Confusion about 1080p video on iPad 2

Question

Confusion about 1080p video on iPad 2

I have an iPad 2. I understand that it's not SUPPOSED to be able to play 1080p video--you need the NEW (2012) iPad for that.

However, I have HD movies and HD TV shows purchased from iTunes in my library, some in 720p and some in 1080p, in both categories. As an experiment, I tried to load an HD (1080p) movie, a HD (1080p) TV show, an HD (720p) movie and an HD (720p) TV show.

The 720p TV show and movie both copied onto the iPad 2 and were viewable with no problems, as expected.

The 1080p TV show did not copy onto the iPad 2, also as expected. However, the 1080p movie DID copy onto the iPad 2 and was viewable.

So, what's up with that? Why can I see a 1080p movie but not a TV show on my iPad 2?

iPad 2

Posted on Sep 21, 2012 8:04 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 21, 2012 8:21 PM in response to Steven Winget

According to the tech specs from Apple :

Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

http://www.apple.com/ipad/ipad-2/specs.html

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Answer 2

Sep 21, 2012 9:59 PM in response to Johnathan Burger

Johnathan, thank you for taking the time to write all that.

I really don't mean to be ungrateful or to sound sarcastic, but it really does nothing to answer my simple question, which was:

Why am I able to watch a 1080p movie on my iPad (which I'm NOT supposed to be able to) but not a 1080p TV show, both of which I purchased on the iTunes Store?

- Steve

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