Play protected WMV files on a Mac

iMovie only supports the H.264 format, and will only load videos from two places:

• Camera Roll
• Synced iPhoto Library via iTunes (Photos Tab → Sync Photos from iPhoto → Include Videos)

As you've noticed, videos in your iTunes → Movies folder will only sync to the Videos app, and will not appear in iMovie.

The process is not at all convenient, but here's a video detailing how to convert a video to the right format on a Mac, and then get it into iMovie on an iPad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF8-sDmD_1Y. He uses an app called StreamClip Video Converter to convert to H.264. You might be able to get away with exporting that format from iMovie on your Mac instead. iMovie is picky about the format though. If you have trouble, try to reproduce the settings in the video exactly.

Did you tried Oplayer ?

Didn't tried it with wmv but works perfectly for me on my iPad 1, with mkv and other formats, even with subtitles. I would love to try it on iPad 2 to see if the new CPU handles 720p videos :)

VLC for iOS was promising before it was removed... sigh. :/

Update 2018: VLC for Mobile is available in Apple Store.