Jason Dunn
12-04-2007, 04:00 PM
<img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/pinnacle-mobile-media.jpg" /><br /><br /><b>Product Category:</b> Video conversion/DVD ripping software<br /><b>Manufacturer:</b> <a href="http://www.pinnaclesys.com">Pinnacle</a><br /><b>Where to Buy:</b> <a href="http://astore.amazon.com/digitalmediathoughts-20/detail/B000FN6C2C/102-9971738-2192961">Amazon.com</a> [Affiliate]<br /><b>Price:</b> $27.99 USD<br /><b>System Requirements:</b> Windows XP SP1, Windows Vista<br /><br /><b>Pros:</b><br /><li>Easy to understand user interface;<li>Many video import file formats supported;<li>Affordable price.<br /><b>Cons:</b><br /><li>Device profiles are old and outdated;<li>No custom profiles for output;<li>No h.264 video import support.<br /><b>Summary:</b><br />Pinnacle's Mobile Media Converter is promoted as being a great solution for getting videos onto your iPod or PSP - but what about other devices? Can the non-iPod and non-PSP users out there make good use of this product?<br /><br />Read on for the full review!<!><br /><br /><span><b>Options for the Non-iPod Nation</b></span><br />If you've got an iPod, there are dozens of programs out there for converting DVDs. If you have another device, like a Zune or a Zen Vision, your choices are more limited - especially if WMV is the only option available (as it was with the first generation Zune). In my case, the new second-generation Zune is my media player of choice - and now that it supports MPEG4, my options for DVD ripping are greatly expanded. In that light, I decided to take a look at <a href="http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/Mobility/Media+Solutions/Pinnacle+Mobile+Media+Converter.htm">Pinnacle Mobile Media Converter</a>, a $29.99 USD package from the well-known video software company.<br /><br /><span><b>Install and First Use</b></span><br />The software install proceeded without a hitch: Pinnacle even made the serial number easy to remember by using five-digit blocks of numbers and letters. After the install, I fired it up and was presented with an extremely simple user interface. Clicking Browse, I selected my DVD drive and the software found the DVD and let me select the video file and the audio track. There's no ability to select chapters unfortunately. If you have an iPod, Sony PSP or other supported device and have it connected, the software can deposit the file directly onto it. I did not, so instead I opted to save the exported file to my desktop. <br /><br />Supported devices include the Sony PSP, Apple iPod (h.264 and MPEG4), Creative Zen Vision:M, Creative Zen Vision, Archos Gmini 402, Archos AV/Gmini 500, and cell phones via 3GPP and MPEG4 profiles. There's no ability to specify a custom resolution or bit rate - you're limited to their profiles. Bit rate options range from 128 kbps for the 3GPP profile up to 1 mbps for the iPod MPEG4 profile. The list needs updating: there are no Zune profiles, no SanDisk Sansa profiles, and I suspect that the listing for the Zen Vision is really for the last-gen brick-like player rather than the svelte new player. The problem with software like this that doesn't allow for custom profiles is that the company has to ensure they update the profiles when new hardware hits the market - and Pinnacle isn't doing that. <br /><br />When I was rooting around looking for profiles I could edit to create a Zune profile, I came across a readme file that references something called "Pinnacle Mobile Media Organizer" that seems to have more advanced profile features - software that <a href="http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/uk/Products/Consumer+Products/Mobility/Media+Solutions/Pinnacle+Mobile+Media+Organizer.htm">seems to have existed at one point</a>, but is no longer listed on the <a href="http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/Mobility/Media+Solutions/Family.htm">mobile media product page</a>. This is bizarre because when Mobile Media Converter installs it creates a start menu item called "Upgrade to Pinnacle Mobile Media Organizer" - yet clicking on that takes my browser to an error page on pinnaclesys.com. Did anyone test this software before shipping it?<br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>DVD Ripping and File Importing</b></span><br />I had <a href="http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html?aid=50312">AnyDVD</a> [affiliate] installed (of course!) and I was able to easily start a rip of a commercial DVD. A heads up to all the Americans reading this: it's important to point out that because this product is sold in the United States, due to the DCMA law that your government representatives voted for, it cannot rip commercial DVDs. That means that you'll need to use a product like AnyDVD to crack the encryption, or extract the DVD files some other way. This isn't Pinnacle's fault, it's the fault of your government officials for letting the DMCA come into existence.<br /><br />Back to ripping: I used the iPod h.264 768 kbps profile, which transferred and played on my Zune 80 without the need for any transcoding - which is exactly what I wanted. Unfortunately Pinnacle Mobile Media Converter doesn't any zoom/crop functions for the video, so you'll always end up with black bars above and below your video - unless your device happens to be wide-screen (which most are not).<br /><br />In addition to DVD importing, there's a file import option. There's no easy way to know what file types are supported, however, because unlike most programs I've seen, the file import drop-down menu doesn't list the file types that are allowed. Instead, when I tried to import an MPEG4 file, it rejected the import and informed me that MPEG1, MPEG2, DivX AVI, Xvid AVI, DV-AVI, MJPEG AVI, WMV, and DVR-MS file types were supported. Ambiguity aside, I was able to convert a DVR-MS file to an MPEG4 file without any problems.<br /><br /><span><b>This Product Is...Average</b></span><br />So, all in all, I'd say that Pinnacle's Mobile Media Converter is a decent solution that fulfils the basic goal of converting DVDs and files to supported formats for several popular devices out today. If you have an iPod or a PSP, this software should work nicely. If you have any other device, I think spending $10 more and getting <a href="http://www.slysoft.com/?aid=50312">CloneDVD Mobile</a> [affiliate] makes much more sense - you lose the ability to encode files (CloneDVD Mobile only works with DVDs), but you gain many more device profiles and several great generic profiles that will work with practically any device. CloneDVD Mobile also has zoom/crop functions so it will actually fill the screen of your portable device.<br /><br />Make sure you visit the Pinnacle Web site to update the software: the version on the CD I was sent was v.1.00.050 and the latest version is v.1.60.125. If you want to take it for a spin yourself, <a href="http://drh.digitalriver.com/activationserver/servlet/DownloadServlet?productID=1474631&siteID=51106&platformID=atlantic">there's a free trial</a>.<br /><br /><i>Jason Dunn owns and operates <a href="http://www.thoughtsmedia.com">Thoughts Media Inc.</a>, a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys mobile devices, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He wishes companies would support the Zune more!</i>