Apps VLC for Apple TV released!

[lemonkid]

Mormith!

I guess you were lucky...! hehehe. Still I am not so cruel as to ban a free app and talk bad about it. But in my mind I never come up with the idea to use VLC for relaxed video watching. There is another free app that does this much beter.

However my MKV files do have sound! (Until they crash.....)

 

[Zimmy68]

The problem for me is, VLC for windows is probably the second thing I install on a new system.
It is a staple to me.

I don't think I have found a file I threw at it that it will not play (audio and video).

Even if a video file is corrupt, it will tell you, then try to reindex it.
It doesn't care about pass throughs and codecs, and licensing to DTS and Dolby, it just plays the source.
If the source has 5.1 channels, it plays 5.1 channels.

To see that good name, listed as an approved App Store app for the new Apple TV and watch it instantly crash while playing a basic H.264 mp4 file, irks me to no end.

 

[lemonkid]

VLC has updated. I tried it and.... Now my VLC app doesn't crash but one of my Twonky servers does. I have an older version on my WDTVLiveHub. As soon as I start up VLC the server crashes. And it keeps starting the Hub up and crashing in a continuous mode. The same happens when I start VLC up on my iPhone.

 

[pacorob]

VLC has updated. I tried it and.... Now my VLC app doesn't crash but one of my Twonky servers does. I have an older version on my WDTVLiveHub. As soon as I start up VLC the server crashes. And it keeps starting the Hub up and crashing in a continuous mode. The same happens when I start VLC up on my iPhone.

-- removed my response, non Apple TV info (it was iOS related) --

 

[lemonkid]

Just switch to e.g. Infuse 3 Pro, nPlayer (both paid but especially for Infuse so worth it!) or check out VidOn (free) which is for some reason (probably temporary) not available in the App Store.

Hi Pacorob!

Thanks for your advice! I just got my money back for Infuse...... heheheheh.... I disliked it. It doesn't have Flac audio support, and it could not play movies contained in certain mediatypes.

I am now at Mr.MC. And I believe it is the best of 'the lot'. MrMC even plays iso I have that contains SACD files. Not that it is digitally passed through by AppleTV. But that's Apple, not MrMC.

I think MrMC can do more and I am trying to find it out!

 

[d21mike]

Hi Pacorob!

Thanks for your advice! I just got my money back for Infuse...... heheheheh.... I disliked it. It doesn't have Flac audio support, and it could not play movies contained in certain mediatypes.

I am now at Mr.MC. And I believe it is the best of 'the lot'. MrMC even plays iso I have that contains SACD files. Not that it is digitally passed through by AppleTV. But that's Apple, not MrMC.

I think MrMC can do more and I am trying to find it out!

I agree. I have been testing a number of them. Since MrMC 1.2 and Amber came out I have only been using it. I have also done a little customizing the skin to only see Favorites and Settings since that is all I want. Also, added the option to delete recordings (it can delete the folder and the recording inside with 1 delete). I do prefer the UI of Infuse but a solid working App is more important. I will continue to review the other App's when they put out new releases.

 

[pacorob]

Thanks for your advice! I just got my money back for Infuse...... heheheheh.... I disliked it. It doesn't have Flac audio support, and it could not play movies contained in certain mediatypes.

I am now at Mr.MC. And I believe it is the best of 'the lot'. MrMC even plays iso I have that contains SACD files. Not that it is digitally passed through by AppleTV. But that's Apple, not MrMC.

-- removed my response, non Apple TV info (it was iOS related) --

 

[lemonkid]

Are you using this MrMc app? The price is cheap (3.99 dollar) Does it also support opensubtitles.org and automatic metadata download? The description in the App Store isn't mentioning much.

Infuse 3 Pro is amazing for video in my opinion especially the unique opensubtitles.org support and automatic metadata download and also great that it has Chromecast support. I'm not playing audio/music separately. I do know that nPlayer has audio support for e.g. MP3 and also FLAC.

The free VidOn app is also back in the App Store and released a revised version of their app. For people looking for a free app it's pretty great for video. Of course it lacks quite a few features but for that you have great paid apps as mentioned above.

Hi Pacorob,

Yes that is the MrMc I use. But be aware I use the one for Apple TV 4 and not on the iPhone! You can download subtitles, metadata and much more. Just today I discovered new features which will set up a Movie menu. It is all highly flexible and changeable.. You can set up many a thing to your own preferences. That's also why I hate it.... hehehehe Because you can do so much that it will gladly take your time. But allow yourself to play with it.

To testdrive it you could try to play with Kodi first on your computer. If you feel that you can handle it, buy it.

VLC is naturally the app of first choice as soon as it has become more stable......!

 

[pacorob]

Hi Pacorob,

Yes that is the MrMc I use. But be aware I use the one for Apple TV 4 and not on the iPhone! You can download subtitles, metadata and much more. Just today I discovered new features which will set up a Movie menu. It is all highly flexible and changeable.. You can set up many a thing to your own preferences. That's also why I hate it.... hehehehe Because you can do so much that it will gladly take your time. But allow yourself to play with it.

To testdrive it you could try to play with Kodi first on your computer. If you feel that you can handle it, buy it.

VLC is naturally the app of first choice as soon as it has become more stable......!

-- removed my response, non Apple TV info (it was iOS related) --

 

[lemonkid]

Aha thanks. Sorry i don't have a Apple TV 4. I only have iPad and iPhone and use Chromecast for casting on tv.

VLC on iOS and Apple tv isn't the best option (lacks major codec support, opensubtitles.org and the list goes on). I will stick to Infuse 3 Pro for iOS. It's excellent on Windows though.

I hope you will have a lot of excellence from your app in the future. But wouldn't you think that you could be of value with your experiences to other users when you post in the appropriate forum? When you don't use an apple tv it may be a good idea not to post experiences with other devices into an apple tv thread.

 

[pacorob]

I hope you will have a lot of excellence from your app in the future. But wouldn't you think that you could be of value with your experiences to other users when you post in the appropriate forum? When you don't use an apple tv it may be a good idea not to post experiences with other devices into an apple tv thread.

Sorry my bad. But also for Apple TV both Infuse and VLC are available and I've heard that VLC on AppleTV is just as bad as on iOS. Both ArkMC and Infuse seem very good options for media viewing on the latest Apple TV.

I removed my previous iOS related remarks.

 

[lemonkid]

Sorry my bad. But also for Apple TV both Infuse 3 Pro and VLC are available and i've heard that VLC on AppleTV is just as bad as on iOS. Both ArkMC and Infuse 3 Pro seem very good options for media viewing on Apple TV.

Dear Paco,

It is really important to post about things after you inform yourself and not after you heard something... Also it could be very good to check what kind of version to talk about. Infuse for example is now on version 4. So when you talk about Infuse 3 Pro, I guess the information might be a little out of date...

Infuse 3 Pro does not run on the new Apple tv 4. And Infuse Pro 4 has limited capabilities on the Apple TV 4. The other apps that you talked about are not even available on Apple TV 4. So posting about them here might not be such a good idea.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Sorry my bad. But also for Apple TV both Infuse and VLC are available and I've heard that VLC on AppleTV is just as bad as on iOS. Both ArkMC and Infuse seem very good options for media viewing on the latest Apple TV.

I removed my previous iOS related remarks.

I agree.
But, I'm sure VLC will become better.

Infuse didn't start out brilliantly, but now it's superb, far better than Plex.

 

[JoeShades]

How is Infuse better than Plex? no way to view all files, if you want to view AVI files you have to pay more, no way to shuffle files

 

[fhall1]

Infuse isn't primarily a music player - why would you want to shuffle video files?

 

[JoeShades]

Yeah why would i want to shuffle over 1000 music videos instead of watching them in the same order every time, yeah don't know why

 

[pacorob]

Yeah why would i want to shuffle over 1000 music videos instead of watching them in the same order every time, yeah don't know why

Suggest it if they will add such a feature in the near future. The developer is also available here on MacRumors.

 

[MacsRgr8]

How is Infuse better than Plex? no way to view all files, if you want to view AVI files you have to pay more, no way to shuffle files

I have the Pro version.
Most important ATM: DTS and Dolby Digital support.

 

[Zimmy68]

How is Infuse better than Plex? no way to view all files, if you want to view AVI files you have to pay more, no way to shuffle files

It also depends on how you like your network set up.
I have zero interest in running a "Plex" service on my PC 24/7.

Infuse can point to my NAS and play all the videos there natively and pull down subtitles.

Nothing to install on my PC, in fact it can be happily turned off and the party keeps going!

 

[Jago]

How is Infuse better than Plex? no way to view all files, if you want to view AVI files you have to pay more, no way to shuffle files

I have ZERO interest in running additional server software on my NAS and Infuse just plays everything I throw at it from my Samba share.

 

[lemonkid]

I have ZERO interest in running additional server software on my NAS and Infuse just plays everything I throw at it from my Samba share.

Interesting to see how a thread about VLC causes so much discussion about other apps except VLC hehehehe Yes and I also contributed to this 'other apps' discussion!

And I am tempted to throw some more explosives into this energetic fire, but this time I keep my mouth shut... (for how long....? ;-)

 

[Jago]

Interesting to see how a thread about VLC causes so much discussion about other apps except VLC hehehehe Yes and I also contributed to this 'other apps' discussion!

And I am tempted to throw some more explosives into this energetic fire, but this time I keep my mouth shut... (for how long....? ;-)

Well the problem was that I evaluated VLC and found it to be unusable, as it cannot play the majority of my files. Infuse does.

 

[satcomer]

Well the problem was that I evaluated VLC and found it to be unusable, as it cannot play the majority of my files. Infuse does.

VLC can't play certain files? Are you serious?

 

[lemonkid]

VLC can't play certain files? Are you serious?

Yes I was wondering also. Since it had been updated a few times now. Do you have experience with it? I will try to check tonight.

 

[ClonyXXL]

AC3 ???????????????
My collection contains 80% of movies with AC3 sound, and 20% with DTS.
If VLC does not support these sounds, I whole VLC useless.
Last silent movie that I watched was with Charlie Chaplin.