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Handheld users can now take their movies on the road, using Generic Media's new gMovie Maker and gMovie Player for the Palm operating system.

Released this week, the software allows users to encode video that can be viewed on any device that runs the PalmOS, including black-and-white devices. Using the gMedia Maker, which runs on Macintosh and Windows, users can encode AVI, Digital Video, MPEG-1, or QuickTime as well as most still-image types into a format that can be viewed using gMedia Player.

After encoding the movie on their desktop machines, users can transfer it to their handheld using Palm's HotSync. Once on the device, movies and the player itself can be "beamed" to other users via Palm's infrared port.

"Our founder wrote the player because he figured that today's Palm Vx has about the same power as computers 15 years ago did," says Keith Hatounian, vice president of sales at Generic Media. "Users can drag raw DV into the encoder window, and we handle everything, including the de-interlacing of the video. There are no intermediate steps to take."

The one drawback is there is no support for sound -- a restriction of the PalmOS itself. When Palm makes sound available, Generic Media will support it, Hatounian says. Also, video performance depends on the capability of the player.

Users can buy the gMedia Maker encoder for $30. The player is available for free. Both can be downloaded from Generic Media's Web site.

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