AVPlayerHD

While iOS is packed with useful features, it doesn't offer native support for many popular video formats, and this is where the AVPlayerHD app comes into play. It supports all the biggies — XVID, AVI, WMV, RMVB, H.264 and MKV — and offers compatibility with external subtitle file formats such as SMI, SRT and TXT.

This app excels with HD video, and really harnesses the power of the iPad 2's A5 processor. Playback of 720p content on iPad 2 was a dream, although 1080p videos were mostly unplayable. The app offers playback in all the main aspect ratios and works brilliantly with the iPad 2's Digital AV Adapter, meaning you can use the iPad as an HD playback device with your TV. Other features include touch gestures, which work well — swipe up to increase speed, down to slow, swipe left to skip back 10 seconds, right to skip forward. Using the slider, you can scrub through without any sluggishness rearing its head, and you can transfer files to the app over a wireless network, which is slow, but works flawlessly.