[Mr. T]

Hi, everyone, hope you are all well.

I was wondering the following.

I have an ipad 6 in 1 connector kit.

Would I be able to use the IPAD3 & XBMC to play 1080p movies (movies are on an external hard drive):

IPAD to HDMI to LED tv
IPAD to USB to Power charger

Will I suffer lag or buffering issues?

THanks!

[Ned Scott]

If the external hard drive is directly connected to the iPad via USB, then HDMI won't work at the same time. If something else, like a NAS device of some kind, is handling the HDD, then it should work fine. See the iOS FAQ (wiki) for details on how to use the external HDMI output.

[Mr. T]

Thanks Ned.

Let me ask you something else.

I still haven't used the hdmi cable. Is the 720p output limitation for airplay & hdmi or just airplay?

Also, I'm having some buffering issues while playing a full 1080p mkv file (8gb file). Is it due to lack of process power or just a network issue? (other 1080p ripped files seem to play just fine (around 2gb))

Thanks a lot!

[Ned Scott]

720 is just a limit of airplay. You should be able to do full 1080 output on the iPad 3.

Buffering could be any number of things. Check out the buffering/troubleshooting section of the iOS FAQ (wiki).

[Mr. T]

Thanks for your time.

I was thinking of building a small htpc, but it seems using and IPad 3 is a solid choice too.

:)

[Ned Scott]

It works surprisingly well. I imagine old iPhones and iPads being used as actual HTPCs as a form of recycling. Plus you get native video players like Netflix and other services at the same time. You can even use a bluetooth mouse on a jailbroken iOS device, for total remote control :D