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CineXPlayerHD plays just about any video format on your iPad
CineXPlayerHD is a jack-of-all-trades iPad app (US$3.99) that can play just about any video format you throw at it. This latest version, 3.0, adds playback of the popular MKV format on the iPad 2 and above. The app supports 720P HD playback, and also Dolby Digital Plus with support for 5.1 channels, and Dolby Mobile for surround on Dolby-equipped headphones. Within the app there's a way to catalog your movie collection, and to create playlists. Movies can be loaded through iTunes or they can be played back from a network drive via streaming. There is a built in web browser so you can navigate to your source files on your network. The app plays back AVI, MOV, M4V, 3GP and MP4 as well as Xvid. There is also subtitle support with the ability to drag the text to different parts of the screen. I don't have lots of different formats on hand, but the player did fine with some AVI files and some MOV files I created from DVDs. I was able to output the video to my Apple TV and everything looked fine with good sync between audio and video. The app also provides for some extra features as an in-app purchase. One for enhanced security, another to convert Xvid videos to 3D. Both plugs-ins are $0.99, but neither are required for most users. CineXPlayer is a welcome addition if you are into video, and have files that the Apple supplied video player just won't play. CineXPlayer requires an iPad running iOS 4.3 or later, and you will only get 720P playback on an iPad 2 or better. The app seems well worth the $3.99 price, and it should appeal to many who use their iPad for video playback. Check the gallery for some screen shots. %Gallery-169229%
Quicktime 7.2 patches bugs, adds "Export to iPhone" option
In addition to patching various security holes, it looks like Apple added "Export to iPhone" and "Export to iPhone (Cellular)" presets to Quicktime 7.2 -- making it easy to spit out .m4v or .3gp files optimized for the iPhone's screen and data delivery options. This isn't a huge surprise, since Quicktime gained Apple TV and video iPod presets shortly after those products were released, but at least now compressing your videos to the postage stamp sizes required for them to stream over EDGE is just a click away.
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Hidden secrets of firmware 2.80
PSP Vault has an impresive story detailing some of the potential hidden secrets of recently released firmware 2.80. Using their mad Japanese skillz, they took a look at Sony's PSP manuals for the firmware, which can be found here, here and here. The video standards have finally been revealed, and they show how Sony still refuses to make it easy on the end user.So for H.264 videos, you're looking at support for files ending with a .MP4 or .M4V extension. They must be 768kbps or under, have a framerate of 30fps or under, and be Level 1.3 or under Baseline Profile, or Level 2.1 or under Main Profile (but CABAC only). The audio tracks of these videos must be in the AAC format, be 128kbps or under, be 48kHz or under, and be in stereo.Uh... okay. Can't we just dump random files into our system without thinking about these technical specs? Another interesting discovery of the article shows how the recent firmware upgrade can allow for PSP-specific codes to be written into websites. For example, webpages can be created to offer downloads... but only for users of the most current firmware. Or, it could lead to some really exciting game and internet synergy. It appears that there's a lot hidden in the PSP; too bad Sony hasn't been upfront with all of it quite yet.
