Pocket DVD Studio Review

When I started University I needed a reliable hand held device and went for a HP iPAQ running Pocket PC mobile Operating System. It had space for an SD card up to 16GB and featured Windows Media Player, so the obvious choice was to use the iPAQ for movies on the go as well as my studies.

I went for Pocket DVD Studio as it was recommended by a friend as a low cost solution for converting my existing DVD movies to WMV for mobile use. The software works with most well known video filetypes including WMV, AVI, Real Media (RM), MPEG, Video CDs, but disappointingly no Quicktime support which I would have liked to have seen as I have an Apple MacBook as well as my main Dell PC. The software itself does not run on any Mac OS.

The software works with your existing DVD software (my computer came bundled with Power DVD as many do) to convert your video for use on a memory card, compressing it in the process. The program is quite straightforward to use, with 'help' features should you need them, and has added editing functionality to ensure that you only rip / convert the video you want with no excess. You can crop, cut, and edit both the audio track and video display for optimum performance on your mobile device (it may take some trial and error, I suggest using a small file to get the feel of it first before diving right in and converting a movie). This is good for me, as my iPAQ has fairly low sound output so by increasing the volume at the conversion stage I can get the best out of my device. Similarly by adjusting the brightness on older movies I can see them better when viewing them in low light conditions on my handheld.

Overall I have had no problems using it, it isn't the fastest converter I have used but it is the most self explanatory and despite a few crashes on launch, overall it has been quite reliable, and the output has been of a high quality.

There are a few tweaks I'd suggest to make it a must have piece of software but it is one I use without hassle and I highly recommend it if you want a converter that doesn't break the bank, is easy to use and does more than just the basics.