For those of you who are interested in wirelessly streaming HD movies from a NAS directly to an iPad 3 (without the NAS or another client doing real-time transcoding), I've found an acceptable solution. My goal was to find a solution that didn't require a client or beefy NAS. The trick is to reencode to an iPad friendly format and use a super-fast iPad player. I've found a combination that works acceptably well and should improve as player technology matures.
Today's state of the art method is to put a helper app on the client or server and use a client (Mac/PC) for transcoding. Then the iPad connnects to the client to receive the stream. The reason for this circuitous route is that neither the iPad nor typical NAS has enough umph to do transcoding. Thus the first step of the process is to reencode your DVD/Blu-Ray to something that is more easily served and played, such as MP4 or even MKV. There are many software apps that will reencode DVD/Blu-Ray to MP4 or MKV. After looking at several Windows compatible converters, I choose Pavtube Blu-ray Video Converter Ultimate. I liked PavTube's UI better than DvdFab's annoying UI, but DvdFab does provide more control over the reencoding process. Both will do batch conversions, use hardware accelerated assist, and use all core's of my quad core CPU for the reencoding process. They both have presets for the iPad 3 so you don't have to be concerned about selecting appropriate fps, bitrates, audio, etc. Reencoding process takes 90 minutes for Blu-Rays so unattended batching is a desirable feature. I reencode to MP4 using: h264, 1280x720 resolution, original framerate, video 4000-6000kbps, aac stereo 48kbps sampling for 128kbps. The iPad player is able to handle these encoding rates and a typical Blu-Ray main movie is shrunk to 4GB.
http://www.pavtube.com/blu-ray-video...rter-ultimate/
http://www.dvdfab.com/blu-ray-ripper.htm
The only software which I am aware of, that will real time stream DVD folders to the iPad, via a client, is VLC Streamer (not VLC). It requires a Helper app on a client or server. VLC Streamer didn't perform so well on my gear, nor can it stream Blu-Rays. In the end, I decided I must reencode all DVDs and Blu-Rays. That seems to be the only reliable and robust method.
I tried many iPad players. One after another was a fail because either they didn't handle streaming from my NAS (WHS V1) or couldn't play a 720p stream. A 1080p stream, per above rates, is beyond all current iPad streamers.
Finally, I found one streamer that actually streams the above rates well - EC Player
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ec-pl...442154538?mt=8
It streams well; very nice video and well synced audio. Unfortunately, the current version easily crashes during file selection process. It also throws up a dialog box that says the file is too large to play (the data rates are too high) but then proceeds to play the file quite well. The 2nd place streamer is BUZZ Player which played video with some stutter and audio out of sync. BUZZ Player's blog says a new version (3.1), which can play 1080p, has been released to the Apple Store for approval. Expect availability very soon. BUZZ Player is a professionally done player with lots of features. If 3.1 truly does perform as well as EC Player, it will be the new top choice.
I tried and rejected the following iPad players: Boxee, MLPlayer Lite, VLCStrFree, FlexPlayer, OPlayerHD Lite, CineXPlayer, MediaConnect, StreamToMe, VLC, yxplayer2 lite, 8player lite, It's Playing. The reason for rejection was either lack of streaming ability or inability to stream MP4 or MKV at 720p. I was unable to reproduce claims of streaming at 720p or 1080p with any of the rejected players.
Today's state of the art method is to put a helper app on the client or server and use a client (Mac/PC) for transcoding. Then the iPad connnects to the client to receive the stream. The reason for this circuitous route is that neither the iPad nor typical NAS has enough umph to do transcoding. Thus the first step of the process is to reencode your DVD/Blu-Ray to something that is more easily served and played, such as MP4 or even MKV. There are many software apps that will reencode DVD/Blu-Ray to MP4 or MKV. After looking at several Windows compatible converters, I choose Pavtube Blu-ray Video Converter Ultimate. I liked PavTube's UI better than DvdFab's annoying UI, but DvdFab does provide more control over the reencoding process. Both will do batch conversions, use hardware accelerated assist, and use all core's of my quad core CPU for the reencoding process. They both have presets for the iPad 3 so you don't have to be concerned about selecting appropriate fps, bitrates, audio, etc. Reencoding process takes 90 minutes for Blu-Rays so unattended batching is a desirable feature. I reencode to MP4 using: h264, 1280x720 resolution, original framerate, video 4000-6000kbps, aac stereo 48kbps sampling for 128kbps. The iPad player is able to handle these encoding rates and a typical Blu-Ray main movie is shrunk to 4GB.
http://www.pavtube.com/blu-ray-video...rter-ultimate/
http://www.dvdfab.com/blu-ray-ripper.htm
The only software which I am aware of, that will real time stream DVD folders to the iPad, via a client, is VLC Streamer (not VLC). It requires a Helper app on a client or server. VLC Streamer didn't perform so well on my gear, nor can it stream Blu-Rays. In the end, I decided I must reencode all DVDs and Blu-Rays. That seems to be the only reliable and robust method.
I tried many iPad players. One after another was a fail because either they didn't handle streaming from my NAS (WHS V1) or couldn't play a 720p stream. A 1080p stream, per above rates, is beyond all current iPad streamers.
Finally, I found one streamer that actually streams the above rates well - EC Player
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ec-pl...442154538?mt=8
It streams well; very nice video and well synced audio. Unfortunately, the current version easily crashes during file selection process. It also throws up a dialog box that says the file is too large to play (the data rates are too high) but then proceeds to play the file quite well. The 2nd place streamer is BUZZ Player which played video with some stutter and audio out of sync. BUZZ Player's blog says a new version (3.1), which can play 1080p, has been released to the Apple Store for approval. Expect availability very soon. BUZZ Player is a professionally done player with lots of features. If 3.1 truly does perform as well as EC Player, it will be the new top choice.
I tried and rejected the following iPad players: Boxee, MLPlayer Lite, VLCStrFree, FlexPlayer, OPlayerHD Lite, CineXPlayer, MediaConnect, StreamToMe, VLC, yxplayer2 lite, 8player lite, It's Playing. The reason for rejection was either lack of streaming ability or inability to stream MP4 or MKV at 720p. I was unable to reproduce claims of streaming at 720p or 1080p with any of the rejected players.
I've been looking for something like this for months. Does this work in Win7 PC and other none apple devices?
