Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Play HD MKV 720p Smoothly on iPhone and iPad (iOS) Natively Using XBMC


Playing high quality video on your iPhone/iPad like MKVs in 720p format has never been possible using standard App Store apps. This is because Apple have not allowed App Store apps to access hardware acceleration on their devices unless the video being played is in an MP4 format. This is despite the fact that most MKV files these days simply contain muxed MP4 files. Apps with decent performance like AVPlayer can only produce a slideshow with desynced audio, something I've written about in a previous article.

However, the fact remains that high quality videos are most commonly shared through the internet in the MKV format, especially high definition video. However, a solution has come through Jailbreaking the iPhone/iPad, which allows video playing applications like XBMC to access hardware acceleration. XBMC on the iPhone/iPad plays high bit-rate MKVs in 720p perfectly smoothly. Not only this, but there is an elegant solution to load files onto the iPhone/iPad through iTunes which does NOT require the fiddly operation of OpenSSH.

Video is of an iPad 1 running 720p MKV files on both AVPlayerHD and XBMC.

Jailbreak is required for this hack, here is a a way of searching for the latest guide to Jailbreaking.

Guide on how to install XBMC on an iPhone/iPad:


1. Enter the Cydia app.

2. Go to Manage -> Sources -> Edit -> Add (Sources -> Edit -> Add on iPad)

3. Type in "http://mirrors.xbmc.org/apt/ios/" (Without the quotation marks)

4. Tap on the teamXBMC source.

5. Tap on the XBMC-iOS icon.

6. Tap install, then confirm.

A full guide is listed here:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO:Install_XBMC_on_iPad/iPhone/iPod_touch


How to load files into XBMC through iTunes:

1) Install a video playing app from the App Store that allows files to be added through iTunes, for example, AVPlayerHD. This program is great because it gives the option of loading files through iTunes or through the webserver over WiFi.

A guide to using AVPlayer is available in a previous Shiny Hacks post.

2) Install iFunbox. This program allows you to view the file structure of you iOS device. It works best when iTunes is closed.

3) Once iFunbox is installed, connect your iPhone or iPad to your computer and click on your device on the left.

4) Find the AVPlayerHD and rightclick on the icon, and select 'Copy To PC'. Ctrl+V into a notepad and hold onto this address.

The 'Copy To PC' puts the data folder address into your clipboard.
The location for AVPlayerHD for iPad should be: /var/mobile/Applications/
A7399C49-DA47-4782-A1D6-D7137A11CA9B – however, this location can change amongst different versions of the app.

5) Open XBMC, Videos -> Files -> Add Videos... -> Browse -> Home folder -> Applications -> Find the folder (A7399C49-DA47-4782-A1D6-D7137A11CA9B).

5a) Because the current build of XBMC is mouse driven, the way to scroll down through the folders is by swiping down rather than up.

5b) Alternatively, you can 'Add' the folder location by typing in the /var/mobile/Applications/
A7399C49-DA47-4782-A1D6-D7137A11CA9B/ location.

6) Go to the subfolder Library/Caches/Documents/ folder, which is where your AVPlayerHD videos are kept. Now XBMC will be able to see files that exist within the AVPlayerHD media folder (and also anything added via iTunes). Click video files in here to play them.

7) Add files to your iPhone/iPad by opening your device in iTunes and navigating to the 'App' tab.

 Tips:

Files will only appear in Library/Caches/Documents/ once the media folder has been viewed on AVPlayerHD (a quirk of the app).

Once you use this hack, from your desktop it will also look like there are no files within the app tab of your iPhone/iPad, even though you can add more files. The files are still kept within the Library/Caches/Documents/ folder, and you can manage them using AVPlayerHD.

Comments (45)

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Thnk U man
I havn't tested it yet but I should really say thank U for your great efforts.
Have you tested it streaming the files with http/ftp/upnp server ?
1 reply · active 455 weeks ago
Please check this FREE iPhone/iPad player, ReplayerHD. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/replayerhd/id49206...
No need to encoding.
Special features: replay, dragging subtitle, 2X playback, thumbnail index,… so on.
Demo Video : http://replayerapp.wordpress.com/2011/12/03/repla...
Any troubles, pls email to replayerapp AT gmail DOT com
Thank you :)
happybabyboy's avatar

happybabyboy · 685 weeks ago

In order to add MKV to iTunes to successfully play MKV in iTunes or sync MKV to Apple devices like iPad, iPhone, we had better convert MKV to iTunes supported format.

The following will describe a step by step guide on how to convert MKV to iTunes format so as to successfully add MKV to iTunes for playing MKV in iTunes or transferring MKV to iPhone, iPad, iPod or Apple TV at http://itunes-converter.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-...
Hey,
this worked beautifully on a friend's iPad 2, but on my new iPad 3, there is no "Documents" folder in the "Caches folder. Do you have any idea if 5.1.1 changed something or what?
Why don't u just use ifunbox to create a folder for xbmc and copy your media files to it like /var/mobile/Media/XBMC and you don't have to install avplayerhd.
1 reply · active 647 weeks ago
yea... why would you purchase avplayerhd .. doesnt that defeat the whole purpose of jailbreaking for xbmc
does this work on iphone 4?
Finally i got this one and the information you shared about iPhone is amazing without any
reason. Amazing and from onward you have your new fan its me. please write some more
articles on iPhone :)
Nice post thanks for publishing.
Nice And Coll Apps
Thnk U man
I havn't tested it yet I should really say thank U for your great efforts. Nice Post
iPhone is amazing without any
reason. Amazing and from onward you have your new fan its me.
good Apps For Sharing
this worked beautifully on a friend's iPad 2, but on my new iPad 3, there is no "Documents" folder in the "Caches folder.
Amazing and from onward you have your new fan its me
Greate content. nice Apps thank you for sharing
iPhone is amazing nice Post thank you for sharing
nice Apps Greate Content
Nice And coll Apps Greate shering
Nice and informative post, thanks for sharing and i hope you will be there for latest updates to us. I really like your post, keep it up, have a nice day.
THANKS FOR SHARING SUCH A GREAT AND INTERESTING POST..... KEEP IT UP.......
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