Product Reviews

VideoWrap is a simple and inexpensive compression tool that converts standard video footage for a number of destinations, including iPod, Apple TV, Sony PSP and PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii. The program is quick and easy to install, although users that have previously tried the demo version will need to uninstall it prior to installing the full product. The interface is beautifully simplistic and content conversion is a straightforward four-step process.

First, click on Browse... to select the source file. On the next screen choose an aspect ratio (4:3 or 16:9), select a destination type (device, archive or Internet) and finally pick a preset. You can also choose to de-interlace the video or change the destination filename before clicking the VideoWrap my movie! button.

FXhome's pursuit of simplicity is also evident during encoding - a simple status bar and total frames/frames completed indicator showing progress. Our only small criticism, interface wise, is that we'd like to see a dock-based status bar (such as in Toast) displaying encoding progress. Screen real estate is often filled with another app, while videos encode, so a dock-based progress bar would perhaps be a more useful place to monitor

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encoding status.

Users in need of an inexpensive compression tool should also consider products such as the comparatively priced Roxio Crunch and old faithful, QuickTime Pro. On paper, Crunch is perhaps VideoWrap's closest rival, but the two are fairly evenly matched. For example, while Crunch offers tighter iTunes integration (in the form of a dedicated playlist), VideoWrap has presets for YouTube and web page templates. Similarly, Crunch offers direct conversion of DVDs rather than only VOB files (as is the case with VideoWrap) as well as batch processing of multiple files, something VideoWrap has no support for. Yet in its favour is the capability to produce Flash-based video files, a feature absent in Crunch.

If you're short of processing power, or you simply convert large quantities of footage, you may prefer to opt for a faster, hardware based, video converter such as the Elgato Turbo.264. However, while faster, consider that Turbo.264 is limited to outputting files for Apple and Sony PSP devices and is twice the price of VideoWrap.

Given its price, VideoWrap performs admirably and offers a commendable feature set. Despite this, in certain situations it can still seem like only half a solution. Users needing a tool to convert and upload video to an FTP address, or convert their existing DVD film library for use on their iPhone or iPod will still need to combine tools to complete the job. However, such a situation is standard fare for compression software. Extra features often equate to extra complexity and VideoWrap retains simplicity, in part, by limiting such features.

VideoWrap has a trial version available, so you can try it out before parting with any money. Users looking for a budget encoder that hides all talk of codecs, bitrates and frame size should enjoy using VideoWrap.