I don't have an iPad myself but I'm sure they can't play any AVI or MKV containers.

You'll need something to transcode them into a format which the iPad can play. Basically, you need something in the middle that will take your downloaded films and convert it and pass it onto the iPad in a format which it can play, in real-time. Unless you're going to sit there for 100's of hours converting the films you download?

The "something in the middle" would be a computer, you can use any computer with the right software, however it'll have to be on and running the software whenever you want to stream to the iPad.

You could use a media server in the place if your desktop/laptop instead of leaving it on all the time - laptops get quite hot!

TVersity will do the job, not sure if it's the best though.

well if your ipad can play the above codecs (xvid/h.264) in the above file formats (avi and mkv) then go for a networked hard drive as it will be cheaper than having to use a media server along with storage (i.e. a hard drive). If not then you will need the server to be able to transcode it into a playable format and then stream over the network

[Edited on 20-11-2011 by Toby]

Now youve lost me :lol:

Can the iPad stream without conversion? I.e xvid and h.264 in Avi and mkv containers?

Anyone whose clued up what the differences are? Advantages and disadvantages?

Im basically after a external hard drive to store data but also for films that I download which will be viewed with a ipad(streamed over the wifi)