using an ipad to play home videos instead of a digital "photo" frame

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Here's my situation. I'm currently trying to get my digital photo frame to play home videos and not dvd videos. These videos can come from my iphone 5, Canon S95, Canon SD550, Sony A7, or Canon HF M41. I know it's a whole bunch of different formats and the frames appear to only accept MPEG4 or AVI. I found this link https://support.nixplay.com/entries/22048571-Tips-for-Mac-Users-on-Video-Conversion that gives recommended instructions on converting files to a potentially usable format. I tried it it works on one frame that I have but it's an old frame and the video came out blotchy. I don't know if that is from the video itself or the material. Another frame I have, which is newer, didn't even display the video.

Is there an easier way to display my home videos through my ipad as if it were a digital "photo/video" frame? I have created some movies through iMovie and successfully loaded them to itunes and then shared them to the ipad but I guess the material will be limited to the size of the hard drive.

Is there a way to connect an external hard drive to an ipad so that I can load all of my home movies created from iMovies onto the hard drive and let the ipad run the videos from there?
 
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You could connect a wireless hard drive directly or to Network Attached storage

An app like VLC or Infuse will let you play 99% of all video without conversion
 
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21" iMac 2.9Ghz 16GB RAM - 10.11.3, iPhone6s & iPad Air 2 - iOS 9.2.1, ATV 4Th Gen tvOS, ATV3
I have a App called Air Video HD on my iPad Mini, and with the Server on both my Macs, I can watch ANY video I want to. They are streamed from my iMac or MBP, and all I have to do is, open the Server on my Mac, open Air Video HD, and then add the folders I have movies in, to the App, and they are all accessible. You can either watch them on the fly, or convert them to watch on my iPad Mini at a later date. I now have access to 370 odd movies and 500+ TV shows.

I know VLC does the same job, but to be honest, in this instance, you get what you pay for, and I have had nothing but problems with the VLC App, hence me spending a few $ and buying something that I know that works. I use to use Air Video, but they updated it, and now bought the next version they bought out, the Air Video HD version which is so much better UI and so many great features, and worth every cent.

Im streaming from my iMac to the other end of the house, off a connected Ext HD, through a Airport Express as a WiFi Extender, and doesn't miss a beat.

Just read the reviews on the page :)
 
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That's a good point . . . I use StreamToMe for the same
 
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I have a App called Air Video HD on my iPad Mini, and with the Server on both my Macs, I can watch ANY video I want to. They are streamed from my iMac or MBP, and all I have to do is, open the Server on my Mac, open Air Video HD, and then add the folders I have movies in, to the App, and they are all accessible. You can either watch them on the fly, or convert them to watch on my iPad Mini at a later date. I now have access to 370 odd movies and 500+ TV shows.

I know VLC does the same job, but to be honest, in this instance, you get what you pay for, and I have had nothing but problems with the VLC App, hence me spending a few $ and buying something that I know that works. I use to use Air Video, but they updated it, and now bought the next version they bought out, the Air Video HD version which is so much better UI and so many great features, and worth every cent.

Im streaming from my iMac to the other end of the house, off a connected Ext HD, through a Airport Express as a WiFi Extender, and doesn't miss a beat.

Just read the reviews on the page :)

It sounds like Air Video HD is the same as what Home Sharing does. Am I wrong in thinking that? If so, can someone clarify what the difference is because I'm not seeing it.
 
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Air video and StreamToMe will serve any kind of video from any location on your local disk, external disk or network storage. It doesn't need to be in iTunes or be in any particular format.
 
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Air video and StreamToMe will serve any kind of video from any location on your local disk, external disk or network storage. It doesn't need to be in iTunes or be in any particular format.

This is correct. Home Sharing, when turned on only shares whats in iTunes to a Airplay compatible device, or your Apple TV, where as Air Video HD and SteamToMe, will grab any video from anywhere on your Local Network, as stated above.
 

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