Need to view WMV movies on my iPad

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Level 1

0 points

Need to view WMV movies on my iPad

Hi, everyone - I've been searching for a solution for this all morning. Got this iPad for Christmas, and love it despite what were until now some minor flaws. I am a nursing student and am required to view some videos for my classes. The videos are in .WMV format and are not playing on my iPad. I would like to know if anyone has had success with this problem? Is there an app I could download which would play the movies without a lot of muss and fuss? I don't mind spending money for a product that works. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

iOS 4, iPad

Posted on Jan 9, 2011 9:45 AM

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Answer 1

Tamara

Level 6

13,738 points

Jan 9, 2011 9:53 AM in response to BeccaPax

WMV is a Microsoft proprietary format and Microsoft has not released a player for WMV at this time.

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Answer 2

Rudegar

Level 10

170,652 points

Jan 9, 2011 9:54 AM in response to BeccaPax

seems apple just pulled vlc from app store so
your option is to convert the wmv to m4v and add them to itunes and sync them

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Answer 3

Jolly Giant

Level 7

25,464 points

Jan 9, 2011 10:04 AM in response to BeccaPax

check out StreamToMe.

the developer claims the app ...

can play a huge range of video and music formats including MP4, AVI, MOV, FLV, MPG, MKV, MP3, AAC, WMA and WMV formats

obviously, this won't work if you're out and about.

J GG

edited by the Jolly Green Giant (where Green stands for environmentally friendly)

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Answer 4

Jan 9, 2011 10:18 AM in response to BeccaPax

All ice used is a little app called yxplayer2 lite. Not elegant, but works okay.

VLC Player works, I think, but working through iTunes seems too awkward to bother with when the file is starting from my iPad. As someone already points out, it's now gone from the Store in any case.

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Answer 5

Jan 9, 2011 10:22 AM in response to Rudegar

there are iPhone and iPad versions of VLC free and Streamer available on the App Store.

But re "your option is to convert the wmv to m4v and add them to itunes and sync them"
to save a wmv file as a m4v, don't you have to open it on your mac first? with what?

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Answer 6

Jolly Giant

Level 7

25,464 points

Jan 9, 2011 10:26 AM in response to Paul Richards4

Paul Richards4 wrote:
with what?

on a Mac, EasyWMV is a candidate.

J GG

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Answer 7

Rudegar

Level 10

170,652 points

Jan 9, 2011 10:28 AM in response to Paul Richards4

"there are iPhone and iPad versions of VLC free and Streamer available on the App Store."

no news is that vlc was just removed from app store

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Answer 8

Jolly Giant

Level 7

25,464 points

Jan 9, 2011 10:37 AM in response to Rudegar

Rudegar wrote:
no news is that vlc was just removed from app store

hmm ... just +*power searched+* the iTunes store and look what i found

( *click on image to enlarge* )

J GG

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Answer 9

Jan 9, 2011 10:53 AM in response to Jolly Giant

Jolly Giant wrote:

Rudegar wrote:
no news is that vlc was just removed from app store

hmm ... just +*power searched+* the iTunes store and look what i found

None of those are the VLC player. Only streamers and remotes.

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Answer 10

Jan 9, 2011 10:56 AM in response to Jolly Giant

What point are you trying to make? Although that's from the German store, it certainly looks like the same stuff currently available in the US store .... which does not include VLC PLAYER, the app we're actually talking about, the app that could be used to play .wmv files, the app that used to be available from the store and now no longer is.

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Answer 11

Jolly Giant

Level 7

25,464 points

Jan 9, 2011 10:57 AM in response to Templeton Peck

Templeton Peck wrote:
None of those are the VLC player. Only streamers and remotes.

my bad, that's right !

looks like i'm lucky having downloaded the player when it was still available 😉

J GG

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Answer 12

BeccaPax Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 9, 2011 1:48 PM in response to BeccaPax

Wow - that is seriously disappointing! I looked into the ones that let you stream from your computer, but often I am at school in the library and would love to be able to see the movies on my iPad. So much easier than waiting in line to use a computer.. Hopefully Apple will come up with something to fix this. I don't really know how to convert videos on my PC into Mac format, plus if I'm going to go to all that trouble, I might as well just watch them on my computer.

Seems like a high $ to pay for a device that won't play the simple grainy videos I am required to watch.. LOL

Thank you for your help! If anyone knows of any other suggestions, I would love to hear them!

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Answer 13

Jan 9, 2011 2:40 PM in response to BeccaPax

Wmv is a microsoft proprietary format.
They have no plans to release any software for the ipad.

There is nothing for Apple to "fix".

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Answer 14

Jan 9, 2011 3:47 PM in response to BeccaPax

A. This isn't Apple's problem to fix.

B. The yxplayer app I mentioned above, and which I use, plays natively on the iPad, no streaming.

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Answer 15

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,858 points

Jan 9, 2011 4:07 PM in response to BeccaPax

Seems like a high $ to pay for a device that won't play the simple grainy videos I am required to watch..

The lack of wmv support was published in the tech specs a year ago, months before the iPad was released for sale.

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