In iOS 10.2, released on December 12, Apple introduced the new "TV" app, which serves as an Apple-designed TV guide that aims to simplify the television watching experience and help users discover new TV and movie content.

In the United States, the TV app replaces the standard "Videos" app and serves as a television hub on iOS devices, but it appears the new app doesn't work well with content that's been ripped from DVDs.

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According to an ongoing discussion on Apple's Support Communities that dates back to December, some customers who have videos ripped from DVDs are no longer able to view them in the TV app. The same videos previously worked fine in the now-replaced Videos app. A user who is having issues describes the problem:

Prior to iOS 10.2 I was able to view video I had ripped on the Videos app in iOS. The process I used was to rip the video and then import them into iTunes. Then I synced my iPhone with iTunes and my movies were download and viewed using the Videos app.

iOS 10.2 no longer includes the Video app and the new TV app will not allow me to watch these ripped videos. Does someone have a solution or am I simply missing something?

Other iPhone users have been unable to sync home videos and other content to their devices with the current version of iTunes, receiving a message that movies or TV shows can't be synced because the Videos app is not installed.

Some users have been able to get around the problem with already-transferred videos by using the TV widget on their iOS devices, which apparently causes the TV app to display the ripped videos after the widget is activated. Others can get the ripped videos to play by setting the videos to be "Home Videos."

That the widget allows some users to access their videos suggests this is perhaps a bug that will be resolved in a future update, but it is not entirely clear what's going on with the TV app and content acquired outside of the iTunes Stores.

Affected users who want to get non-Apple video content onto their iOS devices will need to use a third-party solution like Infuse or VLC.

Related Forum: iOS 10

Top Rated Comments

profets Avatar
110 months ago
Ripping DVDs, importing to iTunes, syncing manually to an iOS device. Why not just use Plex already (or another media manager like VLC that allows you to make a local copy wirelessly)?
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
panjandrum Avatar
110 months ago
Like we have had to do all too frequently over the past few years; just switch away from Apple's software and use something else (I've had very good luck with Stream to Me and Serve to Me, and no longer use iTunes, Music, etc. etc. for anything at all other than occasionally ripping a CD or manually managing iThing backups and media). That solution also supports playback on various media-players outside the Apple ecosystem (for example, a PS3 will find the Serve to Me server on your network and work properly with it). Unlike Plex, Stream to Me / Serve to Me is extremely simple to setup (it also lacks some of the advanced features, but overall I've certainly been very happy with it). Oh, and VLC will also pick up Stream to Me servers.

I hope that someday those currently running Apple will figure out that the worse their software gets, the more we move away from it. The more we move away from it, the less incentive we have to stay with Apple hardware. The less we stay with Apple hardware, the less we recommend Apple hardware to other and the less visibility Apple hardware has. It's a vicious cycle they can put a stop to by getting their software usability, features, and QA back up to what it used to be...
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
OS X Dude Avatar
110 months ago
How do I watch my movies on a plane with Plex?
Plex allows caching.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Andreas56938 Avatar
110 months ago
You are ripping it wrong.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MallardDuck Avatar
110 months ago
Ripping DVDs, importing to iTunes, syncing manually to an iOS device. Why not just use Plex already (or another media manager like VLC that allows you to make a local copy wirelessly)?
Because moving 200+ GB of files wirelessly takes forever.
[doublepost=1484704175][/doublepost]The TV app is a complete disaster - massive number of bugs.


* If you have a DTS passthrough track, it won't play the file
* It's unreliable in airplane mode - sometimes doesn't work (as I found out the hard way)

* shoves the cloud/streaming stuff into your face, no longer hideable

* shows blank seasons and cloud icons even in downloaded section
* search doesn't work offline
* doesn't sync properly with itunes - doesn't add episodes and doesn't delete them
* manual delete is no longer a swipe, it's something related to force touch, but it doesn't work reliably

and on and on. Apple should put the videos app up in the app store.

There's no third party option that plays DRM'd content, so we're stuck.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Glassed Silver Avatar
110 months ago
Great idea Apple, keep incentivizing people to move away from your vertically integrated products to platform-agnostic alternatives.

And be sure to keep messing with the value to price ratio on ALL your products!

What's the worst that could happen? After all you have so many great new products in the mighty pipeline!

Glassed Silver:win
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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