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Stream Movies to iPad
Posted on December 15, 2010 by editor
Before the iPad came, I was forced to watch movies with my Macbook. Imagine the pain of having this thing on your legs while you're in bed and you just want to watch something before going to sleep. Now that I have this new device, I can say that using a Macbook was unnecessary, uncomfortable and so last year. Because, really, stream movies to iPad with Air Video has been sort of a life changing experience to me.
I heard many times that Air Video for iPhone was a very well realized application, but I've been that kind of guy that puts movies on his iPod or iPhone to watch them on the go. Watching a movie is a religious experience that should happen in the total darkness and silence of my room. I even lock the door, so that nobody can come in and ask me what move it is. It's just me and the actors. Problem is not the "where", but the "how". Like I said, I used to watch movies on my Macbook, but after trying this iPad version of Air Video I have to re-think the whole system.
How does it exactly work? Basically, you have to install a "server" app on your Mac, tell it which movies you want to stream, be sure that the iPad and the Mac are on the same local network and then fire up Air Video and choose a movie from the ones you specified in the server preferences. It's damn easy. You can also stream movies to iPad over the Internet, but I haven't been able to try it because my router doesn't support UPnP. Ping me if you managed to test it, but it should be working fine.
First of all, Air Video for iPad looks great all by itself: the interface is clever and well designed, it's elegant and classy and it's landscape only. It makes more sense like this, trust me. Anyway, it looks great and the animations are fast and pleasant to see. This is a big advantage over its competitors that promise to stream movies to iPad but do that with mid 90's Windows design.
They say the simple things are the best. Air Video does one simple thing, it does it magically and without asking you to mess with files, extensions and conversions. It's amazing how a good iPhone app can become this great on the iPad. Also, it's a universal app. Seriously, this is a must have. It's changed the way I watch movies.
