Our first thought when we reviewed Popcorn 1.0, Roxio's application for DVD-to-DVD copying was, 'why?' Pocorn provided an elegant way to copy content from one DVD to another and enabled you to compress the content of commercial dual-layer discs so it would fit on a regular single-layer DVD. However, it didn't (and still doesn't) allow you to make copies of encrypted DVDs, which rules out its most useful application - backing up your DVD movie collection.
Of course, breaking the encryption on DVDs is illegal in many countries, so its omission is understandable. However, it means you're limited to making copies of non-commercial DVDs.
Nothing has changed in version 2 in that respect, but it does have an ace up its sleeve. You can now take a non-encrypted DVD, DVD image, Video-TS folder, or any QuickTime-compatible video file and encode it for a video iPod, mobile phone or a PlayStation Portable. You can also output files as DivX, Mpeg-4 or H.264 movies.
If you opt for iPod output, you can choose to output in standard, high or For TV versions, while if you opt for DivX, you can choose from a number of profiles, including Home Theatre and Portable. Each output medium also has a Custom option that provides access to just about every tweakable parameter. Despite the new features Popcorn 2 is easy to use, and you'll feel right at home if you have used Toast.
We were under-whelmed with the original version of Popcorn, but version 2 makes a great deal of sense. Forget the DVD-to-DVD copying and use it as a great way to encode any video content on your Mac for your iPod, phone or PlayStation Portable.
Verdict
Forget the DVD-to-DVD copying and use it as a great way to encode any video content on your Mac for your iPod, phone or PlayStation Portable
Author: Kenny Hemphill
MacUser Online