Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Counter-intuitive but cheap & does the biz, 2 Aug 2007
Those who are familiar with Roxio stuff (my Dell came with Roxio CD and DVD players/burners) will be used to the, erm... colourful interface (not to say lary and tasteless). Copy & Convert has no manual (I like a paper manual, me) and it's not the most intuitive either. First impressions were not good. On trying to install I got this:
"Error 1720. There is a problem with the Windows Installer package. A script required for this install to complete could not be run. Contact your support personnel or package vendor."
What does the manual tell me about this? Oh - duh - there isn't one. Oh well, go to the Roxio home page. Stap me vitals: Copy & Convert wasn't even listed under 'Products' (though it is now). OK. Time for a Google hunt. Google found me a link in the Roxio forum, I installed Windows Script from Microsoft and thereafter all went fine. (Google `roxio error 1720')
Copy & Convert rips audio and several other helpful things: but if you are like me, you already have several better programs to do all that, and the main use is going to be converting DVDs. Copying is straightforward and quick enough - though slower than the Roxio Creator LE (Dell edition) I already had. Converting? As it took me ages to figure out, I hope you'll forgive this long example:
- Open up the main menu, and you first get an advert for other Roxio software. (Adverts? - But I've already paid.)
- Click on Convert Video and the main menu disappears. Darn it, it's crashed. No - hang on: wait a bit and it gets replaced (after another accident in a paint shop) by Roxio Disc Copier. Yes, despite the name, this is where you convert your DVDs to a variety of formats including DivX and wmv.
- Start by clicking on ADD MOVIES (- why?) to get the file selector.
- Choose the one to convert.(At this stage you can also compile a video from several different sources. Don't expect any complex editing though: you can cut clips from a long film, and then edit them together using compile. This works very well, but it's pretty crude stuff.)
- Now on the right hand side you have to choose
i) the output format;
ii) whether to output to a disc image, a file or a portable player.
Clicking on OPTIONS is liable to blind you with science: I don't recommend it. Then you have to click on BURN (yes, even if you're not making a disc). If you're making a file, you get to choose the destination - but hold tight: where do I choose the file name?
Back to the disc copier screen and click on ABC (why?) change the name, now go back to BURN and choose the destination.
While it works, you'll have time to go and make a cup of tea. In fact you may like to try THIS method: book a plane ticket, fly to India, plant a bush, wait for it to grow to maturity, pull off the tips, dry them, fly them home and make your tea. Be sure to let it brew for at least four minutes...
No: Copy and Convert is not the fastest thing in the world. To convert a 2-hour DVD to .wmv you might want to leave it overnight. A 2 hour DVD to wmv takes 15 hours - but these are big files: I'm guessing the same might apply to other similar software. Give up any idea of surfing the net, or typing a word doc while it works (unless you have a dual core). Copy and Convert wants your computer. ALL of it. It wants your computer like the Daleks want Earth: sharing is not an option.
Pros:
It does what it says
Straight from DVD to file - no faffing about with rippers and encoders
It's twenty quid!
Cons:
The interface - yuck!
It's not very intuitive
And where's the manual?
It's power-hungry. It's slooowww...
So in summary: once you get used to its idiosyncracies, it does the job perfectly. And it's fab value for money. Shareware would cost as much - and probably infect your PC with malware into the bargain.
Four stars then, once you get the hang of it.
And, finally, if you're hoping to copy commercial videos, it won't let you. That would be piracy.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bad Press, 31 Mar 2008
I need to improve the ratings of this piece of software because it's actually very good.
I accept that the documentation is weak, but if a little time is taken to research the product on the internet you will find plenty of the answers regarding navigation of the interface and tips on usage. Yes, I know you shouldn't have to do this but its £15 software and it punches well above its weight with products costing 3 times as much.
If you own and Archos player get this to store your DVD's in DivX. If you own a pod then the conversion of audio and video is very impressive.
It has handled everything I've thrown at it and I would thoroughly recommend it. Give it a chance
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
avoid at all costs, 30 May 2008
Avoid this software if you have a portable media device you want to watch movies on, not just because it wont convert protected movies but it has difficulty with unprotected ones as well. It is difficult to use, slow and the online tutorials are difficult to follow
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