you could turn to shareware or devoid programs to combust backing of DVDs or transcode DVD videos to other formats . So why would anyone need to pay $ 50 for a commercial-grade software that does many of the same things ? Because the commercial-grade package in question fall out to be easy to utilize and reliable — that ’s certainly the case with Roxio’sPopcorn 2 , which was announce last hebdomad .
Zea mays everta is Roxio ’s software for making backups of DVDs . ground on the same applied science as the company ’s more full - feature Toast intersection , Popcorn features a more streamlined interface and feature set .
Toasted Popcorn?
The release last free fall of Toast 7 Titanium would have seemed to mark the end of Popcorn — Roxio wave most all of Popcorn ’s functionality into Toast . But with the rise in popularity of portable telecasting players , Roxio has all rethought Popcorn ’s functionality . or else of just being a videodisc gemination tool , it ’s now a potent TV - displacement utility program that get you take videos from DVDs and make them playable on iPods , Sony PlayStation Portables and other roving equipment , from cell phones to DivX - based handheld players .
This is most discernible in a new tab visible in the Popcorn port that says “ Player . ” It looks almost the same as the videodisc tab , but it allow you to set up up TV exporting . Zea mays everta 2 has been configured with several dissimilar presets desirable for handheld devices , admit the video iPod , PSP , 3GPP - capable phone and handsets , DivX player , TV and more . It can write MPEG-4 , DivX and H.264 - encoded video .
The novel Player interface in Popcorn 2
For the most part , Popcorn 2 will write out the video filing cabinet straight to the Movies folder — which has the added fillip of making the video content seeable to Front Row , if you ’re working with a machine that has Apple ’s remote control condition software system installed .
In the case of iPod exports , Popcorn 2 takes it a step further — it’ll compose that content to iTunes directly , so the next clip you sync your iPod , it ’ll upload the TV you ’ve converted as well .
I like Popcorn were this much of a nursing home outpouring for PSP users . I ’m a PSP enthusiast and often use my PSP to watch pic I ’ve rip and converted to MPEG-4 format — the extensive CRT screen makes it really in force for watching moving-picture show feature of speech without the senseless material estate you notice on an iPod display .
This is n’t really Roxio ’s fracture — it ’s just that unlike iTunes and the iPod , there ’s no omnipresent synchronise software for the PSP , though there are a few strong contenders in the shareware blank . And export the file to the Movies folder , which Popcorn does by default , stimulate it a picnic to witness the flick when you sync your PSP .
Encryption
Popcorn ’s MPEG-4 custom configurations panel
Roxio makes it a point with Popcorn to observe that it only can twin content that ’s on unencrypted DVD — in fact , if you adjudicate to duplicated encrypted content , Popcorn will display an error content explicate you ca n’t do that .
That excludes most of the commercial videodisk that you would purchase in a entrepot , which intend that on its own , Popcorn 2 ca n’t be used to back up copy of movies you might want to duplicate lest your kids call off them up ( God knows I ’ve lost enough alive movies and sketch compilation that way in my house ) .
That restriction lets Roxio off the hook for any potential effectual upshot from groups like the Motion Picture Association of America , but the problem is dead childlike to work around . There ’s spare software on the Web calledMac the RipperandHandbrakethat can be used to simulate the contents of protect videodisc to your hard effort . And once those contents have been copy over , Popcorn is perfectly willing to read it — it can translate content from any valid VIDEO_TS folder , which is what you end up with after you ’ve “ ripped ” a protect disc .
It sounds like I ’m telling you how to break the natural law , but the fact is that a mass of us have a motivation to make legitimate backup copy of commercial DVDs . For me , it ’s a matter of financial survival with three Kyd who are less careful handling videodisk and other optical media than I would really care to see — I much prefer to let them scratch up duplicates than original copies . If I had to repurchase every DVD my kids destroy in the trend of a year , I might as well just tithe to Best Buy .
I own an extraneous DVD burner that works quicker and supports treble level discs . I ’ve gotten accustomed to burning disk using Popcorn at the same time as I ’m rip other discs . That functionality seems to have been taken aside with Popcorn 2 , which now compete for control of the hardware and does n’t let the Mac mount phonograph record in the internal drive until it ’s done with the outside driveway . Roxio tells me this is something that will likely change in a next update .
Popcorn 2 is n’t limited to video presets , either . you’re able to customize your exportation preferences with extensive details delimitate data point rate , image size , underframe pace , audio , text and cyclosis information and more — it ’s quite remarkable . Fortunately , most user do n’t have to mess up with those options , so it ’s just as well that they ’re obscure away rather than expose at the top level of the user interface .
Popcorn 2 will also endeavor to venture how enceinte the resulting file will be . It ’s only an approximation , but it ’s helpful to know if you ’re special on space , as you are with flash - based devices like the PSP or a French telephone .
Director’s Cut
Let ’s say you want to copy a videodisk but do n’t desire all the extra depicted object , like the making of featurette or the consultation with the costume designer . Popcorn 2 has a Director ’s Cut feature that let you edit the content you ’re copy — you’re able to specify which chapters of the original DVD you require to copy and what audio tracks — so if there are extra speech communication on there you do n’t care about , you’re able to do away with them .
This is particularly ready to hand if you ’re render to get the contents of a double - level disc—9 GB Charles Frederick Worth of datum — onto a individual 4.7 GB platter . Fortunately , if you shed over , Popcorn expend compression to hug all that video onto a individual - layer magnetic disk . The condensation sustain the audio pristine , luckily .
A unexampled “ Fit - to - videodisc video recording compression ” choice lets you tell Popcorn 2 that you desire to wring that TV onto a individual magnetic disk ; otherwise , you could burn down a three-fold - bed record if you prefer , and if your Mac ( or external DVD - R drive ) supports that capability .
The ensue files are of excellent quality . Artifacts can be present in the video that Popcorn 2 will export or squeeze onto a single - stratum videodisk , but that ’s to be wait . Still , the presets are practiced enough that you ’d be hard - pressed to make better look television without knowing a destiny more about video streams than the average user does .
you may even preview video chapters to ensure you ’ve specified the mental object you require on the butt saucer — Zea mays everta will play the TV in a window , with some basic controls off to one side . you’re able to also take screenshots of the video recording while it ’s playing using a built - in feature to Popcorn 2 — a decent treat for users of Apple ’s DVD Player , which does n’t have that capability .
Getting it right
Zea mays everta is handy than ever in its second major rewrite , and definitely worth the upgrade . speak of raise , Roxio ’s gotten it right with this sacking . Previously criticized for only offer step-in rebates for unexampled leverage of upgraded program , the company is offering Popcorn 2 for be user for $ 29.99 ( the full version be $ 49.99 ) . If the ability to make customs duty DVDs or exchange video content to handheld formats or store formats for Front Row is appealing to you , then Popcorn 2 will be a menage trial .
Oh , by the way , Zea mays everta 2 ships as a Universal Binary , so it run natively on PowerPC and Intel Macs alike .
