BIOS: Technology Means Business

DVD Copy 4 Platinum H.264 Edition (£45.78/$79.95) is a latest version of InteVideo’s three-step copy software for creating identical duplicates of unencrypted video, music, photo and data files. New with the H.264 edition is an increased emphasis on converting existing video content to new resolutions and aspect ratios that provide more playback options on handheld and set top platforms.

In addition to including full support for DivX Pro 6.0 digital video technology and the advanced interactive features of the DivX Media Format, InterVideo has enhanced DVD Copy 4 with advanced H.264 file output for high-quality playback on an Apple’s iPod and Sony’s PSP. The software also includes 3GPP/3GPP2 support for output of video files for SD or TransFlash cards on 3G mobile phones.

The software’s new capabilities have been added while maintaining the features that make DVD Copy so easy to use, including the ability to backup movies and video clips, copy from virtually any source (including the Internet), and merge titles from several different DVDs/VCDs onto a single disc. While a lot of the product’s features are included in all-in-one media managers from the likes of Nero and Roxio, DVD Copy offers most of the video duplication, conversion and reproduction tools you need for making legitimate backups of CDs and DVDs.

Equipped with a new wizard-like user interface, the software lets you convert files on your hard disk drive into DivX format (which we suspect caters for the illegal downloading crowd), 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 even automatically determines how much compression is needed to produce the best-looking results for the output selected. InterVideo hasn’t forgotten about audio either; you can extract tracks and burn them to CD with the copy DVD to Audio CD feature. You can also copy your audio CDs and rip audio from DVD Audio CDs to MP3, WMA or WAV files.

The utility 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. For instance, you can remove unwanted subtitles, languages, titles and chapters, or even merge titles from several different DVDs/VCDs onto a single disc (you can even squeeze double-layer DVDs onto single-layer DVDs). You can now also mount DVD images onto your HDD, saving you from having to carry lots of discs with you on holiday.

DVD Copy 4 supports DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW, CD-R/RW, DVD-RAM and the new DVD+/-R DL technology which allows you to record up to 4 hours of DVD-quality video or 16 hours of VHS-quality video on a single side of a DVD+/-R DL disc. Unfortunately, Blu-ray or HD-DVD are not supported, and it can’t backup protected discs.

Video quality of copied discs is pristine, since there’s no recompression or altering of the files from the original disc – unless you specify otherwise. All audio and video options, such as those that provide commentary and viewing from multiple camera angles, remain. DVD Copy will burn about as quickly as your drive can handle read and write functions. Ripping and writing times vary depending on your hardware, but the process is mostly painless. Less impressive is the lack of support for PAL discs (NTSC only).

Intervideo’s DVD Copy is simple, elegant and easy to use. The downside of this is, of course, that it has far too few features and its interface is extremely basic and will satisfy only the newbie or technophobe. Another downside is that DVD Copy arbitrarily decides where to split the movie. For example, if a film is 1:55, the software will fill the first disc to capacity and then put the remainder of the film and extras on to Disc 2; so Disc 1 may well contain 1 hour 10 minutes and Disc 2 only 30 minutes of the film - there’s no feature that allows you to tweak what goes where.

DVD Copy comes in handy when you need to quickly burn a 1:1 copy or if you need to convert a TV episode or a cartoon to an SVCD, but it’s pretty pointless if you already have Nero. [6.5]

[Best Video Utility Pricing UK]
[Best Video Utility Pricing US]

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