10 ms·

VLC Submits iPad App to App Store

38 points by Garbage 16y ago

ryandvm 16y ago
Surely they are not really expecting approval? I can't imagine that Apple would let anything through that weakens the iTunes/iOS death grip on media playing. Especially something as robust as VLC. It seems to me that software that allows the iPad to stream movies from any brand media server is a game changer.
- gte910h 16y ago
  3rd Party AppStore developer here. There isn't a ban on "media playing". However, there is a ban on GPL licensed apps, as they GPL is incompatible with the app store terms of use.
  - Dylan16807 16y ago
    I suppose, but with GPLv2 there's nothing more than a technicality in the way, is there? As far as I understand it, the app store agreement prevents you from taking that particular copy of the app and doing free things with it, but nothing truly restrictive. You can still get a copy of the source from the app-maker, and exercise all your normal free software rights. Then again, saying that makes me feel like I'm missing something. Am I?
    - sjs 16y ago
      Apple would be in violation of the GPL for distributing the app with those restrictions tacked on. If I were them I wouldn't distribute GPL apps either. They would basically have to special case apps licensed w/ the GPL. Sadly I doubt it's worth the legal and/or operations costs involved. I'm not a license snob, whatever works for a project is great (GPL has been great for Linux). However this is a prime example of why MIT and BSD licenses are more free than the GPL.
  - cosgroveb 16y ago
    Doom for the iPhone is available on the App Store and it's been GPL'ed for a long time. http://www.idsoftware.com/doom-classic/ http://www.idsoftware.com/doom-classic/ There are probably more examples. The GPL is not incompatible with the App Store.
    - jcl 16y ago
      Actually, the GPL is not exercised in that example. As the author of Doom, id Software can do whatever they want with it; they are not going to sue themselves for violating the GPL. The GPL's terms only become relevant when a third party wants to use it to distribute the work. And it seems the GPL (v3, at least) would not allow a third party to publish Doom on the App Store. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/762498/iphone-and-gpl http://stackoverflow.com/questions/762498/iphone-and-gpl
      - cosgroveb 16y ago
        It seems that you're right. I did some further digging, and it seems that at least in the case of GNU Go, the FSF held the following opinion: "the particular license violation that FSF brought up with Apple was section 6 of the GPLv2, which states that a redistributor of the licensed program may not impose further restrictions on the recipients to copy, distribute, or modify the program. Apple's App Store terms of service do impose several restrictions, such as limiting usage of the program to five devices approved by Apple." http://lwn.net/Articles/391423/ http://lwn.net/Articles/391423/ Looks like I was wrong!
- loewenskind 16y ago
  >I can't imagine that Apple would let anything through that weakens the iTunes/iOS death grip on media playing. The iPad does video so well because it uses hardware support. From the "hardware limitation" comment, I suspect VLC isn't able to take advantage of this. Given that, I don't think it could weaken the iTunes/iOS "death grip" even if it were accepted. But if they aren't using hardware acceleration then I suspect it wont get approved. Would you want a player that everyone is going to be downloading (so they can watch any video) out there making people think your device is slow and underpowered? I wouldn't. EDIT: Nevermind my last paragraph. There is apparently already players in the store that don't use acceleration.
  - zppx 16y ago
    I know someone who tested OPlayer HD[1] and he said that the player does not use the H.264 acceleration, some videos were absurdly slow, yet the player is in the App Store. [1]: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/oplayer-hd/id373236724?mt=8 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/oplayer-hd/id373236724?mt=8
  - jbk 16y ago
    Disclaimer: VideoLAN chairman and VLC dev here... VLC on the iPad doesn't have any GPU/DSP because there are no APIs to to so... So, forget playback of 720MKV for now. But to decode DivX, Xvid, or DVD rips, the CPU is more than enough...
    - joubert 16y ago
      Now that VLC for iPad is out, I've installed it and tried playing WMV files but they don't appear on the shelf. Is it forthcoming?
    - wmf 16y ago
      More than enough with what battery life?
      - jbk 16y ago
        With DivX decoding, I believe 7hours+
- raganwald 16y ago
  the iTunes/iOS death grip on media playing Which death grip is that? I have one app that synchronizes .avi videos through iTunes and another that plays media streamed over the network on my iPad right now.
  - vl 16y ago
    What are the apps?
    - aditya 16y ago
      ZumoCast and AirVideo - both stream audio/video and play it over the network
      - thehigherlife 16y ago
        plex too
- gamble 16y ago
  They approved Cinexplayer and AirVideo.
  - smackfu 16y ago
    Cinexplayer being notable for just being a straight XVid video player.
- Terretta 16y ago
  > It seems to me that software that allows the iPad to stream movies from any brand media server is a game changer. Apple approved Plex, for both iPhone and iPad. Check out what Plex Nine does.
antidaily 16y ago
Where would you play videos from? Dropbox or something?
- oiuygtfrtghyju 16y ago
  VLC can do client-server streaming from another copy of VLC. So your desktop machine can stream your dvd/avi/mp3 collection to the iPad
  - jokermatt999 16y ago
    Kind of funny that this had to be asked, considering that VLC's original purpose was streaming videos. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLC_media_player#History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLC_media_player#History
  - th0ma5 16y ago
    and you can do this already, too, right? stream to the ipad by just opening a transcoded stream?
    - Terretta 16y ago
      E.g., Plex, which does it on the fly and is in the app store.
      - oiuygtfrtghyju 16y ago
        I think plex only lets you share your iTunes with other iStuff and only if the iDRM approves. VLC lets you share iWhateverTheHellYouWant from iWhateverMachine with iWhateverOS to iWhereverYouWant.
- rb2k_ 16y ago
  You can copy data over using iTunes, works fine for other apps (e.g. cinexplayer)
  - 16y ago
jackfoxy 16y ago
Hooray! I hope VLC gets approved. I'm really missing being able to overclock lectures on the iPad.
drivebyacct2 16y ago
Whaaa? VLC developers spent time making an iOS app when a much more open and free platform was available? Interesting. I hope Android sees the same love! Oh come on, it wasn't even a dig on iOS, give me a break with the downmods, jeez. I was just surprised at their choice considering all thats happened with them in the past with AOL and what not. I was just genuinely surprised to see an OSS project with a history of being burned by corporations choose an iOS device as their first mobile target. But hey, I mentioned Android. Flame away HN, flame away.
- pederb72 16y ago
  Using your logic VLC shouldn't release a Windows version since Linux is more open than Windows. I'm sorry, the world just doesn't work like that. Besides, even with Android NDK it's probably easier to port VLC to iOS than to Android?
  - jbk 16y ago
    VideoLAN chairman and VLC developer here. This is exactly the point. Porting VLC from MacOS X to iOS is more or less just a rewrite of the audio and video outputs (sinks). Plus an interface, of course... Porting to Android is taking longer and is, of course, on the way...
    - drivebyacct2 16y ago
      Cool. Thanks for the reply. Any details on why the Android port is taking longer or why it's so much easier to port to iOS? Maybe a VLC blog post or something?
      - jbk 16y ago
        iOS is very similar to Mac OS X, where VLC runs already... Android is very different from usual Linux, using a different libc and libraries than normal GNU/Linux and requires Java bindings to run...
        16y ago
taitems 16y ago
Damn, I've been working on a web-based version on and off for a while now. I guess I won't find the time to finish it, especially if this gets approved.

38 points by Garbage 16y ago

Surely they are not really expecting approval? I can't imagine that Apple would let anything through that weakens the iTunes/iOS death grip on media playing. Especially something as robust as VLC. It seems to me that software that allows the iPad to stream movies from any brand media server is a game changer.

gte910h 16y ago
3rd Party AppStore developer here. There isn't a ban on "media playing". However, there is a ban on GPL licensed apps, as they GPL is incompatible with the app store terms of use.
- Dylan16807 16y ago
  I suppose, but with GPLv2 there's nothing more than a technicality in the way, is there? As far as I understand it, the app store agreement prevents you from taking that particular copy of the app and doing free things with it, but nothing truly restrictive. You can still get a copy of the source from the app-maker, and exercise all your normal free software rights. Then again, saying that makes me feel like I'm missing something. Am I?
  - sjs 16y ago
    Apple would be in violation of the GPL for distributing the app with those restrictions tacked on. If I were them I wouldn't distribute GPL apps either. They would basically have to special case apps licensed w/ the GPL. Sadly I doubt it's worth the legal and/or operations costs involved. I'm not a license snob, whatever works for a project is great (GPL has been great for Linux). However this is a prime example of why MIT and BSD licenses are more free than the GPL.
- cosgroveb 16y ago
  Doom for the iPhone is available on the App Store and it's been GPL'ed for a long time. http://www.idsoftware.com/doom-classic/ http://www.idsoftware.com/doom-classic/ There are probably more examples. The GPL is not incompatible with the App Store.
  - jcl 16y ago
    Actually, the GPL is not exercised in that example. As the author of Doom, id Software can do whatever they want with it; they are not going to sue themselves for violating the GPL. The GPL's terms only become relevant when a third party wants to use it to distribute the work. And it seems the GPL (v3, at least) would not allow a third party to publish Doom on the App Store. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/762498/iphone-and-gpl http://stackoverflow.com/questions/762498/iphone-and-gpl
    - cosgroveb 16y ago
      It seems that you're right. I did some further digging, and it seems that at least in the case of GNU Go, the FSF held the following opinion: "the particular license violation that FSF brought up with Apple was section 6 of the GPLv2, which states that a redistributor of the licensed program may not impose further restrictions on the recipients to copy, distribute, or modify the program. Apple's App Store terms of service do impose several restrictions, such as limiting usage of the program to five devices approved by Apple." http://lwn.net/Articles/391423/ http://lwn.net/Articles/391423/ Looks like I was wrong!
loewenskind 16y ago
>I can't imagine that Apple would let anything through that weakens the iTunes/iOS death grip on media playing. The iPad does video so well because it uses hardware support. From the "hardware limitation" comment, I suspect VLC isn't able to take advantage of this. Given that, I don't think it could weaken the iTunes/iOS "death grip" even if it were accepted. But if they aren't using hardware acceleration then I suspect it wont get approved. Would you want a player that everyone is going to be downloading (so they can watch any video) out there making people think your device is slow and underpowered? I wouldn't. EDIT: Nevermind my last paragraph. There is apparently already players in the store that don't use acceleration.
- zppx 16y ago
  I know someone who tested OPlayer HD[1] and he said that the player does not use the H.264 acceleration, some videos were absurdly slow, yet the player is in the App Store. [1]: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/oplayer-hd/id373236724?mt=8 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/oplayer-hd/id373236724?mt=8
- jbk 16y ago
  Disclaimer: VideoLAN chairman and VLC dev here... VLC on the iPad doesn't have any GPU/DSP because there are no APIs to to so... So, forget playback of 720MKV for now. But to decode DivX, Xvid, or DVD rips, the CPU is more than enough...
  - joubert 16y ago
    Now that VLC for iPad is out, I've installed it and tried playing WMV files but they don't appear on the shelf. Is it forthcoming?
  - wmf 16y ago
    More than enough with what battery life?
    - jbk 16y ago
      With DivX decoding, I believe 7hours+
raganwald 16y ago
the iTunes/iOS death grip on media playing Which death grip is that? I have one app that synchronizes .avi videos through iTunes and another that plays media streamed over the network on my iPad right now.
- vl 16y ago
  What are the apps?
  - aditya 16y ago
    ZumoCast and AirVideo - both stream audio/video and play it over the network
    - thehigherlife 16y ago
      plex too
gamble 16y ago
They approved Cinexplayer and AirVideo.
- smackfu 16y ago
  Cinexplayer being notable for just being a straight XVid video player.
Terretta 16y ago
> It seems to me that software that allows the iPad to stream movies from any brand media server is a game changer. Apple approved Plex, for both iPhone and iPad. Check out what Plex Nine does.

antidaily 16y ago

Where would you play videos from? Dropbox or something?

oiuygtfrtghyju 16y ago
VLC can do client-server streaming from another copy of VLC. So your desktop machine can stream your dvd/avi/mp3 collection to the iPad
- jokermatt999 16y ago
  Kind of funny that this had to be asked, considering that VLC's original purpose was streaming videos. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLC_media_player#History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLC_media_player#History
- th0ma5 16y ago
  and you can do this already, too, right? stream to the ipad by just opening a transcoded stream?
  - Terretta 16y ago
    E.g., Plex, which does it on the fly and is in the app store.
    - oiuygtfrtghyju 16y ago
      I think plex only lets you share your iTunes with other iStuff and only if the iDRM approves. VLC lets you share iWhateverTheHellYouWant from iWhateverMachine with iWhateverOS to iWhereverYouWant.
rb2k_ 16y ago
You can copy data over using iTunes, works fine for other apps (e.g. cinexplayer)
- 16y ago

jackfoxy 16y ago

Hooray! I hope VLC gets approved. I'm really missing being able to overclock lectures on the iPad.

drivebyacct2 16y ago

Whaaa? VLC developers spent time making an iOS app when a much more open and free platform was available? Interesting. I hope Android sees the same love! Oh come on, it wasn't even a dig on iOS, give me a break with the downmods, jeez. I was just surprised at their choice considering all thats happened with them in the past with AOL and what not. I was just genuinely surprised to see an OSS project with a history of being burned by corporations choose an iOS device as their first mobile target. But hey, I mentioned Android. Flame away HN, flame away.

pederb72 16y ago
Using your logic VLC shouldn't release a Windows version since Linux is more open than Windows. I'm sorry, the world just doesn't work like that. Besides, even with Android NDK it's probably easier to port VLC to iOS than to Android?
- jbk 16y ago
  VideoLAN chairman and VLC developer here. This is exactly the point. Porting VLC from MacOS X to iOS is more or less just a rewrite of the audio and video outputs (sinks). Plus an interface, of course... Porting to Android is taking longer and is, of course, on the way...
  - drivebyacct2 16y ago
    Cool. Thanks for the reply. Any details on why the Android port is taking longer or why it's so much easier to port to iOS? Maybe a VLC blog post or something?
    - jbk 16y ago
      iOS is very similar to Mac OS X, where VLC runs already... Android is very different from usual Linux, using a different libc and libraries than normal GNU/Linux and requires Java bindings to run...
      - 16y ago

taitems 16y ago

Damn, I've been working on a web-based version on and off for a while now. I guess I won't find the time to finish it, especially if this gets approved.