How to View Video Email Attachments (WMV, AVI, etc) Without a Jailbreak!!

Ever since I went from using a WM phone to my iPhone I really missed being able to just watch whatever videos got forwarded on to me in email. The iPhone, unfortunately, only allows for supported video formats to be viewed in an email (i.e. QuickTime, M4R). Well, thanks to an interesting work around, I am now able to actually enjoy viewing videos that I receive in my email once again! Here is what you need:

AirVideo
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/air-video-watch-your-videos/id306550020?mt=8

ReaddleDocs
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/readdledocs-documents-attachments/id285053111?mt=8

Dropbox account
https://www.dropbox.com/

What I did was create a folder called "iPhone Videos" in my synced Dropbox folder, and then added that folder to my AirVideo shared folder via "Add Disk Folder" (you will need the desktop software for this):

http://www.inmethod.com/air-video/index.html

I then made a folder in ReaddleDocs just called "Video Files." You will also have to sync your Dropbox and email account to ReaddleDocs in order to do this next step. Once they have both been added, you can now open and save your video email attachments in ReaddleDocs to your "iPhone Videos" folder, and then transfer them over to your Dropbox folder from within ReaddleDocs. Being Dropbox syncs over the air, this file will then show up on your server PC (which you set up with the AirVideo software). After the file is transferred over to you Dropbox folder, simply open up the AirVideo app and navigate to your video file to play it! Now I totally agree that this is a lot of steps to do something rather simple, but I’ve tested it and it works. If you set up the PC software to “Enable Access from the Internet” (in the Remote settings tab) you will also be able to view your server videos over 3G as well! I’ve tested this too, and it works surprisingly well. Truthfully, having the ability to do all of this via 3G was the only reason I thought of doing this work around in the first place because, if I was in front of my laptop, I’d just view the attachment there. So, there you have it. If you have any other questions about this please feel free to post up, and I’ll do my best to help out. ENJOY!!

 

Thanks! Well, like I said, it's not the most direct way of doing it, but it definitely works when you are out and about and want to view a video attachment.