transcoding

Will Pogoplug Video now make cloud video sharing easier?

We've reviewed several iterations of the Pogoplug, a unique and pretty easy-to-set-up device that turns any available home hard drive or USB flash drive into cloud-sharable networked storage. While Pogoplug's features are extensive--existing versions can stream music, movies, and photos to computers, mobile devices, and even the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360--we found the performance of video streaming to be a mixed bag. Some video files required lengthy transcoding, and others got pretty choppy when played back.

The $199 Pogoplug Video, now available, clearly aims to fix those problems. While it looks the same as any other Pogoplug, … Read more

Media transcriber

MediaCoder Audio Edition is designed to convert large AVI and WMA files to MP3 files. It performs this task well and also has a few other tricks up its sleeve.

This well-designed freeware has an attractive, expansive interface. Since this is the Audio Edition of this program, it's only designed to handle audio and not video. After importing a short AVI movie into MediaCoder, we selected "start transcoding" from the Actions menu. MediaCoder pulled the audio out of the selected video and saved it as an MP3 that can be played with the program's built-in audio … Read more

Complex conversion software

MediaCoder provides all the tools needed to convert audio and video clips, but it also adds a level of complexity that audiophiles will love. Casual users, however, will be confused and should steer clear.

The program's interface was helpful but also baffling. While it walks you through the setup process, it does so online, which was a bit odd and certainly different. Nevertheless, it coordinated the program setup in a few easy steps. We were able to convert our audio and video files into corresponding formats like MP3, MP4, AMR, WAV, and a few others. MediaCoder works with a … Read more

Handbrake 0.9.4: Your best deal on Black Friday

Desperate for a deal after sleeping right through Wal-Mart's early-morning Black Friday frenzy? You're in luck. The best deal this holiday season may be just a download away.

That's right: Handbrake, arguably the world's best video transcoder, just hit version 0.9.4.

And boy, is it beautiful.

Handbrake has long been my go-to choice for ripping DVDs to my hard drive (saves battery life when watching videos while traveling and ensures my kids won't ruin the DVDs), but this particular version exceeds my expectations. Why? Because it delivers over 1,000 new enhancements while … Read more

Intuitive audio program

Audio Transcoder is an intuitive program that allows users to convert files between a wide variety of audio formats. It's not the fanciest program we've ever seen, but it's easy to use.

The program's interface is basic and no-frills, with its two major functions--a CD ripper and audio converter--arranged in separate tabs. We found both features easy to use, with a series of check boxes and drop-down menus allowing us to select tracks, format file names, edit meta data, and choose formats. Both ripping and converting files is as simple as choosing your preferred options and … Read more

3Guppies gets media to your mobile

Here's a useful Web-based utility for mobile phone users: 3Guppies. It takes media from the Web or your hard disk, and sends it to your phone. You can use visuals as wallpapers, and music tracks as ringtones.

An embeddable 3Guppies widget will enable the transfer of any image on a Web page to a mobile phone. So if you put the widget on your MySpace page or blog, visitors will be able to to grab all the pictures and videos on it and send them to their own phones. There's also a Firefox add-on that lets you grab … Read more