Archive for July, 2007

Watching TV and movies on the go

Sunday, July 1st, 2007

If you want to listen to music on the go - it’s easy, go get an iPod, but what if you prefer TV or movies - what are your options?

Portable DVD players

In the same way you used to listen to CDs by using a portable CD player, you can use either your laptop or a portable DVD player to watch movies on the go.

  • Pros - free (laptop), cheap for portable dvd players (from £60 at Amazon)
  • Cons - you have to carry multiple DVDs with you, risk of loss/damage, battery life for laptops is poor - I would advise you to buy an extra long use battery (typically £50 on eBay)

Portable video players

Archos were the first to market with a specialist video player and still head the field - however there is now a staggering choice of options for players which can provide video on the move - from iPods, to Creative Zen, and many others (see Stuff for a good list) . However, there is a big problem - how do you get your TV programs, or DVD movies onto them? The first part is relatively easy if you have an Archos player, such as their latest model the 605 (full description here) which can connect to an optional base station and take tv recordings directly from your Sky box, or other video equipment. I have a friend who sets this each night on his Sky box and can then pick it up in the morning to watch TV on his long daily commute.

Archos 605

Copying DVDs - here’s the problem - all commercial DVDs are copy protected, and it is illegal to remove this protection or to copy them for your own purposes, such as watching them on a portable player. It is possible to get around this but it’s not entirely straightforward, and requires about 4 separate programs on your PC. The best utility I am aware of is RipIt4Me which makes the process of making a copy of a DVD pretty straightforward and is quick (15 mins for a standard DVD). This will output to a DVD, so if you want to watch this on a portable player you would need to take the output of this and convert it to mp4 - Nero is the best product for this.

If you have an iPod then the best software to convert video files to iPod format is Jodix.

  • Pros - all your movies and tv shows in one place
  • Cons - bit fiddly and time consuming to copy DVDs (however once you have done this much easier to use).

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