After a couple of columns about big-screen TVs, I'm returning to the small screen--and by small, I mean handheld-size. With the introduction of RCA and Archos portable video players (PVPs), there's been a lot of talk lately about such products, and both I and Senior Editor Eliot Van Buskirk have written about the possibility of a video iPod. But if you're a devotee of Palms, Pocket PCs, and smart phones, you've probably noticed that these devices are viable PVPs, particularly as prices for high-capacity 256MB and 512MB memory cards continue to fall.

Pocket PC films for sale
Before we get into the gray zone, let's start with the black-and-white. PocketPC Films sells full-length Pocket PC versions of such titles as Natural Born Killers and Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit 2002. Though highly compressed (low resolution) and a little pixelated, they run smoothly with stereo sound on the latest generation of Pocket PC devices, including the iPaq H2210 and H4150 we tested them on. Though PocketPC Films' selection is growing, most of its current offerings aren't terribly enticing, and the idea of a company selling me a different version of a DVD I already own (such as The Cube) seems, well, duplicitous.

You may already know about the shadier solutions. Publications such as Maximum PC magazine and TechTV Online have offered step-by-step instructions on how to use several free programs to turn a DVD into a WMV file optimized for Pocket PC viewing. But friends of mine who've attempted the conversion say that it's a complicated and time-consuming process that doesn't always work.

Dutch treat
Enter DVD to Pocket PC, a controversial program from Amsterdam-based Makayama Software. The application lets you easily convert a DVD into a WMV file that fits on a 128MB or 256MB memory card. You can buy the $25 download on the Handango Web site, where until recently, a disclaimer read, "Due to regulatory limitations this software may not be used by citizens of the U.S.A., Norway and Malaysia to convert copy-protected DVD's."

Because of those legal issues, I didn't try DVD to Pocket PC with a copy-protected disc, but they didn't stop several dozen people--about half of them apparently U.S. residents--from using the program and posting their comments on Handango. Despite the application's sluggish prep time (up to several hours per movie), the reviews are generally favorable, though some note that the software has its bugs and is far from infallible. My own tests, which included (yawn) my wedding video, bear out this opinion.

Top product, very easy to install, and just as easy to run, a small child wouldn't have too much hassle with this one. Have yet to find a DVD that this doesn't work with. Quality is great, and those quiet times at work are now filled! --Dave from Surrey, England, as quoted on Handango

Straight to the top
Disappointed that I couldn't realize my dream--legally, anyway--of viewing The Big Lebowski and Office Space, two of my favorite DVDs, on my Pocket PC, I contacted Makayama's CEO, Vincent Verweij. I was wondering whether his company would be putting out some Yank-friendly software, and I wanted to hear what his views on fair use were in light of the recent DVD X Copy ruling.

Unsurprisingly, Verweij told me that he'd been closely following the DVD X Copy court case. He said that in response to 321 Studios' loss, Makayama would shortly release a new version of DVD to Pocket PC that U.S. citizens would be able to use legally because it would no longer decrypt DVD content. Lo and behold, just days after our conversation, an update appeared on Handango, and the disclaimer now reads, "This software may only be used to convert personally owned DVDs."

Verweij explained, "The Digital Millennium Copyright Act [DMCA] allows authorized equipment and software, such as hardware and software DVD players, to unlock the Content Scrambling System and Macrovision protection on DVDs. Our software has an authorized embedded Microsoft Windows Media Player that will autoplay the DVD in your drive when you start our software."

In the new DVD to Pocket PC, Verweij said, it's Windows Media Player that finds and unlocks a disc's encryption. Makayama's application just extracts the unlocked content and compresses it into a file that you can make fair use of on a personal mobile device. Verweij called the program "a textbook example of fair use. It does not allow you to make identical copies of your DVD to a blank CD-R or DVD-R. Our software does not violate the DMCA." The CEO added, "Think of our product as the software version of the PEGA-VR100K, a Sony device that records any video source to a compressed file on a Memory Stick."

There's a lotta ins, a lotta outs, and a lotta what-have-yous when it comes to fair use.

Of course, as Jeff Lebowski (a.k.a the Dude) might proffer, there's a lotta ins, a lotta outs, and a lotta what-have-yous when it comes to fair use. And while it would seem perfectly reasonable to make a crappy, low-resolution copy of your Big Lebowski DVD and view it on your Pocket PC, Palm, or smart phone (yes, Makayama is working on DVD to Palm and DVD to Smart Phone, among other programs), life isn't always fair. Or as the Dude says, "Careful, man, there's a beverage here."
We'll see how this all plays out. No one's gotten sued yet, and perhaps Makayama has hit on an ingenious little loophole that makes it kosher for you to roll your own Pocket PC film from a DVD in your personal collection. Hmm, I wonder what Knox Harrington, the video artist, might think about all this.

Got any views on the subject? Let me know what you think.

Editors' note: Making personal backups of DVDs is highly controversial, and the courts are still evaluating the issue. CNET does not encourage or condone the illegal copying of commercial DVDs, and we circumvented no copy-protection mechanisms during our testing of DVD to Pocket PC.