In the April issue’s Ask column, you recommended “CineXPlayer for iPad ($1.99) or the universal GoodPlayer ($2.99)” for watching AVI videos without needing to convert them first. But you left out the free VLC Player application! Its capabilities appear to be equivalent, but it doesn’t require any financial commitment.
That’s a good call. I use the VLC Player app on my iPad all the time—it’s great. And I wanted to include it in the answer, but it isn’t available in the App Store anymore.
VLC Remote is $4.99 (with a free version too) and lets you remotely control the free VLC Media Player software on your Mac (sort of like the $2.99 Air Video app). VLC Remote Control is a free iPad app that does the same thing, so that would be a free option as long as your Mac is running, with VLC Media Player open. And VLC Streamer, $1.99 and universal, streams content from anywhere on your hard drive or network drives, with TV-out support.
VLC Media Player is one of our favorite iPad apps, but if you don’t already have it, you’re out of luck. It’s no longer in the App Store.
But in the previous response, we highlighted GoodPlayer and CineXPlayer because they work the most like the VLC Player app that isn’t in the store any longer, letting you transfer those AVI videos over to your iPad’s local storage, so you can watch them offline, wherever you are, no computer required.
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