Price:	$24.95		Reviewed by:	Neil Brown
Supplied:	DVD Catalyst		Review date:	08/08/2006
Pros:	Very easy to use Default settings generally worked fine Excellent support for multiple devices- no need to upgrade the software just because you change machines! Integrated download system, for extra components		Cons:	Managed to accidentally covert a video into Czech!

Introduction   I’m not an avid fan when it comes to watching DVDs on my PDA- generally, I find that the conversion process is more trouble than it’s worth. However, having had a couple of relatively long journeys recently (don’t worry- I wasn’t driving!), I decided that it I’d give them a go again- just about the time that a press release for version 2 of DVDCatalyst was posted on the PDA247 sites. So, a few DVDs later, what are my thoughts?   DVDCatalyst   The main thing which stood out in the two conversions I performed was the ease of use- without knowing anything about audio / video codecs, containers, resolutions etc, you would be able to convert a DVD into a movie file ready for your device. For me, this is the biggest selling point- it’s easy to use, and it does the job.   The more technically-minded of you may be interested to know that DVDCatalyst is a front-end script generator for the popular open source conversion utility mencoder. I’ve tried mencoder on its own several times, and haven’t had much success working out exactly what I needed to type into the command line, and so gave up. I’ve got DVDCatalyst to thank for helping me to use mencoder, which comes as part of the installation. However, in order to use DVDCatalyst fully, you will need to download Microsoft’s Windows Media Encoder- although, if you don’t want to encode files into .wmv format, you will not need this. It can all be done through the DVDCatalyst software, which is really quite a neat way of doing things- there are prompts at the necessary times, which direct your straight to download links.   Unlike other applications on the market, DVDCatalyst will assist you in converting DVD and other video files for a wide variety of devices- if you have a PalmOS machine and a WindowsMobile device, you are not going to need to purchase separate versions of the software. The settings for different devices are stored in dll files in the main directory, and are accessed through a simply combobox drop down menu – I just selected “WindowsMobile 2003 SE”, and I was away!  There are no PalmOS devices in the list by default, but the author has just released a “Palm Device Pack”, allowing you get settings for a range of PalmOS devices- including, incidentally, Sony Clies and the two Tapwave Zodiacs. As such, all you need to do is download and run this pack, and you’ll have the necessary settings for converting files optimised for your particular device. Similarly, there is a device pack for Nokia smartphones (the Nxx range), and out-of-the-box settings for iPOD Video, PSP and Archos units, as well as the ability to configure settings for a "custom device"- if you happen to have something which does not appear on the list or in a settings pack. The beauty of this system is that it is infinitely expandable – the author would be able to release device packs for upcoming devices as they are released, rather than requiring you to purchase another copy of the software because you decided to switch OS, for example.   As part of the conversion process, you get to select either a conversion of every chapter on the DVD, or else manually select exactly which chapters you wish to convert. I generally opted for the second option, as I don’t want to see all the outtakes, extras and various other non-film footage on my PDA; instead, I just want to see the film in question. For me, this meant simply selecting the longest chapter each time.   DVDCatalyst is not limited to DVD conversion, though- it can apply the same conversion engine to video files stored on a CD, or on your hard drive. Thus, if you have family footage, or video taken from your holiday, you can run it through DVDCatalyst to optimise it for PDA viewing. DVDCatalyst will also convert .iso files, so, if you happen to have CD images of videos (not sure quite how you’d legally end up with video in this format, but, that’s up to you, I guess!), you can convert these without needing to burn them first.   I tested DVDCatalyst on a lightweight laptop running a 1.3Ghz Pentium-M processor. As such, I was not expecting stellar conversion times, and it would appear that on average, conversion occurred in “real time”. In other words, a DVD of 1.5 hours would take approximately 1.5 hours to convert. However, this depends on the desired output format. If, for example, you want the output to be a .wmv file, you will need to allow twice the length of the DVD; once to rip the DVD down to a more manageable 700mb, and the second to run the reduced file through Windows Media Encoder to get it ready for the PDA. If, however, you are happy using DivX as your output format, it requires only one conversion. I’m sure that it would be faster if you had a faster, non-mobile optimised processor as well- the laptop I used wasn’t really the right tool for the job, but, the hard drive on my PC is so full that it wouldn’t be able to cope with a DVD conversion, unfortunately.   I had a slight issue with one of my DVDs, in that the default settings did not give the English soundtrack- it was only after I’d finished the conversion that I realised I have a Czech soundtrack. However, this leads me neatly on to explain that it is very easy to convert DVDs into other supported languages; as long as the language is on the DVD, you can output a file into that language. You are able to preview your selection before conversion, so, if, for example, you wanted to make sure that you were getting a German version rather than an English version, you would not need to go through the entire conversion process first (which will teach me to set up a conversion with my laptop's speakers on mute...). Similarly, you are able to add subtitles to your conversion, in any of the supported languages. I did not test this, as I’ve never watched a film with subtitles, but, it is reassuring to see that the option is so easily available, should I ever wish to do so. This really is one of the strong points of DVDCatalyst- advanced options are rarely (if ever) more than one click away, and so can easily be found should you wish to experiment with them.   Conclusion   DVDCatalyst makes light work of converting DVDs, allowing you to create movies for your PDA without needing to worry about technical details. If you want to play around with codecs, framerates and screensizes, then you are able to do so- but, other than for the purpose of confirming that these options do indeed exist, I didn’t bother playing with them- the default settings (generally) worked fine for me. The ability to add device packs means that the application should be upgradeable to support whatever device to which you might move in future, ensuring that this is not an application which you need to purchase over and over again. In fact, at $25, DVDCatalyst is little more than the cost of one DVD, and this represents good value, to my mind. It's easy to use, the results were superb and, frankly, I couldn't ask for more!