BIOS: Technology Means Business

InterVideo has responded to the current lack of content for portable video players today by announcing that its DVD Copy 4 software can be used to convert unencrypted videos for high-quality playback on portable devices such as the iPod, memory sticks and mobile phones.

Pitched as one of the industry's easiest and most comprehensive copy and DVD burning applications, DVD Copy 4 claims to combine all of the tools needed for video duplication, conversion and reproduction in a single low-cost solution.

With simplified copy, conversion and burning capabilities, DVD Copy 4 looks like it might be ideal for home users who want a relatively fast and easy way to protect and share their personal CDs, DVDs, video, music, photo and data files. Road warriors and mass-transit commuters who want to enjoy their multimedia files while on-the-go may also benefit.

'Personal video players are the next step in the evolution of portable entertainment,' said Steve Ro, CEO and President of InterVideo. 'But people are discovering that they can't play most of the downloaded video clips and home videos they've accumulated over the years without converting them. With the latest version of DVD Copy, we've made the conversion process so simple, even a novice can do it.

'And by combining conversion and copying capabilities in a single solution, we're giving consumers a growth path to the future. They can use the software now to make identical duplicates of their personal videos in just three steps. Then, when they purchase one of the new portable video players, they can use the same software to convert their videos to the format required by their device.'

Equipped with a new wizard-like user interface, the software lets you convert files on your hard disk drive into DivX format, the new iPod's native format, or the 3GPP/3GP2 format for mobile phones. DVD Copy 4 also supports Sony's PSP Video Format, enabling movie enthusiasts to copy their favourite video clips to Sony memory sticks and play them back in the popular PSP video console.

For the three-step copying process, you simply select the source, the drive destination and the video output format. Files can be copied as a DVD, DVD Image, Video CD, Super Video CD, WMV, DivX Avi, 3GPP or 3GPP2, MP3, MP4 (PSP) or WMA file. The software's Autofit feature should automatically determine how much compression is needed to produce the best-looking results for the output selected.

DVD Copy 4 is also equipped with relatively advanced customisation capabilities that enable more experienced users to personalise their DVD/VCD content to suit their individual viewing habits and available space.

With these capabilities, you can remove unwanted subtitles, languages, titles and chapters, or even merge titles from several different DVDs/VCDs onto a single disc. The software costs £45.78 (inc. VAT).