Wasn't ripped off with this ripper! (ImToo DVD to iPod Converter v4.0)

Member Name: bamamo

Product:	ImToo DVD to iPod Converter v4.0
Date:	25/07/08 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wide range of files supported, great quality for small file size, price

Disadvantages: Takes longer than it claims

I recently bought a lovely new iPod classic, which I daresay I will get around to reviewing at some point, but as it doesn't come with DVD to iPod software, I soon realised that if I was to use all its features, and give myself hours of amusement at work/on planes, I should probably splash out and buy some software.

I had trialled a couple of other DVD rippers but found them incredibly slow and they resulted in such huge file sizes that it was using more space than I'd care for. Some also seem to have problems syncing audio and video, and some don't allow you to rip copy-protected DVDs, which these days is pretty much every new release. After reading a few reviews online I decided to have a go at the free trial of imTOO.

For the record, imTOO is fully compatible with my lovely new Vista machine, and a Mac version is also available.

Now, free trials of similar products hadn't been all that useful because they tend to have a great big watermark over the screen. You also generally have to wait for the entire file to finish before you can check out the quality. Instead, imTOO lets you convert the first five minutes of a film or video file (or half if the video length is less than five minutes), but doesn't put any watermarks on the screen so you can see the quality of the video.

Happy with the quality and speed, I decided to purchase the register key, which cost £18.21 after VAT from www.imtoo.com, where they also offer several other products including DVD audio rippers, etc. They try to steer you towards a DVD to iPod coversion suite of two products, but I can't see what the second product does that the DVD to iPod converter doesn't, so save yourself the money. The code was immediately delivered to my email so I could begin enjoying my new programme!

For those who don't know, a DVD ripper will take the video and audio files from a DVD disc and convert to a format of your choice.

Here are my general impressions of imTOO's DVD to Ipod:

Range of features: DVDs can be converted into a number of different formats including MP4 (for use on iPods and PSPs amongst others), MPEG, AVI, DivX, etc. This pretty much covers all bases as far as portable video players goes. You can also convert your own home movies or videos on your computer into these formats. Of course you don't have to watch the resulting files on your iPod, you can also watch them on your computer or burn them to a DVD (although that would require further software).

Ease of use: I found this programme SO MUCH easier than others I'd tried. Some programmes are simple in terms of converting files, but if you try tweak them or change any settings it gets tricker. Here everything is on one screen. You insert the DVD, choose the chapters/entire movie (just choose the longest file), choose the output type (eg MP4 for iPod), and click the record button. You can change the settings so that your computer will shut down/hibernate/log off when you are done which is great for leaving films to rip overnight/when you go out. Once you have completed your conversion, simply go into iTunes and import, and transfer to your iPod. Enjoy!

Speed: This is one of the faster programmes I've tried, the website states it takes just under the time it would take to watch the movie, although on my fast new computer it still takes longer. No big deal really I just set it to switch off when it was done.

Quality: I have only so far tried the programme on the lowest quality settings which I find is more than adequate for watching on an iPod screen. It also keeps the file size nice and low at between 350-400MB for a full movie which really isn't bad, compared to the film I converted on CloneDVD which took up 1.4GB (due to not having easily-adjustable settings). The video quality for these really wasn't noticeable on the iPod screen. If you wanted to convert to watch on a computer you should probably up the quality a little.
When I first posted this review, I commented on occasional audio-video sync problems. I then discovered a little checkbox to synchronise the two. Since then it has been fine every time! I have no idea why it wouldn't automatically be checked...who doesn't want that? But all is well now!

Value for money: Well, I do think that Apple should provide a similar feature as part of iTunes since they manufacture products which play video, but we all know that they would rather have us line their pockets buying movies from them. Personally I feel that if I bought the movie then I should be able to enjoy it in any format I so desire so am not about to buy it all over again on iTunes. £18 is definitely a competitive price compared to other similar programmes which I don't think would necessarily do a better job, in fact as I've trialled several I know this isn't the case. I know I will use it a lot which makes it good value for me.

Overall I love the programme because I can finally unleash my iPod's potential and while I do think there should be good freeware to do the same, preferably from money-grabbing Apple, I definitely didn't pay the earth for it. I had been looking for quite a long time for something to do just this so I hope I save some others a lot of searching!

For more information go to www.imtoo.com

Summary: If you want to watch videos on your iPod, you need this product.

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