Unlike our North American friends who can download TV shows, news reports and a whole heap of other video content from Itunes to an Ipod , the UK is currently stuck with music videos and a smattering of embarrassingly poor video podcasts.

The best way to get reasonable video onto an Ipod, therefore, is to use conversion software.

Intervideo's Ivideotogo for Ipod tenders a simple enough notion; convert a file or DVD into a format that a video Ipod can read – either MP4 or H.264.

The software will automatically choose the best MP4 or H.264 output settings for the video, although this can be manually changed by selecting one of six profiles, each of which with varying frame rates, audio bit-rates and resolutions.

A maximum output file size can also be configured for each file.

Unlike other similar applications, Ivideotogo supports an impressive range of file formats to convert from, including Quicktime, 3GP and wmv. It's important to note these are input formats - the program will only output MP4 or H.264.

It also converts DivX, however we had to download the DivX codec separately for it to recognise the file. Of course, it won't encode copy-protected DVDs or, DRM-encrypted video.

Converting video is never a particularly fast process, and our 42 minute test DivX file took the same time again to be turned into the MP4 format. Outputting in H.264 format took almost twice as long at 90 mins.

What's more, our file (a widescreen TV show) was squished into a 4:3 aspect ratio to fit on the iPod's square screen.

While there's no denying the amount of compression involved (360Mb reduced by 55% in MP4 and 75% in H.264), the video quality was significantly better in MP4 format.

There was still discernable pixilation and frame dropping but nothing as severe as when viewing the H.264 files.

Intervideo's Ivideotogo may be the most versatile Ipod conversation software we've seen, but it still takes a frustratingly long time to convert files. Its saving grace is that it can batch convert files, allowing you to leave the process running overnight and transfer the video in the morning. Plus, it's only £20.

However, until Apple starts to offer a US-style Itunes video service in the UK, the Ipods video abilities will always be held back.

System requirements
Intel PIII 600MHz
128MB Ram
50MB hard disk
Windows 2000/XP