PocketDVD 1.1 Reviewed by HPC:Factor

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.hpcfactor.com/qlink/?linkID=92' target='_blank'>http://www.hpcfactor.com/qlink/?linkID=92</a><br /><br /></div><i>"PocketDVD 1.1 is a suite of applications and utilities designed to provide a full video experience. Able to convert multi-region DVD's through PocketDVD and existing video content of a variety of formats through PocketVideo. PocketDVD 1.1 is designed to conform its output to the hardware requirements of any device, from the smallest SmartPhone to the Pocket PC, Handheld PC and high definition PC experience. PocketDVD and PocketVideo allow conversion to Windows Media 7 (Pocket PC 2000), Windows Media 8 (Pocket PC 2002), Windows Media 9 (Windows Mobile 2003), DivX and MediaExtender file formats - All at the touch of a button."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/001-main-int.gif" /><br /><br />This is a very thorough review, and what looks to be a very powerful program - hopefully it lives up to it's promises. I bought #1 DVD Ripper based purely on a recommendation in Maximum PC magazine, without even downloading the trial version, and it turned out to be a completely crappy application - adding insult to injury is the fact that the developer doesn't respond to support requests from paying customers. But I digress - this looks like a very powerful and flexible application. Check out the full review!

[hamishmacdonald]

Likewise with DVDtoPocket PC -- or whatever it's called. The Makayama one. I shelled out $39 for it, and seldom had good results. Five hours later, I'd find the movie had no sound, or had weird dimensions, or the conversion failed altogether.

They've since updated it, and -- I don't know who they had create the original, clean look of the program, but now there are fifty "skins" that look like colour schemes from Windows 3.1.

Since then, I've discovered so many freeware apps that do this job and do it better. I wish I had that forty bucks back. This program's $12 price is more reasonable, especially considering that it's probably a wrapper for several open-source conversion applications.

This program looks nice and simple, but I don't see offhand how it's better than Auto Gordian Knot, which is free. I'd like to give it a try, but there's no download or purchase link from the developer's website -- which kinda defeats the purpose of a product launch!

P.S. I found it on PocketGear:
http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=14418

[ctitanic]

Well, to me the price of 11 dollars for this program is just SUPER!

[Dyvim]

I thought DVD2PPC was SO weak. The app constantly crashed and took forever to run and produced files with sound and/or video problems. And of course it only ouput .wmv files, which forces you to use the shoddy WMP on your PPC. I really regretted shelling out $29 for that program (which I have since uninstalled from my computer).

Since then I've had excellent results with Dr. DivX. It gives you really fine-tune control over screen dimensions, frame rate, bit rate, audio quality, etc and it produces .avi files which run great using the far superior BetaPlayer on my PPC. (This new app seems to offer a similar level of control judging from the screenshots.)

I compared copies of the same movie of the same approx size (500MB) made via DVD2PPC and Dr. DivX and it was like night and day (granted a lot of this difference was also due to using WMP vs. BetaPlayer to play the results - but it's the total package of converter + player that matter in the end).

[zilla31]

i'd be real anxious to hear more about this... i've been looking for an EASY (read: very easy) way to convert some of my DVDs to PPC (for use w/ betaplayer) when i travel. with all my other PPC playing, i don't have the time really to learn the complications of the process - i'd love to find a program that really makes it all painless...

[Craig Horlacher]

get:
BetaPlayer - for your pocket pc
dvd decrypter - to rip the dvd's
PocketDivxEncoder - to encode the files for playback in betaplayer
- Default options work well but audio sync is off. There is an option under advanced called "ivtc" that you can turn on to fix or at least greatly improve that but the files take longer to encoder

It's all free and the results blow away everyone I show. I can get a full dvd into under 400MB of space with ease and it's good quality.

[zilla31]

do these produce video that fills my x50v screen (e.g. some level of widescreen rather than square), and are there any special considerations if you have a VGA device?

[rzanology]

get:
BetaPlayer - for your pocket pc
dvd decrypter - to rip the dvd's
PocketDivxEncoder - to encode the files for playback in betaplayer
- Default options work well but audio sync is off. There is an option under advanced called "ivtc" that you can turn on to fix or at least greatly improve that but the files take longer to encoder

It's all free and the results blow away everyone I show. I can get a full dvd into under 400MB of space with ease and it's good quality.

hey vector...i'll raise you one. Get a program called Fairuse wizard. You can tell the program the final size you want, and it does it aaaaall for you. Including ripping...it has a full auto mode. i use it alot, i find it a hell of a lot more easy to just put this thing on full auto mode and walk away. i dont have to worry about those steps you mentioned. give it a try. oh...and its freeeeeee

http://www.fairusewizard.com/lang_en/index.html

[silver99]

I second that on Fairplay - that is the absolute best software I've tried (and I've tried many) - plus it's FREE.

The quality of audio and video are outstanding on my X50v with Betaplayer. It is VERY easy to do. Once you set up a couple options is just a couple clicks per DVD.

I'd recommend this!!!

-Silver

[PocketDVD]

Thanks for posting HPC:FACTOR's review Jason,

The trial versions can be downloaded from the Sales websites listed on the website, but here are the links for ease of use.

http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?productId=125079

http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=14418

http://pdassi.de/product.php?prod_id=24410

PocketDVD/Video are made to simplify the conversion of movies/dvd's video files for pretty much any mobile device.
There are numerous configuration options, and the output format is either WMV or DIVX, allowing you to use the Native player on most devices for playback.

There are basicaly no limitations on filesize or even screensize, so if your device can playback the supported output formats, you can create video files for it.

Instead of just focussing on the newer devices and leaving the user to either upgrade or go without, PocketDVD also provides support for the older WindowsCE devices, and can even put out fullscreen video on these devices.

Its truely impressive to see a 6 year old device such as the Jornada 720 playback 640x240 video (extra cropping applied to make the video truely fullscreen).
We know that there are numerous other programs, but just try the trial version. It gives you 5 full days of playing around with the program, so what is there to lose?

Sincerly,

PocketDVD

[Don't Panic!]

At that price and a fully functional trial period? nothing to lose at all. :)

I'll try it out tonight with "The Incredibles"

[Jonathon Watkins]

Welcome PocketDVD. 8) Good of you you drop in.

We know that there are numerous other programs, but just try the trial version. It gives you 5 full days of playing around with the program, so what is there to lose?

Very true, especially at that price. As I get older I'm more often paying for convience. Who's got time to fiddle with every detail these days. :wink:

[Felix Torres]

At that price and a fully functional trial period? nothing to lose at all. :)


That is especially important with this kind of program cause I've run into others in the category that produce great video easily for the 10-15 minute trial only to badly lose audio sync over longer lengths of material.
I'll have to see how it handles my stuff and maybe look into dusting out the old Tripad or Z-50...

[Craig Horlacher]

do these produce video that fills my x50v screen (e.g. some level of widescreen rather than square), and are there any special considerations if you have a VGA device?

BetaPlayer will strech 320x240 to fix. If you want, you can choose "Toshiba e800" to get 640x480 encoding but I use 320x240 even though I have a vga device too just to save disk space. On a 4" screen 320x240 video looks very good. Yeah, I've tried high res and it does look increadibly sharp but you can expect to quadruple file size. It does do odd resolutions and lets you change them too. I haven't messed with that much though.

[Craig Horlacher]

hey vector...i'll raise you one. Get a program called Fairuse wizard. You can tell the program the final size you want, and it does it aaaaall for you. Including ripping...it has a full auto mode. i use it alot, i find it a h-ll of a lot more easy to just put this thing on full auto mode and walk away. i dont have to worry about those steps you mentioned. give it a try. oh...and its freeeeeee
http://www.fairusewizard.com/lang_en/index.html

Cool, thanks rzanology! I'll check it out!

[zilla31]

I second that on Fairplay - that is the absolute best software I've tried (and I've tried many) - plus it's FREE.

The quality of audio and video are outstanding on my X50v with Betaplayer. It is VERY easy to do. Once you set up a couple options is just a couple clicks per DVD.

I'd recommend this!!!

-Silver

sweet... what "couple of options" do you set in fair use? i just want to have a baseline to start from for my x50v (to fill the screen). once i get a few out the door w/ this baseline - i'll tweak some settings for myself... thanks guys!!!

[Damion Chaplin]

This program looks nice and simple, but I don't see offhand how it's better than Auto Gordian Knot, which is free.

Jason, this was the program that you should have got after Maximum PC recommended it (on the facing page). AGK and DVD Decrypter is a combo which I've been looking for for a long time. Give them a try if you haven't already - very flexible and free.

I have to say that as much as I love Maximum PC, they really have no idea what they're talking about when it comes to handheld units...

[DaleReeck]

I tried converting a few titles and the quality was excellent. But it was a bit buggy using.

For example, when scanning a new DVD into the software, it would produce a crash message on mencoder.exe on various tracks. And it would occur on random tracks. If you cleared it, it moved on but it was annoying. This happened with different DVDs on two different machines - one of which was a "clean" machine with no third party software.

On one DVD, it created an AVI file that looked legitimate, but it only had sound - no video - even though the size of the file seemed correct. It was also the name of the DVD ROM drive itself, not the name (label) of the DVD. Which is another bug - when you scanned a DVD, it keeps the title of the old DVD (or the name of the DVD ROM drive). You had to exit, restart and do it again to get the right title. I don't know if that had anything to do with my audio-only file as I had not noticed that bug until after it was done. On another DVD, it produced both a WMA file and an AVI, both of which were fine. Is it supposed to do that - produce two files on one convert? Also, documentation is a bit sparse.

It produces great output and sound and I reccommend it despite the flaws . But you have to baby it a bit to get the output right. That's been my experience so far.

[PocketDVD]

Most of the issues you mention are adressed on the site and also some in the manual.

During the testing phase of PocketDVD, it performs a test on each detected track on the dvd. This also includes parts of the dvd that are marked as a track, but are actual menu's. This process is different then other programs, since it does not use codecs installed on your system.

No-Sound is basicaly due to a non-default audio language on the DVD, and then it will convert the first detected audio track. This can be either a no-sound or a commentary for example. Using the preview function you will get to experience the screensize and the audio language options you have selected.

For WIndows Media Conversion, a 600-700mb AVI file is created, which then in turn is being converted to a WMV file. Instead of deleting the avi file after its fullfilled its use, we decided to leave it there for backup purposes. Its easy to burn on a cd, and if needed, can always be converted again with PocketVideo, while preserving your DVD.

[silver99]

sweet... what "couple of options" do you set in fair use? i just want to have a baseline to start from for my x50v (to fill the screen). once i get a few out the door w/ this baseline - i'll tweak some settings for myself... thanks guys!!!

The settings I use for FairUse is that I create a DivX and I set the Final size to 470 MB (you can set it higher but I have other stuff on my 512 MB Compact Flash Card)

I tried it with The Score and with Collateral and they both turned out EXCELLENT!

Believe me it doesn't get much easier than this for FREE!

I'm not saying PocketDVD doesn't do a great job - I'm sure it does. But people really need to know that there are free altenatives that they can choose. I will say I like the PocketDVD interface a little better but the FairUse interface isn't bad either.

If it comes down to 2 programs that will do the same thing and one costs money and the other is free - I'll always take free (even if I have to spend a little time learning). But really - I created a DivX without really knowing anything but the filesize I had available on my CF card - it's that simple.

[DaleReeck]

During the testing phase of PocketDVD, it performs a test on each detected track on the dvd. This also includes parts of the dvd that are marked as a track, but are actual menu's. This process is different then other programs, since it does not use codecs installed on your system.


I'll check the web site, but is there a fix for this? As it is scanning each track, it produces actual crash messages on some of the tracks indicating that mencoder.exe has crashed and must be closed (the standard Microsoft "debug" message pops up). On "The Incredibles" DVD, which had about 27 tracks I think, the message popped up about three or four times. I assume when it checks the next track after a crash, it just restarts mencoder.exe. It may not harm the function of the program, but at the very least it looks bad.


No-Sound is basicaly due to a non-default audio language on the DVD, and then it will convert the first detected audio track. This can be either a no-sound or a commentary for example. Using the preview function you will get to experience the screensize and the audio language options you have selected.


Actually, I think you misunderstood me. I got sound but no picture. Also, there was no wma file - just the avi. An avi with sound, but no picture. Just for the record, the DVD was the South Park movie.

[DaleReeck]

New info - I just retried the South Park DVD and the same results - it only produced a sound-only AVI and no wma. This DVD is one that I ahve ripped successfully in the past with other products, so I don't think there's a problem with the DVD.

By the way, I apologize taking up space here with this, this probably isn't the place for this. But since I seem to have a discussion going here, it seems easier :)

[PocketDVD]

I would advise to take these issues to the forum on the PocketDVD website.

Thats why there is a forum on the site.
I'll help you through there.

[DaleReeck]

Thanks. But where is the forum? I've been all over your web site and while I've seen it mentioned in a few places, I see no links to get there.

EDIT - Never mind, I see it.

[hamishmacdonald]

I did a lot of DVD ripping this week, and kept switching between different tools -- FairUse, AutoGordianKnot, and DVD2PocketPC -- trying to decide which one I'd keep as my DVD ripping solution.

Each of the programs produced decent video files, but each of them also had its own quirks. I was left thinking that I'd like the process to be even simpler and for the results -- quality, file size -- to be more predictable. (For instanceit was frustrating to choose AutoGordianKnot's preset "Fit to CD" size, then after hours and hours of conversion get a file that's 716MB. I don't know what CD is that size, but the ones I have aren't.)

So I decided that twelve bucks isn't much (particularly when you convert it to Pounds), and I bought PocketDVD. I can report that I'm happy with the results. I didn't read the manual (guilty), and easily made a WMV file in a few hours from a DVD. Then I read the manual, discovered the DiVX settings, and -- WOW! A nice, watchable quality file, half the size of the WMV (156MB -- very manageable), and the program produced it in about an hour. I've never seen speeds like that before from a ripper/converter.

I like this.