Digital Lifestyles Reference Guide

Aug 27, 2004

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Various bits and pieces of video conversion solutions work quite well. If you have a video you want to convert for your iPod, QuickTime Pro does an outstanding job for most (but not all) files. If you have a video you want to convert for your PSP, an app like PSP Video 9 will convert most (but not all) files. For PlaysForSure devices, Windows Media Player converts most (but not all) files. If you have a TiVo, the TiVo Desktop app converts files for both iPod and PSP playback, but you need a third party app for any other device. Ideally, you want one app to handle everything you might want to do with your media. Video Vault comes very close to being that app.

Video Vault offers several flavors. An all-in-one package for $99 will convert video for any device currently on the market, including iPod and PSP, in addition to supporting phone hardware like the Treo 650 and most Pocket PC hardware. Media management integrates with apps like Windows Media Center and Hauppauge Media MVP for a whole house video management solution. One thing Video Vault does very well is convert DVDs created by the mini-DVD recording Sony Handycam line of camcorders, which is a hassle for everyone who buys one of those cams.

If you don't currently own, or never plan to own every device on the planet, for $40, a version of Video Vault specific to your iPod or PSP will get your movies converted the way you want them. The software provides an interface for you to select which movies you want to convert and provides simple conversion choices including size of your video card and resolution of video for output. In general, stick with 320x240 for any video originally in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio (like television) because the other settings tend to squash your video.

Formats are the key. When you want to take videos with you, you need an app designed to convert anything you throw at it. Video Vault is that Rosetta Stone for video. The app converts Tivo files, Media Center DVR-MS, AVI (including DivX and XviD), MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV, ASF and a number of more obscure formats. The all-in-one version also outputs DVD and DivX files in addition to converting for devices. The only thing Video Vault doesn't convert is CSS-protected DVDs, which you can route around if you're willing to risk getting caught downloading a free ripper.

One slick feature not found in most other conversion apps is subtitling. Video Vault will convert VOB files (the digital files found on DVDs) and combine the subtitle track with the movie to create a portable movie with subtitles intact. Of course, this assumes you either ripped a DVD or found a DVD without CSS protection, but the point is, it works quite well. This feature is appealing to me because I watch a ton of Korean and Chinese language movies and I don't speak either language.

Making a Decision

There are many free software tools for converting your videos. I've tested most of them and generally they work as described. The advantages of using an app like Video Vault include unified support for most major video formats, including the formats produced by Windows Media Center Edition and TiVo. The interface is clean and provides a convenient solution for organizing your videos to manage what gets put on your portable video player. One feature missing from Video Vault is a watched folders solution; you need to manually initiate video conversion. Overall, Video Vault provides the easiest solution I've seen to date for converting all video formats for portable devices. Trial downloads of all versions of Video Vault are available from the developer, Diversified Multimedia.

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