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When it comes to watching movies and TV on the go, the iPad is best of class. However, getting content on and off the Apple tablet can be a bit of pain because you must tether. Air Video obviates the problem by enabling local wireless streaming.

To use this solution you need two things: Air Video Free (iTunes) for your iPhone, iPod touch and/or iPad; and Air Video Server (free), is an application that serves movies and TV shows from your Mac (or PC).

To use Air Video Server, just download and drag it to the Applications folder. Start it and then add folders via drag and drop.

In my case, because there is already so much iPad and iPhone-ready content in iTunes, I added the Movies and TV Shows folders from within the iTunes Music folder.

Air Video Server installs an icon in your menu bar, making it easy to access prefs without switching apps and that makes it one-click easy to configure this app to automagically load at startup. Additionally, configuring the server to require a password probably isn’t a bad idea either, especially if you live in a densely populated area (i.e. an apartment building or dorm).

Going mobile

See also: Play AVI on your iPad. Hands on with CineXPlayer

Next, fire up Air Video Free on your idevice and select your server or any other server within range of your Wi-Fi network. And, honestly, that’s it — you’re ready to start watching.

There are caveats here, though. You can’t play content purchased via the iTunes Store because it’s encrusted with FairPlay digital rights management (DRM).

Additionally, with Air Video Free, you can only see/view the first three or four items in a folder and so on down through the sub folders. Click on the “more items” button and you’ll be asked you if want to buy the full version.

Lastly, items that aren’t iPad or iPhone ready, must be converted to play. Air Video can do this for you, on the fly even, but only if you purchase the full version, which sells for $2.99.

Although you could easily kludge your way around the limitations of Air Video Free, the asking price for the full version isn’t egregious, especially for on-the-fly conversion…

What’s your take?