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VLC for iOS returns on July 19, rewritten and fully open-sourced

190 points| Lightning | 12 years ago |thenextweb.com | reply

84 comments

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[+] antr|12 years ago|reply
I'm a big fan of VLC, it's been my default video app since I can remember. Can't wait to see it again on iOS.

The "big" feature I would like to see is some kind of "super-easy" drag and drop feature where I could easily send video files to my iPad/iPhone without doing the whole Browser->IP:Port->Choose file, etc. A "video file right click -> VLC -> Send file to iPad (upload in background)" would put a smile on my face.

[+] jbk|12 years ago|reply
I wish we could do that, but it is really annoying to do, since it almost needs a special desktop app to do so. And the iDevice must be in the listening mode...

Drag'n drop in the browser is the best we have so far. Maybe a later version with Bonjour will come... Patches welcome :)

[+] daxelrod|12 years ago|reply
The old VLC for iOS used iTunes's transfer capabilities rather than presenting an HTTP server.

Here's a screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/cRwg8Rr.jpg

Not quite as slick as the context menu you're suggesting though.

[+] roskilli|12 years ago|reply
The Dropbox integration may very well make it that easy, simply drop into your Dropbox folder and hey presto. Although waiting for it to sync to AWS might be painful, I wonder if the iOS and Android clients do local syncing like the desktop clients do when on the same network?
[+] daed|12 years ago|reply
Assuming it's like the last version on iOS (which I was lucky enough to download before it got yanked) you can just plug in your device and throw whatever videos you want into VLC's documents folder. Transfers really quickly over USB.
[+] mehrzad|12 years ago|reply
>it's been my default video app since I can remember.

Curious as to what you think about MPlayer, MPC-HC, or mpv, which have mostly taken the crown in nerd circles as being the de facto video players.

[+] Florin_Andrei|12 years ago|reply
I kept the old version on my iPhone ever since it got pulled from the store. Made sure to not delete it. :)

> native Dropbox integration

> background audio playback

This is awesome.

[+] jamesaguilar|12 years ago|reply
Plex is almost this, if you're looking for something that has this feature now.
[+] 1qaz2wsx3edc|12 years ago|reply
I love VLC. A mobile version sounds awesome, if streaming from a host is easy. That's really all I want to do.

And to that effect I use Airplayit for streaming+copying from pc/mac to ios. It's fairly simple and reliable.

[+] cube13|12 years ago|reply
So how exactly has the licensing issue been resolved? Has the core VLC library been re-licensed or dual licensed under the Mozilla license?
[+] kzahel|12 years ago|reply
I was trying to install VLC on my android nexus 4 the other day and apparently it's not in the Play store? I ended up installing "Joe VLC" instead. I wonder if there will be an official android release?
[+] mtgx|12 years ago|reply
Have they made the Android app excellent yet? Last I checked it was still nowhere as good as MX Player performance wise. I'm just saying they might want to fix that before venturing into other platforms, especially platforms that have been very hostile towards them in the past.
[+] jbk|12 years ago|reply
Those things are orthogonal. This is a false dichotomy. Some people focusing on one platform does not block other to focus on another one...
[+] GuiA|12 years ago|reply
"VideoLAN revealed some very exciting news today: VLC for iOS will be back in Apple’s App Store by tomorrow (July 19). The company tells TNW the app will be available for free worldwide"

The original iOS port was made by Applidium; is this still Applidium, or a separate VideoLan initiative?

[+] joejohnson|12 years ago|reply
I couldn't tell from the article: is there a way to stream files over afp?
[+] lechevalierd3on|12 years ago|reply
No support of AFP. SMB could show up in a later version.
[+] Diamons|12 years ago|reply
I much prefer OPlayer. Great features, plays nearly any file I throw at it, and supports WiFi transfers.
[+] lechevalierd3on|12 years ago|reply
This new version support file transfer over wifi/3G. You can both download from an external HTTP server and use the build in it HTTP Server to upload file to your iOS device. There is a nice drag and drop browser support to send files.
[+] johnpowell|12 years ago|reply
OPlayer has smoother playback for me. I just tried VLC and the first video I tried it said the hardware was to slow to play it. I'm using a 4G iPod Touch. So I converted some some videos with Handbreak using the iPod Touch preset. I tried about ten converted videos and none of them played smoothly. OPlayer handles all of them.
[+] emehrkay|12 years ago|reply
Is network streaming when you can browse windows (smb) shares via vlc? If so, that would be amazing
[+] jbk|12 years ago|reply
We are working on that for a later version :)
[+] mrmondo|12 years ago|reply
As far as I can see it's not in the Australian App Store.
[+] kansas|12 years ago|reply
VLC app used to drain my battery. I moved to Plex and Tonido after the removal. Hopefully this release doesn't drain the battery.
[+] 0x0|12 years ago|reply
As I understand, VLC is unable to leverage the hardware codecs of the iPhone, because it doesn't use the official media frameworks, so it has to run stuff less efficiently in software.
[+] captiva12|12 years ago|reply
Instead of downloading media to your iPhone you can use Tonido iOS (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tonido-file-access-music-vid...) app to play/stream pretty much all the video formats directly from your PC, Mac or Linux (or) you can use the app to download the media and play with VLC.
[+] untog|12 years ago|reply
Pretty different use case, IMO. Streaming is far less useful on the go than playing locally stored files.

(and I can only assume you are involved with Tonido, given that half your HN posts are promoting using it)