PSP Video converters

PSP Video 9

pspvideo9.com

This is perhaps one of the most popular video converting programmes for the PSP. Why so? Well, it's pretty simple, it's flexible, it's got a great interface and it also has some really unique features. Plus, like all the other software in this grouptest, it's free - no doubt contributing to its popularity.

Input: In terms of input, it takes everything you would expect and a few more too - DivX, XviD, AVI, WMV, MPEG are all supported, along with QuickTime, AviSynth and even TiVo files. It also takes VOB files, meaning that you can convert straight out of DVDShrink without having to go through an intermediate process to turn the DVDShrink into MPEG.

Output: Vid9 gives you an awful lot of choice on how you format the output, allowing you a fine-tuned control on the resolution and quality of the file that you get for the PSP. However, all this flexibility comes at something of a cost to usability - there is no proper 'Auto' mode, and the software relies on you to pick the correct resolution for the aspect ratio of your input content.

Although there is an 'Auto' button, it actually only performs a preset that you have previously agreed. Loading up the programme for the first time and just clicking auto-convert will probably land you with an output file that is the wrong aspect ratio, as we unfortunately discovered.

There is no option to make the file fit a certain file size, or indeed, much indication as to how big a file will turn out to be once encoded at the chosen rate.

Ease of use: If you are happy to grappel with aspect ratios and resolutions yourself, then Vid9 is undoubtedly easy to use and very flexible. The programme creates the proper name and thumbnail for the video and there is even an integrated PSP browser that allows you to drag and drop the file straight onto the PSP - Vid9 finds the correct directory itself.

Special features: The one unique selling point that the software has is that it integrates with Videora, an RSS client for BitTorrent. This allows you to do 'PSPCasting', with TV shows and IPTV downloaded as it's released, transcoded appropriately and copied to the PSP - all without user intervention. If you intend to use the PSP regularly to watch downloaded content, this could well be something that you really get into.

Testing

Our episode of Ctrl-Alt-Chicken was encoded in 9 minutes, once we'd worked out the correct resolution to encode to! The quality was slightly degraded from the original, working at a middling encode rate of 29FPS, 96KHz audio that resulted in a file size of 62MB.

Our rip of Pirates of the Carribean came in at 151MB encoded at 320x208. This took a long 53 minutes to encode, but resulted in the smallest file size out of our three encoders.