, 0002_lesson.wmv and so on.

Converter. I tried four different ones, I tried different settings, tried to convert into different formats. And still the folder that initially contained about 350Mb data after conversion grows into something huge with almost 1Gb data.

How come? I don't believe that wmv is so good, that it can be several times smaller than other video formats.

Maybe converters I'm trying aren't the good ones. Which one do you think the best? Is there any easier way to solve that problem? And please don't tell me to use streaming and airplay stuff. I watch those videos mostly when I'm in the subway.

Improve this question
2
  • Do you still have access to a windows computer?
    – ConstantineK
    Apr 15, 2011 at 22:33
  • 1
    In my experience, anything related to video conversion or editing is never simple. Shame Apple forces its users to go through these pains.
    – RomanSt
    Nov 6, 2011 at 1:24

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
4

Did you tried Oplayer ?

Didn't tried it with wmv but works perfectly for me on my iPad 1, with mkv and other formats, even with subtitles. I would love to try it on iPad 2 to see if the new CPU handles 720p videos :)

VLC for iOS was promising before it was removed... sigh. :/

Update 2018: VLC for Mobile is available in Apple Store.

Improve this answer
6
  • How do you copy the content to the iPad? oPlayer doesn't seem to able seeing itunes content...
    – iLemming
    Apr 17, 2011 at 3:17
  • It's the same with all apps in iTunes, which is not very intuitive. In iTunes: 1. Select your iPad 2. Select Apps Tab 3. On bottom you will have an app listing with associated files, use this to add your videos
    – Vincent
    Apr 17, 2011 at 9:03
  • Thanks Vincent, oPlayer does play wmv files. But here is another problem. You cannot copy folders and if you have like a few thousand videos in separated folders you have to drop all the files into the same place and it will be a really long list in oPlayer. OMG why in the world it has to be so complicated. I just wanted to see a few damn training video courses. Damn you Apple.
    – iLemming
    Apr 18, 2011 at 3:07
  • Well, now I don't have to convert those files, but because of that stupid iTunes doesn't give shit that there is something in the world what we call folders or directories, now I have to merge videos if there is more than one file in a course, and yes there is always not just more than one but usually hundreds of them. I can imagine how heavy the file would be after the merge.
    – iLemming
    Apr 18, 2011 at 3:14
  • Indeed it would be so much simpler that an iDevice act as an USB key, apps accessing freely to that shared space. But if Apple wasn't crippling its good products with iTunes-gimme-your-credit-card... Maybe Apple would not provide good products at all. What a strange world isnt? :)
    – Vincent
    Apr 18, 2011 at 7:42
1

Have you tried VisualHub? It is highly recommeded by a lot of high profile Mac websites.

http://www.machoe.com/1565/visual-hub-free-mac-video-convertero.html

You have probably tried handbrake.

http://handbrake.fr/

Both of these are fairly good, and honestly a lot of the times conversion is fraught with pitfalls because we are the ones who get to choose the video size and codec rates, I like handbrake because it does template out the iOS devices for you, which removes a lot of the headache.

Improve this answer
0

I use Air Video to play .wmv files stored on my Mac across the network to my iPad 1 and also on an iPod touch. It does the necessary conversion on the fly on the Mac. I believe it can also work from a PC server but I don't know that from personal experience.

Improve this answer
1
  • I especially mentioned that this approach would not work for me
    – iLemming
    Apr 17, 2011 at 3:17

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .