Roxio today released Popcorn 2, which can transfer a variety of personal video entertainment to DVDs and portable devices such as an iPod, PSP or mobile phone. In addition, Popcorn 2 enables users to create portable compatible versions of all popular formats including non-protected DVD-Video, QuickTime movies, MPEG files, iMovie projects and more. It includes predefined settings optimized for standard or high-quality video output as well as allows users to define their own custom DivX, MPEG4, or H.264 levels for bit rate, frame rate, and image size. Version 2 features custom video compilations allowing users to choose the specific video and audio content to duplicate, while at the same time optimizing video quality and maximizing disc space. Popcorn 2, a Universal application, is available now for $50; it is also being simultaneously released in Europe and Asia. Owners of Toast and Popcorn may be eligible for special upgrade pricing direct from Roxio.
"To keep pace with the growing demand for portable media devices, the new mobile capabilities of Popcorn 2 provide an excellent solution for those who want the flexibility to enjoy personal video wherever and whenever they choose," said Stan Wong, general manager, Roxio division, Sonic Solutions. "Now consumers can make the most of their players by easily creating mobile-friendly versions of their video."
Filed under: software
, 
, 6
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
Top
subscribe to comments
for this article
Toast has a faster verification system than Apple. Apple has a faster writing system, but it won't support the correct UDF iso9660 format for dvd-video. Using freeware you can image dvd files and burn w/ hdiutil using only free and native apple solutions; however this is slower. Roxio has a more compatible and faster engine for burning. So, this may be a good substitute for Toast if you do everything else w/ the Apple tools.
Looks like a promising way to save some money over Toast if you don't own it and try using the apple tools....and hey.. UNLESS they took a lot of the code w/o credit; then they wrote a bunch of stuff that's pretty intricate and at even $50 it's a deal to not have to build it all yourself and HOPE it works.
Still..not the biggest roxio fan, but this looks like good entry level stuff.
Ok..that's it for the pros.
Cons: 1) SLOW 2) ONLY mpeg-4 not h.264 psp support 3) Just uses quicktime so it puts black bars in images 4) No 'roxio converted items' just temp so unpredictable.
Still haven't got a PAL > NTSC menu converted, but will try since the Toast converter cannot handle menu subpictures correctly in conversion.
For Ipod or PSP it's just giving you limited quicktime pro support.