There are two ways to do video conversion from your DVD to a file for viewing on your PDA:  direct from the DVD, or by ripping the DVD first and then converting the ripped file.  I have found that the best bet is to rip the DVD first.  This has two advantages:  it saves wear and tear on your DVD drive, and it allows you to reconvert your video if you find it necessary.

I have also found it a good idea to choose a few representative minutes of your DVD and rip and convert those.  This takes a bit of extra time, but it can save you (literally) hours of trouble by allowing you to tweak your conversion settings with a short 100-300 MB file, instead of the 3.5-5 GB file of a full film.  For my Zodiac, I have my settings down pretty well, so these days I usually don’t have to convert a clip for testing purposes, but for the Universal, I’m still at the clip conversion/testing stage.

For ripping DVDs, I use a free utility called DVD Shrink.  DVD Shrink lets you edit what you are ripping, so that you clip out the credits if you like, or choose your 3-5 minutes of test clip.  The interface is a little wonky and takes a few tries to get used to, but after you’ve done it a few times it’s really pretty simple.  Other folks like to use DVD Decrypt, but I personally don’t like it.  I find the interface too clunky, and you can’t do any editing, which is a deal-breaker for me.  Both DVD Decrypt and DVD Shrink get around the various copy protection software that are built into most DVDs.  The only DVD that I have been unable to rip so far using Shrink is “Sin City;” I have no idea why.

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Doug Moran reminded me last night that I have been severely slacking in my DualCor cPC updates since returning from San Francisco over a month ago. Wow time has flown, and he is absolutely right!

He said and I quote: “So anyway, aside from the stuff below, and my interest in how you’re doing with the Hermes, I’m also interested in how you’re doing with the cPC, which you haven’t written about since you got back from San Francisco. Ahem. Not that I’m eager to find out what you think of it. No, nope, not me.”

Well, regardless of the fact that neither of the screen protector vendors I’ve talked to (and taken detailed measurements for) have yet sent me a protector for the device, and I have therefore had to continue using a piteously small JasJar protector which makes the cPC look cheap and ugly, here is the device in question…

(shown next to a Treo)

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