best way to watch videos to conserve battery life?

[limsilas]

hello all,

is it better for battery life to watch movies via iTunes on the iPad (the "Videos" app) versus using an app like CineXPlayer or VLC?

i'm going on a long flight soon and i think the plane uses empower, so i may not have a way to charge my iPad. i've got a bunch of xvids that i'm currently just dumping into CineXPlayer, but should i go through the trouble to convert them to H.264 to save on battery?

thanks!

 

[MRU]

You should find about same level of battery decrease with btw apps. Main thing to suggest is keep brightness down to save most battery.

 

[Merthyrboy]

Also turn off wi-fi if you want to save a bit more.

 

[The General]

You should find about same level of battery decrease with btw apps. Main thing to suggest is keep brightness down to save most battery.

Well, CineXPlayer and VLC will be decoding xvid movies in software whereas the built-in movie player will use the iPad's hardware decoding which would be more efficient.

Use handbrake to convert them to h.264/aac>mov and sync them with iTunes.

 

[MRU]

Well, CineXPlayer and VLC will be decoding xvid movies in software whereas the built-in movie player will use the iPad's hardware decoding which would be more efficient.

Use handbrake to convert them to h.264/aac>mov and sync them with iTunes.

True, but from the amount of videos I've played with using VLC, Oplayer, XYplayer etc.. it hasn't impacted battery level dramatically at all. However as you say coverting them will cause no harm, but of course the time you spend re-encoding all of them will probably be greater than the battery time you will lose by just playing them as they are - so it's swings & roundabouts.

 

[nateo200]

I think it will be about the same..of course turn off wifi if your not using it and keep brightness down. With my brightness down I only charge my iPad every two days.

 

[limsilas]

thanks, guys. so i guess it sounds like i would save SOME battery life by watching H.264s in itunes - though we don't really know if the savings would be substantial - but of course it would take some time to convert the files.

i'll keep 'em xvid and try out using CineXPlayer for now.

 

[poloponies]

thanks, guys. so i guess it sounds like i would save SOME battery life by watching H.264s in itunes

That would be a guess, at best. There's no reason to think watching a movie in iPad-"native" format affects battery usage any differently than watching one in CineXPlayer.