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View Full Version : BVRP DivX Video Duplicator - anyone used it for the Pocket PC yet?


Duncan
04-12-2003, 02:11 PM
I came across BVRP DivX Video Duplicator (http://shop.bvrp.com/english/asp/default.asp?UserPrefLanguage=1&UserPrefCountry=3&UserPrefCurrency=5&UserPrefCurrentCompany=1&UserPrefUseVicom=1) by accident and was suprised not to have heard of it before. It appears to offer automated 'one-stop' ripping and conversion of DVDs to DivX format - ideal for use of Pocket PCs.

Anyone tried it? Recommended or not worth it?

Obviously this question isn't aimed at citizens of the US where to even read this thread is to commit a thought crime! :wink:

dh
04-12-2003, 02:59 PM
It looks as though it wouldn't quite be one step to convert a DVD to use on a PPC since you would have to use their ProMode to change the size to fit the screen.
Interesting though, it looks as though it could save a few steps. Wonder what the file sizes would come out as? One of the nice things with the multistep methods is that you can fine tune at each stage to get the file size where you want it.
Shame they don't have a trial option, I wouldn't spend $40.00 or so without knowing if it does what we need.
We will have to find a friendly non-US citizen who uses it.

markan
04-12-2003, 04:29 PM
I'm almost tempted to buy it just because you Americans can't have it. :wink: You usually get all the toys earlier and cheaper than us Europeans.

PetiteFlower
04-12-2003, 08:09 PM
Why wouldn't it be legal to rip a DVD that you own for your own personal use? I thought it was.

Duncan
04-12-2003, 08:15 PM
You have something called the DMCA (or is it DCMA?) which makes it illegal to cirumvent copy protection (needed to copy DVDs) even if you own the thing you are copying.

Currently it isn't illegal in the EU. Though obviously the act of copying to distribute is still highly illegal.

PetiteFlower
04-12-2003, 08:20 PM
Heh. Shows what I know :)

For the record, I think that's stupid :p

Jason Dunn
04-12-2003, 08:35 PM
It looks as though it wouldn't quite be one step to convert a DVD to use on a PPC since you would have to use their ProMode to change the size to fit the screen.

If it's like others I've seen, you'll have the option to resize in the DivX codec options, so re-sizing is just part of the process. In fact, I'm willing to bet that they resize from 720 x 480 anyway, so making it Pocket PC-sized wouldn't really add much to the process.

Oh how I wish Digital Media Thoughts was launched... :roll:

Duncan
04-12-2003, 08:39 PM
Well - having done a intensive search for a review (and drawn a blank) of this I've decided to go ahead and buy it - I'll let you know how well it works...!

dh
04-12-2003, 09:58 PM
If it's like others I've seen, you'll have the option to resize in the DivX codec options, so re-sizing is just part of the process.
Yes, but remember, to get the file size as small as possible it's best to play around to remove the black bars around the image. I'm sure that would still need to be done in some kind of edit mode. (Pro Mode these guys call it).


Oh how I wish Digital Media Thoughts was launched... :roll:
I was going to sugest having a multimedia section in the forums, I forgot you were planning a new site on this topic. I'm a real beginner in digital media, but I have had good results converting some of my DVDs.

When is Digital Media Thoughts going to debut?

Well - having done a intensive search for a review (and drawn a blank) of this I've decided to go ahead and buy it - I'll let you know how well it works...!
That would be great. If it does all they say I will have to buy it via my son in the UK. Look forward to seeing how you like it.

Jude
04-13-2003, 03:50 AM
Took a look at the site and decided it was SO not worth it. I thought that for 40 Euros they would at least bundle the Pro version of DivX, but they don't. It's also funny how they say they bundle DVDx as a "free bonus" when DVDx is already free to start with anyway! I'd rather click a few dozen times and figure out bitrates and settings for myself (lots of free bitrate calculators and other tools out there) and convert for free than pay almost 40 euros for "single-click" conversion of DVDs to DivX. I'm pretty sure it'll take just about the same amount of time anyway, and using their "Pro" mode, just about the same amount of clicks! If this were less than 10 Euros, then just maybe it'd be worth it.

Duncan
04-14-2003, 01:36 AM
I'd rather click a few dozen times and figure out bitrates and settings for myself (lots of free bitrate calculators and other tools out there) and convert for free than pay almost 40 euros for "single-click" conversion of DVDs to DivX. I'm pretty sure it'll take just about the same amount of time anyway, and using their "Pro" mode, just about the same amount of clicks! If this were less than 10 Euros, then just maybe it'd be worth it.

Less than €10??!! Hardly worth their time developing it then! C'mon - be realistic! (...and I speak as someone who is highly critical of the pricing of some BVRP programs!)

Now - you may enjoy working with multiple programs and clicking a few dozen times - but some of us want to get on and do more interesting things while software does stuff for us... Each to their own!

Mini-review follows (I'm thinking I may well write up a full review of this).

I bought this software and this is what I've found so far:

Start up the Pro mode and you get a simple screen with 5 options (only two of which you need for most things).

Option 1 is 'Extraction'. Click on the DVD symbol and it automatically finds the movie files, selects them for you and tells you where the VOB files will be placed (if there isn't enough space it tells you and you have the option to easily select a new location. Once you have chosen your location it remembers from then on. You just clisk on 'Run' and leave it.

So two clicks and an hours (1hr 38min movie, 2.4Ghz laptop) wait to get the VOB files.

Opion 2 is 'Encoding'. Two possible buttons - one is for batch processing (not tried yet) the other is for the one movie. Click on that button and you get a screen with five tabs.

The first one is 'General' where you can choose your codec (DivX 5.0.2 or Xvid). You can change parameters if you wish but it is automatically set up for 2 passes. You can choose your files by clicking on add and choose your output folder (it remembers both of these locations for the future).

The second one is 'Video' where three radio buttons give you the most common resolutions - 512, 640, 720 (or you can choose manual cropping where you can select your own resolution - i.e. 320x240 - and any cropping you want - seeing the results instantly in a window). You can also choose whether to get the whole film or part of the film (done with a simple slider, time count and output window) and if you want to de-interlace.

Third tab is 'Audio' - automatically set to get the main audio track - though radio buttons allow you to select multiple tracks (up to four - all individually adjustable) - at 96K with a drop down list giving you the option to select up to 320K.

Tab four is 'AVI Info'. If duration info is available it shows you. A 'Size Control' button can let you get this info if not already there (though why anyone would want to I'm not sure...). You can also choose the total maximum size you want the video to have (automatically set to 700MB) and an auto cut off point (also set to 700MB). You can replace these with any figure you want. I left it at 700MB for my experimenting.

Tab five is 'Final'. Here you can set your PC to shut down after processing, delete the VOBs after processing, perform a test, add to a batch file for processing later or simply start creating the AVI. Click on the nice big 'Start' button and in the morning a nice AVI file ready for playing.

The final 320x240, 1hr 38min video came to 178MB in size (obvously I could have chosen to go smaller but I wanted to see what it would do as an 'ideal' video). Playing it on PocketMVP I was pleased to find good quality sound, video and sound perfectly synchronised. There was some blockiness to the video and the occasional stutter (though memory cacheing took care of that) but the quality was as good as any video I've produced following the various guides (Pocket Matrix etc.) available and using the three or four not terribly user friendly freeware progs needed to do the job.

In fact I converted the same DVD before, using the above guides and freeware, and found the results to be lower quality (after a first attempt that left me with video and audio misaligned). So the freeware route took considerably longer, required a lot of messing around with detailed settings for a poorer result (I'm sure that with much experimentation I could improve the results - but I have a life...). Not to mention that this purchased software worked straight off without taxing me in any way. Some of the major freeware alternatives have been, shall we say, frustrating (not necessarily working right off for example!).

Negatives - few really. Documentation and setup needs to be checked for obvious spelling errors and has clearly been written by a non-native English speaker! It could be cheaper (say €30 - 35 max). It would be nice to be able to save 'profiles' in the Pro version so it can be run as a 'one step' process the next time (though previously selected settings are remembered from one use to the next). I don't like the fact it installed an old version of WMP and DVDx without asking.

I'm currently running the 'Easy' version of the software on the same DVD. This really is simple.

You open it up and get just one simple screen!

You select your source ('Encode a DVD' or 'Encode a file' - you then simply press a button to locate your file).

You select your language.

You select your audio rate from a drop down list.

You select quality - either 'Automatic' or 'CD' (choose numer of CDs and size - from 650 - 800MB).

You choose output folder (again it remembers from last time)... and there are two tick boxes for 'De-interlace' and 'Shut down windows on completion'.

You then simply click the nice big 'Run' button and leave it be!

It has so far got the VOBs (took an hour) then automatically started processing them (tells you the estimated time - c.2 hours in this case and how long it has been running - same info as in the Pro version).

So a DivX video should be produced from a DVD, automatically, in little over 3 hours total (with approx. 30 seconds of that being user input at the start!).

Once the 'Easy' version has finished I will see what it looks like and run it through the Pocket PC convertor in Windows Movie Maker to see how it does for WMV files.

All in all, despite some minor niggles, this is seems to be software worth paying for. A one stop shop, plenty of options yet lots of hand holding. Ideal for the majority of users who want simplicity. No long guides to follow, no need to use multiple programs.

That said - you CAN do it all for free - which is a matter of choice and preference.

I'm glad I took the plunge as I've been waiting for some time for something that does all this...

Jude
04-14-2003, 01:39 PM
Less than €10??!! Hardly worth their time developing it then! C'mon - be realistic! (...and I speak as someone who is highly critical of the pricing of some BVRP programs!)

Now - you may enjoy working with multiple programs and clicking a few dozen times - but some of us want to get on and do more interesting things while software does stuff for us... Each to their own!


Ture, to each their own, but some clarification on my points.

Well, I live in Asia and over here we're quite used to paying much less for things. In fact you can find legitimate software being sold for around $5-10 retail. So maybe it's just a matter of perspective. Anyway, the way I viewed the program it didn't quite look like such a revolutionary development-intensive tool but more of an evolution and incorporation of pre-existing ones. And the inclusion of old versions of available freeware as "bonuses" could even be seen as annoyingly misleading. You can compare it to the freeware DVD2SVCD program, which actually does a much more complex job, but only requires a few clicks at the start then you can leave it be.

No, I do not "enjoy" working with multiple programs and clicking a lot. I just don't enjoy paying a significant sum for something when there are free and ready alternatives for it. Give me 40 euros and I'll probably spring for the program. Hmmm... but probably still not as I'd rather spend the $ on other stuff. 40 euros, that's almost as much (in dollars) as the Textmaker promo bundle!

Even if you do go the freeware route you can still "get on and do more interesting things while software does stuff for us". Ever since I got the process down, the longest it takes me to set-up a DVD conversion and encoding session would be around 5 minutes. If it took any much longer than that then I wouldn't even bother.

Duncan
04-14-2003, 03:23 PM
Well, I live in Asia and over here we're quite used to paying much less for things. In fact you can find legitimate software being sold for around $5-10 retail.

This software is being sold in Europe where this is a fairly normal price for a piece of software (it could still do with being a little cheaper mind...).

Comparing it to DVD2SVCD is bit misleading. I've used DVD2SVCD and it requires a bundle of programs working in conjunction to achieve the required effect. Plus it is as buggy as can be (yes - I used the most up-to-date version) and requires rather more of the user (in terms of settings and understanding the principles involved) than the BVRP program - so not so user-friendly!

The BVRP program is not revolutionary but works well, simply and pulls together a number of actions seemlessly - worth paying for to many.

The inclusion of old freeware is not at all misleading (though it is annoying). There is no suggestion that it is anything more than freeware (actually GNU-ware) - bundled for convenience - and clearly stated to be unsupported freeware.

Ever since I got the process down, the longest it takes me to set-up a DVD conversion and encoding session would be around 5 minutes.

The key words here are: 'Ever since I got the process down...'. It reminds me of friends who are Linux nuts. They like to go on about how Linux is really easy to use and much better once you have invested the time in figuring it all out and getting it just how you want it! Well I'm a consumer of technology and I want other people to do this stuff for me. I don't want to have to invest lots of my free time getting a process down down to 5 minutes. I want to start a program, spend no more than 30 seconds telling it what to do, and then leave it to do its stuff. I am in the majority on this - which is why most people continue to pay for software that has freeware equivalents.

markkyboy
09-16-2003, 10:09 PM
Divx Video Duplicator - Compression software

The following info is for reference only,for anyone interested in creating back-up copies of their favourite movies using BVRP DivX Video Duplicator,of course to make a legal copy,you must first be in possession/ownership of the original DVD you wish to back-up,they call it Copyright!! ;)

My PC Specs (some of them anyway!)

CDRW ROM - 52x24x52
CPU - Athlon XP2200+
Memory - 640MB DDR RAM
Monitor - 19" Fujitsu Scaleo (CRT)
Playback Software - Cyberlink PowerDVD 4.0
Conversion Software - BVRP DivX Video Duplicator

Film - The Foreigner (my original purchase)
Original File .VOB Size:- 3.56GB
Aim for compressed file:- 699MB.AVI/DivX

The following procedures are automatic and default settings were used in PRO MODE using internal codec Neodivx`s XviD...

STAGE 1 - Pass Check

Pass Check start time:- 15.17
Pass Check finish time:- 15.44 (27 mins)

STAGE 2 - Processing phase 1

Start time:- 15.44
Finish Time:- 17.13 (1h 29mins)

STAGE 3 - Processing phase 2

Start Time:- 17.13
Finish Time:- 18.56 (1h 43mins)

Disc burn time
Start:- 19.40
Finish:- 19.45 (5 mins)

Total time for finished DivX 3h 44mins
Total file size on disc 698MB

Conclusion - very pleasing results at these settings,even better when thru my TV from the VGA output on my PC!...very,very clean images,well worth £18 earth pounds!
0X
:)

jlp
09-16-2003, 10:51 PM
A quick question:
Is this Divx Video Duplicator a 3 steps program: 1) run the app 2) insert DVD and blank CD-R in their relevant devices and 3) press the start button, and almost 4 hours later you get a burnt CD with your DVD movie on it ready to play in your living room DVD player?!

Or is it inherently much more complicated than that?!

Duncan
09-17-2003, 01:16 AM
There are two ways of running it:

1) Easy - it uses auto setting and does everything itself. I don't have two drives so I set it to record to my HD and then copy that to a CD-ROM (when not recording to CD-ROM).

2) Manual - in that it takes part in stages and you choose settings (though it is idiot proof).

I tend to use 1) to rip the highest quality DivX file with minimum of effort and then use Windows Media Encoder to automatically convert to PPC video.

Occasionally I use setting 2) and set it up to produce a PPC sized DivX video for PocketMVP. Takes all of 60 second to set it up for that...