logo for iphone-tips-and-advice.com
leftimage for iphone-tips-and-advice.com

Air video for iPhone

air video iconAir Video is simply the best iPhone on the fly video converter and movie player. If you have a big library of video files, it is of course, a nightmare to convert all those video files to an iPhone supported video format.

The alternative is to use Air Video application which allows you to establish a connection to your computer, and access those directories where all video files are stored. Then, play them all on on your iPhone or iPhone 4.

There is no conversion involved from your side. You only have to connect to your computer, and set up the location of those video files and directories. AirVideo supports many formats including wmv, avi, and flv (flash video). Therefore, it will most probably play any file you have.

It does that by using the power of your desktop computer to converted those videos and then stream them from your computer to your iPhone in the appropriate iPhone format. 

Air video is available for both Mac and PC. To get the best performance of AirVideo you will need a fast computer as your computer will be doing all the hard work of converting, and streaming the video files.

Therefore, your desktop computer needs to be fast enough to deliver good performance high quality video playback on your iPhone.

There are 2 things that need to set up before you can stream videos from your computer.

First you have to download and install Air Video server on your Mac or PC, and second you have to download Air Video from the App Store for your iPhone. There is a free version which is limited to three video files while the full version is $3.00.

 

Install Air Video on the Desktop Computer Side:

air video mac menu stream iPhone videoThe important settings that you need to get started are very simple.

When you install AirVideo server on the Mac (shown on this example), you will get a menu item added at the top of the screen.

Click on the Server Preferences to open the preferences menu.

Click Yes, or No to turn the server on or Off. Also, it is here where you can add your directories that have the videos you want to stream. Click on the Add Disk Folder and select your video directories one by one. As you add video directories, they will show under folder name below.

air video mac preferences for iPhone video

air video file selection for iPhone video

Then, click on the Settings tab and check start at login if you want the server to start automatically after a computer restart.

aire video mac settings watch iPhone video

Click on the Remote tab to "Enable Access from Internet (Experimental)". This option will give you a PIN that you can enter later when you set up your iPhone App to connect from a 3G or wifi hot spot.

air video for mac remote iPhone video

If you have set up Air Video server and added video directories, a local wifi will automatically find the local computers and their video directories.

Therefore, the Remote settings is very important as it will allow you to access those video files from a public wifi or from 3G/Edge networks.

 

On the iPhone side:

When you start the App, tap the Plus button at the top left to add a server or a computer that has all your videos.

air video connected computers to iPhone video

Simply enter the server PIN that was given to you in the Desktop preferences above.

air video enter pin iPhone videoair video iphone video server pin

If you have port forwarding on your router set up, then tap the "Enter Address Manually" button to enter your IP address. If you don't know what port forwarding is, then just continue with the simple "Enter Server PIN" method. Once you enter the PIN and save, your desktop computer will show up with the PIN shown underneath it.

Tap the computer with the pin to establish a connection with it.

air video connected computers for iPhone video

All the directories and files that you added from the server set up will show up and you can browse your files by tapping a directory to open it or tap a file to play it. You can also go back to the previous directory by tapping the (slash) / button located at the top left.

air video iPhone video  directoriesair video iPhone back directory

Tap the video file you want to play and you will get a menu with some options that allow you to control the quality and the speed of conversion. The most useful option is "Play with Live Conversion" which streams the video from your desktop to your iPhone. It will give you a screen with options to start the video from last position or the beginning, or seek a position.

air video play options to play iPhone videoair video conversion iPhone video

Convert does the conversion only, and then saves the resulted file on your desktop computer . If you play an already converted file, you can then stream it with less load on the desktop computer, as the file is already converted. The last button "Conversion Settings" allows you to control many aspects of your converted file.

air video conversion settings iPhone videoair video quality options to play iPhone video

Tapping custom gives you three quality options. You can set your quality to Low Quality, Medium Quality, or High Quality and you can set your default quality.

Select the preset based on the speed of your computer, and the speed of the network you are connected to EDG, 3G or WIFI. If you are on wifi, start with High Quality, and then move down to Medium Quality if the video doesn't play smoothly.

Once you finish selecting the preset tap done to go back.

The Target Resolution button allows you to adjust your resolution to fill your iPhone screen by using the slider shown on the left side. Also, you can Reset to undo the changes, or tap Done when you are done.

air video seek iPhone video

 

air video size to play iPhone video

Moving the left slider all the way up, fills the whole screen with video as shown.

air video quality ipHone videoThe Quality slider at the bottom allows you to adjust your video streaming quality. The lower the quality the worst the picture, but the better the streaming performance.

The Audio Stream option gives an additional control of the data streaming. If you disable sound, you could increase your quality a little, or maybe disable sound to get a playable video on a slow network.

You can experiment with those settings to get your best video performance based on the power of your Desktop computer, and the connection speed.

Manage Presets, shown on the top right, allows you to create your own Conversion  Presets.

Tap on one of the three presets available, and another menu appears at the bottom.

air video manage presets for iPhone videoair video edit to play iPhone video

air video settings iphone videoTap Edit to go to the setting screen or tap Make Default to make this preset the default one.

The next screen after tapping Edit is the Conversion Presets screen.

In this screen, you can change the setting of your Video Width,  Video Height, and Quality percentage.

Also you can change the name of the preset. When you are done, tap Save.









air-video-play iPhone videoAfter you are done with your modification, tap the Back button two times to go back to the video conversion screen.

Tap the Play with Live Conversion button to try your you video performance with the new settings.

Repeat this process until you get the performance you want. You might need go back and increase or decrease the quality.











air video cables to watch iPhone video on TVAn iPhone HDMI video allows your iPhone video to be displayed in high deffinition on an HDTVAir Video supports iPhone video out feature, which means that if you have a composite or a component video cable for your iPhone, then you can connect your iPhone to your TV.

Or if you have an HDTV and have an iPhone 4, then you can connect an iPhone HDMI adapter to display high definition video on your TV. Any of those iPhone cables or iPhone accessories will allow you to stream your videos on a big TV screen which is really amazing. 

If you don't have one of those iPhone cables, I strongly recommend getting one.

 

Conclusion:

Air Video is an amazing iPhone movie player, for $3.00 it is worth every penny. If you have a big video library that you want to watch on your iPhone or iPhone 4 without conversion. Then, Air Video is the best solution.

The quality of the video is very good, and with the iPhone Video out feature available with an optional iPhone Cable. You can get some stunning video quality on a big screen.

Go to Top

Return from Air Video to iPhone Video

Return to Home of iPhone Tips and Advice

blog comments powered by Disqus

footer for iphone page