Beau HD reviews the media playback app nPlayer. nPlayer is being called the "mother of all media players" as it supports almost all kinds of video formats and codecs, without the hassle of having to convert file formats. With nPlayer, smartphone and tablet users get high-quality video play performance and an easy-to-use interface.
The nPlayer is recognized as the “Mother of All Media Players” for a good reason. It is an app that supports almost all types of video formats and codecs without having to convert any of its file formats. Additionally, it is the first and only iOS media player that supports hardware acceleration of both MPEG-4 and H.264 codec files. The app itself is also supportive of various server types such as WebDAV, FTP, SMB, and DNLA servers.
Upon opening the app, you’ll be faced with a simple interface. On top is an option to transfer your files via Wi-Fi by entering the IP address onto your web browser of choice. You can also share documents by running WebDAV service. To the right is an option to organize your files, whether by size or date added. You can choose multiple items so you can easily manage and move around the files, since file management is a big characteristic of the app; apart from its Media Player qualities. If you have any documents, it will go to the Documents section of the app.
There’s also an iTunes section, where music and movie files can be found. Next to it is an album for pictures. The files here can be viewed and run through a slideshow option. Network option allows different ways for app users to be able to get content from anywhere on the internet. Options include server info and Cloud servers such as Bitcasa, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. There’s also a built-in browser available on the app so more information may be accessed. Another section to enter direct streaming URL is also available along with a dedicated section for downloads.
The Settings section of the app is where users may toggle a number of items, such as the QuickTime plugin on/off. It also allows the user to choose to play content in the background and change the aspect ratio of the video they are watching. As for the other items, they won’t need to be changed as the app automatically configures them to provide the best viewing experience possible.
Video playback on the app works great. Users can toggle brightness, saturation and contrast with just a few swipes on the screen. There is also a screen lock rotation, but this can also be done on iOS 8. Finally, there is support available for a wide array of subtitles for those who are not native speakers.
Overall, nPlayer is a great app that comes with a number of features that expands to more than just media playback. If you’re fond of watching and storing movies on your device, you can enjoy these with the app; even the ones with funky video formats. Considering iOS’ native media player isn’t compatible with a number of file types, nPlayer is a good app to make use of.
nPlayer is iOS exclusive. It works great with smartphones and tablets running iOS 8. It costs $4.99 from the App Store.
