Foreign Perspectives

There are loads of devices around these days that can display video but few people seem to realise that almost all the devices can display the videos from almost all of the other devices and seem amazed when you can take, say, a video from youtube and play it on a PSP or for that matter record a TV programme and play it on their phone.

And yet, it’s usually fairly simple. Granted, youtube aren’t too keen on people recording the videos as such but if you can see it on your PC screen you can definitely record it. Once you have it recorded on the PC then you’ll find that there are a whole range of programs dedicated to changing video formats and thereby letting you copy it onto an iPOD or PSP or DVD.

Going from a broadcast TV programme is a little more complex in that you need a little item of hardware (cost: around £60) to let the computer record the programmes but once you have it on the PC you can move it on elsewhere.

The one thing that’s usually pointless is moving mobile phone videos to other devices with larger screens. It’s not that you can’t do it, just that the resolution isn’t high enough. In general, it’s best to move from high resolution devices to equal or lower resolution ones eg TV to/from PC and from these to smaller devices. Going in the other direction is usually a disappointment.