Watching movies in the car

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Level 1

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Watching movies in the car

Did do a search before but haven't found an answer yet.

I have bought a nice and easy headrest mount for the iPad and would like to use the iPad for the kids to watch movies in the back.
Now the 32GB capacity all of a sudden is not a lot...
So I was thinking if there would be a possibility to store some movies somewhere and still watch them on the iPad.

An idea that came to mind was to have a 12V converter in the car and connect an Airport Express to it and connect a usb drive/stick to it with the movies on it. And watch the videos like that.

No with a bit of searching I found that (at least as far as I found out) the Airport Express is not suitable however the Airport Extreme I have found that it could work (as I haven't found news that it wasn't possible).

The other thing is the app to watch the movies. The App that comes with the iPad only allows movies from the hard drive of the iPad (which was synced with the movies in iTunes)

** (A bit Off topic; but in Belgium there are no movies that you can buy with iTunes (just audiobooks), and a very limited amount of books via iBooks....**

And if I do get it to work do the movies have to be in a special format so that the iPad can show them of the "external" hard drive?

So short my idea;

1- 12V - 220V converter
2- Airport (a version)
3- USB hard drive/USB stick connected to the Airport
4- Have an App get the movie from the external source over WI-FI

iPad 32GB WI-FI 3G, iOS 4

Posted on Jul 30, 2010 12:16 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 31, 2010 11:25 AM in response to Kilo-Kilo

Here's the perfect answer to your problem:

http://www.airstash.com/

Rechargeable flash drive with 80211n. Makes avoid media server for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.

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Answer 2

David.

Level 4

2,145 points

Jul 30, 2010 12:20 PM in response to Kilo-Kilo

A movie should average around 800MB each. I have a bunch of movies, plus 1,600+ songs on my touch. My touch is a 16GB model... 🙂

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Answer 3

lllaass

Level 10

210,559 points

Jul 30, 2010 2:04 PM in response to Kilo-Kilo

Previous posts have said you can't use the Airport's USB connection to view anything on the iPad. If you had a laptop the app Air Video allows streaming from a laptop. If you had a 3G iPad you use the 3G connection for stream from the internet. If only wifi iPad then you could be a wireless access point like MiFi instead.

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Answer 4

Kilo-Kilo Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 30, 2010 3:20 PM in response to lllaass

Strange you cannot stream over the USB or better said a shame. Would have been a great option.
I do have the 3G model. However streaming movies via the internet while driving through europe can get a bit expensive.

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Answer 5

Kilo-Kilo Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 30, 2010 3:24 PM in response to Kilo-Kilo

Did just see the app AirVideo. Does seem to hint that something would be possible....

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Answer 6

Benilava

Level 1

13 points

Jul 30, 2010 4:51 PM in response to Kilo-Kilo

The Photos app can obtain movies of certain types through the Camera Connection Kit. So you could put your movie (in a supported format) onto your thumb drive in the \DCIM directory, or do the same with an SD card. Then you could Import the movie and play from your Photos app.

I've done both of these things and gotten beautiful fullscreen video. Plus the Camera Connection Kit requires no extra batteries and is relatively inexpensive.

The downside is that you have to have the movies in non-DRM format, and you have to let Photos import the movie before you can play it.

The upside is that SD cards are pretty cheap, and you don't have to buy high-spec expensive cards to do this. And you might be able to throw some movies onto chips you were going to use for photography anyway (the iPad will offer to delete the movies after import if you like), making your cost very low.

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Answer 7

Jul 30, 2010 5:01 PM in response to Kilo-Kilo

Streaming over 3G would cost to much and the streaming videos would have to be heavily compressed. Your best bet is a portable DVD player.

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Answer 8

red555

Level 4

2,581 points

Jul 31, 2010 9:59 AM in response to Kilo-Kilo

You can get a portable DVD player for the car for a lot less than your list of accessories.

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Answer 9

Jul 31, 2010 12:51 PM in response to MIke_C@PTD

Still, a dvd player would be cheaper and less time consuming. No headaches...

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Answer 10

Kilo-Kilo Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 1, 2010 1:31 AM in response to David M Brewer

We do have a dvd player for the kids however the screens are smaller and there is always the hassle of changing the dvd's. They are too young to change them themselves.

The camera connection kit solution sounds very simple. But is currently not in stock in Europe (2-3 weeks delivery time).

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Answer 11

Kilo-Kilo Author

Level 1

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Aug 1, 2010 1:43 AM in response to MIke_C@PTD

The Airstash does seem a very nice solution too bad they are sold out but we I see from the youtube video it does look like something I will buy as soon as they are back in stock.

Maybe in the meantime I will have to do with the 32gb. Any idea how many movies it can take?

**Why do the only ship the airstash to the US and Canada? 😟 **

Message was edited by: Kilo-Kilo

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Answer 12

Aug 1, 2010 3:43 AM in response to Kilo-Kilo

Why use the camera connection kit when you could just sync the videos with iTunes? If you use the camera connection kit the videos will be mixed in with your photos... not practical. If you don't have the camera connection kit it could take a month or two to get it from Apple.

You'll spend more time converting DVDs to play on the iPad. It can takes hours for the conversions. Can you buy movies from iTunes? I'm trying to save from headaches...

I have the new portable Sony DVD player. The screen is the same size as the iPad...

As for how to rip the DVDs. Apple forums forbids discussing on how to do this.

Message was edited by: David M Brewer

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Answer 13

jshetley

Level 1

20 points

Aug 1, 2010 8:50 AM in response to MIke_C@PTD

MIke_C@PTD wrote:
Here's the perfect answer to your problem:

http://www.airstash.com/

Rechargeable flash drive with 80211n. Makes avoid media server for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.

Wow - this looks like an amazing device for a whole lot of purposes. Have you personally tried one? I am thinking that photographers could use this device to preview their raw files instead of lugging a laptop or using a special hard drive device with a screen on it. Is there a raw file viewer for the iPad?

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Answer 14

Kilo-Kilo Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 1, 2010 10:58 AM in response to David M Brewer

I was looking for a way "on the go" so syncing with iTunes is not the option I was looking for.
Nice that the new Sony screens are the same size as the iPad, but that will still require the changing of DVD's.

Would love to buy movies from iTunes however that is not a possibility in Belgium nor in the Netherlands.

Over here illegal gotten contents you may not have or copy/distribute. However if you purchse content you may copy it for personal use only. So if you buy a CD you have paid for the music content if you then want to convert them to mp3 so you can listen to the content on your mp3 player. You do notice the same in a way with music from the iTunes store. You bought it and can listen to it on your ipod, iphone, ipad, imac etc. But you may not copy it and give it to friends or sell it.

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Answer 15

Kilo-Kilo Author

Level 1

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Aug 1, 2010 11:00 AM in response to MIke_C@PTD

I do believe the airstash is the solution I was looking for. No to see when it will be in stock again and more importantly when they will be shipping to europe.

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