One of the great frustrations for me with my iOS devices (and PSPs before them) has been the need for transcoding of video files before watching. This was always a time (and CPU) consuming and fiddly process, and for some insane reason the files often ended up being larger than the original.

When I got my iPad2 a few weeks ago I hunted around for an app that would play DivX/Xvid natively. There were a few to choose from, but eventually my money went to AVPlayerHD. It’s been absolutely brilliant. So far it’s played every file I’ve thrown at it flawlessly. The interface is perhaps too feature rich, but I’m willing to forgive that, as it’s also generally unobtrusive. I was a little concerned about battery life, having read in some places that official iTunes videos were gentler on the CPU than stuff converted at home, but so far consumption seems in line with Apple’s claims – 10% per hour means that I should just about get 10hrs of video between charges.

Since I bought it I see that it’s shot to the top of the iPad charts – a well deserved position for a great app.