Imagine the possibilities!   You can now record your favourite TV program with your DVD recorder,  transfer it to your Pocket PC,  then watch it later in the office,  or on the beach!

 

You can fit over 90 minutes of compressed DVD recording on a single 128Mb memory card,  then take the recording on the road.  Think of it as the ultimate in time shift TV - if you have a DVD recorder,  and a Pocket PC,  you can watch your favourite soap anywhere,  when you have the time! If you have a 512Mb card,  you could get up to 6 hours of TV onto your Pocket Pc - enough for even a transatlantic flight!

Why was the software written?

The author's wife is a big soap fan,  and a bad traveller,  so the Pocket DVD Wizard started life to allow the wife to watch the soaps while flying, or sitting in the car,  while the author could get his PC back to carry on work!
 

What do I need?

You are going to need a few things to make the most of the Pocket DVD Wizard.

1. The first is obviously the software,  but you can try this for free by downloading from here.
2. A desktop or laptop PC running Windows XP or later. 
3. A Pocket Pc running Windows Mobile 2003 or later.
4. and finally,  a source of personal DVD material,  such as a disc recorded using a DVD recorder.
    

What is the minimum specification for my desktop pc?

As long as you are running Windows XP you should have no problems.

We recommend a minimum PC specification of a Pentium 500+mhz processor,  128Mb ram and 1Gb of free disk space.

What about the Pocket Pc?

The Pocket Pc needs to be using Windows Mobile 2003 software.

For memory usage,  allow about 1Mb per minute of video,  so if you have a 30 minute recording,  it should take up about 30Mb on your device,  or smart card.

Once the conversion has finished,  you can transfer the file to your Pocket PC like any other file.  Most users choose Active Sync.

Which Pocket PC's work with files created by the Pocket DVD Wizard?

Basically any Pocket PC running Windows Mobile 2003 or later.

This includes Acer, Compaq, Dell Axim, HP iPAQ, Samsung and Toshiba palm devices and phones such as the O2 XDA II.

What about battery life?

Tests using a Toshiba e400 (a very slim line Pocket PC) showed on full volume,  with full screen playback,  the battery lasted just over 4 hours.

Obviously this will vary from device to device,  but it shows you can watch a lot of content before your Pocket PC runs flat.

Can I transfer movies?

For recent movies,  the answer is no.

The terms and conditions do not allow you to convert material that is subject to copyright.  Most movies are subject to copyright and are protected by CSS encryption.  The Pocket DVD Wizard does not contain code to extract CSS keys,  and therefore can not extract the CSS key from the disc to prevent mis-use.

The bottom line is,  if you want to play protected DVD's on a portable device,  buy a portable DVD player!

There is a little light however!

For older movies,   if you can record the movie from TV with your DVD recorder,  then the Pocket DVD Wizard will allow you to backup the file for personal use,  and convert it to play on your Pocket PC.  Your DVD recorder will be able to tell you if you can or cannot record the content,  based on the macro vision or other input signal it is getting from the broadcaster.

Please remember though that it is strictly prohibited to convert works that may be subject to copyright with the Pocket DVD Wizard. 

What about TV?

Again,  it is all about copyright.  As a general rule,  if you can record the broadcast on your DVD recorder,  then you will be able,  and allowed to back it up to view it on your Pocket PC.

Some channels send macro vision 'do not record' messages to the DVD recorder and most DVD recorders will honour this.  Generally speaking,  if the DVD recorder says yes the content will not be encoded and you will be able to backup the DVD recording with the Pocket PC Wizard and watch it later.