I just received an email from Pablo Fuentes letting me know that he has released a beta version of his software, VEMoDe. VEMoDe appears to be a neat little program that allows you to convert TiVo recordings into several different formats which are then playable on an iPod Video, PSP or several other mobile devices. According to VEMoDe’s website, the software has the following features:
- Easy to use interface. Just pick your file and go!
- Very fast encoder (uses FFmpeg)
- Existing settings for several popular devices (PSP, iPod, Palm, Pocket PC), plus you can create settings for other devices.
- “Encode by Size” to get the most quality for your memory cards.
- “Split by Size” to maximize quality and portability
- Easy to configure encoding options.
- Cropping options to get the best screen usage.
- Select the start and end positions to remove those long credits.
- Auto-shutdown for overnight encoding.
- It’s free!
Unfortunately, when I tried to convert one of my TiVo recordings with VEMoDE, I received the following error: Invalid Video Format. I’ve since sent the developer an email describing my problem. I’ll let you know when I hear something. Also, if anybody else runs into this problem drop a comment on this post so that the developer can know what’s going on. This is after all beta software so bugs are to be expected.
Update 01/15/06: Pablo got back to me with a solution to my problem. Apparently the fact that I was using Sonic as my codec was causing the problem. Here is the solution to the problem, taken directly from an email that Pablo sent me:
I have found a way to leave the Sonic codec and have VEMoDe still work.
I found this from a web site:
“For the Sonic filters you need to add a DWORD registry entry named ALLOWALLRENDERERS with a value of 1 to the \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Sonic\CineMaster DS DVD\2.5\VideoDecoder registry directory”If you’re comfortable with the registry, you can do this. On my end, I will add code in my next release to look for this in order to prevent the issue altogether.
Thanks Pablo! It was a pleasure working with you. Now that this problem has been “fixed”, I would highly recommend VEMoDE to anybody who would like to convert their TiVo recordings to another “mobile” format.
VEMoDE is just one of several software packages currently available which allows you to convert TiVo recordings to a “mobile” format. AutoPilot by TVHarmony and Videora are two other solutions currently available. I’ve used AutoPilot before however; I haven’t had a chance to play around with Videora as of yet. From what I’ve read, Videora looks pretty promising. If you are interested in using AutoPilot, you can head on over to TVHarmony’s website or check out the interview that I put together with the developer of AutoPilot(Will Wagner) back in November ‘04.
If for some reason you determine that none of these software packages fit your needs, you could always wait for TiVo desktop 2.3 which suppose to be able to convert TiVo recordings to mobile device formats.
Every time I try out one of these TiVo to mobile device converters, I think to myself how nice it would be to have an iPod video or PSP. I don’t actually own a mobile device that can play video 
. If anybody has a chance to play with one of these converters, let me know. I’d be interested to hear what other people have to say. Also, once I hear back from the developer of VEMoDe I will let everybody know what’s going on. Have a nice day and happy converting…….
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