I’ve usually doubted the knowledge of including video playback to MP3 gamers and cell units. Can you actually take pleasure in watching video on a tiny display that was designed to indicate album cowl artwork, or which community supplier you’re at the moment utilizing? But as cell units have advanced, display sizes and resolutions have improved, whereas display high quality has come on in leaps and bounds. As such, the thought of sitting on a prepare and catching up in your favorite TV present doesn’t appear so ludicrous anymore.
When Apple launched the iPhone and iPod touch final yr it moved the sport on, by constructing actually nice screens into the units, with correct widescreen side ratios that mirror the way in which movie and TV is shot at this time. Yes, you might argue that Sony did this a very long time in the past with the PSP, which in itself is an outstanding cell video playback machine, however you’re unlikely to have your PSP in your pocket on daily basis. By distinction, I’ve my iPhone with me always, so it’s good as an informal, cell video participant.
Of course Apple needs all iPod customers to purchase all their video from the iTunes retailer, which is all effectively and good, aside from the truth that in the event you watch numerous video, you’ll find yourself with some fairly hefty payments. Take Lost as an example, if you wish to obtain the newest Season Four episodes, you’re a price of £3.78 every, which is fairly steep regardless of the way you have a look at it.
The apparent reply is to transform your current video library to your iPod or iPhone, however that’s not as easy correctly. If you’re like me, you’ve most likely bought video information encoded in a plethora of codecs, and getting a few of them into an iPod pleasant format is usually a little bit of a headache. That’s the place Roxio Crunch is available in, providing the top consumer a really fast and easy approach to convert just about any video file into one thing that’s, effectively, Apple pleasant.
Roxio has been sensible sufficient to incorporate each Mac OS and Windows variations of Crunch on the identical disc, so in the event you occur to be operating a number of {hardware} platforms, you’ll be able to select. Given the selection, I’d be operating Mac OS, however sadly the machine sitting on my desk is operating Vista, so I put in the Windows model. Installation is fairly painless, and when you’ve signed your life away agreeing to phrases and situations that just about nobody could have the endurance to learn and entered the CD key, you’re able to roll.
Once you fireplace up Crunch you’re confronted with a easy two pane window – one aspect is labelled Source and the opposite Destination. Clicking the Add Movies button brings up a listing tree window with the intention to browse your PC and discover the video information that you just want to convert. You can cue up a number of information and depart Crunch, effectively, crunching away whilst you get on with one thing much less akin to watching paint dry. Of course you’ll be able to keep it up working at your PC, however you most likely wouldn’t need to try this in the event you’ve bought a single core CPU, since Crunch will seize a hefty quantity of your complete CPU clock cycles.
Once you’ve chosen all of the information you want to convert, it’s time to move over to the Destination pane. The most vital bit right here is the Format drop down, which is the place you resolve what the output format shall be. Here you’ll be able to select from iPod, iPhone or Apple TV codecs, whereas every format has a collection of differing high quality settings – iPhone Fastest as an example, will take the least time to encode, however will use a far decrease bit charge than iPhone High. That mentioned, contemplating the small display that you just’ll be viewing on, excessive bit charge encodes simply appear to be overkill.
Also on the Destination pane are a few radio buttons that specify whether or not the encode is output as a file in a selected location, or whether or not it’s imported instantly into iTunes. If you select the latter, you’ll then be prompted to resolve which playlist you want the video to be positioned in, or in the event you’d wish to create a brand new playlist particularly for it. Once you’ve made that call, Crunch will fortunately run alongside and begin changing your movies for you.
As already talked about, Crunch will seize as a lot of your CPU as it may possibly get – it maxed out all 4 threads on my twin core Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, though I used to be nonetheless in a position to keep it up working, with the load balanced as I used different purposes. How lengthy conversions take will depend upon the pace of your system, and you’ll count on a model new Core 2 Quad to fly by your encodes, whereas older machine just like the one I used, provides you with time to go and make a cup of espresso, or two. 
I discovered that the standard of the ensuing video information was superb, even when I chosen the quickest encode. Of course, a lot will depend upon the standard of the supply information, however a lot of the video information you will have in your pc are prone to be far larger decision than your iPod and even your iPhone, so Crunch will typically have a very good start line. 
You can pickup Crunch for round £25 on-line, which appears affordable sufficient, however then it’s additionally price noting that there are numerous video conversion utilities on the market that price nothing. However, what Roxio has created is an easy answer for the top consumer who doesn’t need to trawl the online for freeware, after which have to determine tips on how to use it. Crunch will convert just about all the foremost codecs together with DivX, Xvid and even DV. OK, so it drew the road at an MKV file, however contemplating that I’ve but to discover a devoted video participant that helps MKV, I’m hardly shocked by that.
”’Verdict”’
Roxio Crunch could also be a one trick pony, nevertheless it pulls off its single trick with aplomb. If you’ve bought a tough disk stuffed with video information that you just’d like to look at in your iPod or iPhone, Crunch will make the laborious conversion course of as painless as potential. Anyone who likes to get their arms soiled with their video encoding might discover Crunch somewhat fundamental, however for me it’s that fundamental nature that makes it engaging. The majority of iPod customers aren’t hardcore techies, and Crunch shall be a really great tool for all of them.