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iPad Pro Running local mkv files on a 2020 pro

S

Slimmyhendrix

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 14, 2014
245
27
MN
I’m on the edge trying to decide between a 2018 pro 11” or 2020 pro 11”. One use case for this will be playing movies I load manually to the tablet for remote use, ex: car or plane. Can these play mkv and h264 or h265 formatting directly from internal storage and or external hdd? 95% of my content is mkv/mk4 AMD I’m getting mixed info from older posts from 2018. I typically use vlc player when playing media. My daughters kindle hd10 plays mkv direct no issues and it’s a $180 tablet.
 
There are no guarantees in life.

Chances are you’ll be fine for the most part but if your sources for files are random in nature then you’re not in control over codecs/settings when the files are created. Undoubtedly in a scenario like that one might run into an occasional issue with playback. Par for the course.

Another vote for Infuse but VLC works fine too.
 
I use nPlayer, a media player designed for working in iOS. It is paid but very good. It can even extract iTunes library music files.
For iPad, the main problem is going to be codecs and app support of those. A good app can help a lot.
 
I have local mp4 and mkv files on my 2018 iPad Pro. mp4 files are played directly from the system so I do not even need additional player app to be installed. The mkv files that I have can be viewed with VLC.
 
VLC generally has played almost every type of media file I’ve thrown at it ever. This is not really related to either iPad 2018 or 2020. They both will be fine. As everyone else said, it depends on the codec.
 
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Slimmyhendrix said:
I’m on the edge trying to decide between a 2018 pro 11” or 2020 pro 11”. One use case for this will be playing movies I load manually to the tablet for remote use, ex: car or plane. Can these play mkv and h264 or h265 formatting directly from internal storage and or external hdd? 95% of my content is mkv/mk4 AMD I’m getting mixed info from older posts from 2018. I typically use vlc player when playing media. My daughters kindle hd10 plays mkv direct no issues and it’s a $180 tablet.
Click to expand...
Another vote for Infuse Pro!
 
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That infuse looks pretty slick. Most of the files are straight BD rips and I know Apple TV does not like playing them and same for fire stick however vlc seems to work fine on all my devices even iPhone.
 
Slimmyhendrix said:
That infuse looks pretty slick. Most of the files are straight BD rips and I know Apple TV does not like playing them and same for fire stick however vlc seems to work fine on all my devices even iPhone.
Click to expand...
I’ve played back full quality BD and 4K UHD BD MKV rips with up to 100+ Mbps peak bitrates just fine on Apple TV 4K using Infuse Pro.

Streaming to iOS devices with minimum Apple A9 chipset works fine, too, as long as wifi (wlan) is fast and stable. I just do regular SMB shares and access with Infuse Pro.
 
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rui no onna said:
I’ve played back full quality BD and 4K UHD BD MKV rips with up to 100+ Mbps peak bitrates just fine on Apple TV 4K using Infuse Pro.

Streaming to iOS devices with minimum Apple A9 chipset works fine, too, as long as wifi (wlan) is fast and stable. I just do regular SMB shares and access with Infuse Pro.
Click to expand...
I can get up to 36Mbps over wlan at home but that won’t help when I’m in a hotel or in a car. I’ll try out vlc and if it doesn’t work I’ll get the infuse pro.
 
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Slimmyhendrix said:
I’m on the edge trying to decide between a 2018 pro 11” or 2020 pro 11”. One use case for this will be playing movies I load manually to the tablet for remote use, ex: car or plane. Can these play mkv and h264 or h265 formatting directly from internal storage and or external hdd? 95% of my content is mkv/mk4 AMD I’m getting mixed info from older posts from 2018. I typically use vlc player when playing media. My daughters kindle hd10 plays mkv direct no issues and it’s a $180 tablet.
Click to expand...
Maybe look into Plex. You put the Plex media server on a desktop or laptop somewhere with your media, then you have the Plex client on your iPad or phone. From there you can stream anytime you’re on any cellular or wifi network, or better yet, you can “sync” the seasons of shows, movies or music you want to the storage of your phone or tablet, which can then be played regardless of a network (like when flying on a plane or out on a boat).

Here’s a video discussing it:

 
The best thing about nPlayer is the file view and no posters. I don't need movie or tv show posters!

I know Infuse Pro allows this too but I like the way nPlayer looks and how simple it is.
 
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