Author Topic: Video conversion: What's the best (freeware or shareware)? (Read 77,039 times)

superboyac · « **on:** September 03, 2009, 06:39 AM »

What are people's opinions on the best video conversion software? For a while, I have used Super, which is very good. I'm curious what others think.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #1 on:** September 03, 2009, 10:17 AM »

(just a heads-up: this thread will probably get loads of spam -video conversion is a common spam topic- so please take the recommendations with a grain of salt)

nudone · « **Reply #2 on:** September 03, 2009, 10:33 AM »

i've resorted to just using virtualdub (with a few plugins). sometimes it means messing about to get ac3 to mp3 with the audio (which might also be offset, so needs judging a bit); or i'll just not bother converting the audio and leave it as ac3. video is to xvid.

i'm also curios as to what people suggest for simple one click type programs that provide acceptable results - if there are any.

y0himba · « **Reply #3 on:** September 03, 2009, 01:20 PM »

I use a freeware "Format Factory" which converts just about everything. AMAZING converter. Tons of features.

http://www.formatoz.com/

[MODERATOR NOTE: See post on next page for warning about Format Factory!]

superboyac · « **Reply #4 on:** September 03, 2009, 03:20 PM »

Quote from: jgpaiva on September 03, 2009, 10:17 AM

(just a heads-up: this thread will probably get loads of spam -video conversion is a common spam topic- so please take the recommendations with a grain of salt)

Yeah, I've noticed that. That's why it's so hard to search the net for good recommendations. I found it difficult to find a thread that had an intelligent discussion going on.

superboyac · « **Reply #5 on:** September 03, 2009, 03:23 PM »

Quote from: nudone on September 03, 2009, 10:33 AM

i've resorted to just using virtualdub (with a few plugins). sometimes it means messing about to get ac3 to mp3 with the audio (which might also be offset, so needs judging a bit); or i'll just not bother converting the audio and leave it as ac3. video is to xvid.

i'm also curios as to what people suggest for simple one click type programs that provide acceptable results - if there are any.

Yeah, I'm talking about the one-click programs. Practically mindless. That's why Super is good. You can use the defaults, or you can individually tweak the many settings and they are all just radio buttons to check off.

Virtualdub would be much more involved. Same with something like Handbrake. I'm not trying to do it the "right". More just the easy way, but with some options if possible.

superboyac · « **Reply #6 on:** September 03, 2009, 03:25 PM »

Quote from: y0himba on September 03, 2009, 01:20 PM

I use a freeware "Format Factory" which converts just about everything. AMAZING converter. Tons of features.

http://www.formatoz.com/

Looks pretty good.
Are any of these converters portable?

sajman99 · « **Reply #7 on:** September 28, 2009, 11:53 PM »

Quote from: superboyac on September 03, 2009, 03:25 PM

Are any of these converters portable?

If you want both free and portable, I would encourage you to take a look at Pazera Video Converters Suite. Honestly, it's hard to pick between Format Factory and Pazera VCS so I'm keeping both-- that way I can convert just about any multimedia file I might encounter.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #8 on:** October 04, 2009, 12:18 AM »

I'm not up on converting for portable devices and I don't have a means of playing BluRay or HD material. I have been messing around for a bit converting to avi/divx/xvid that's playable on stand-alone players, and converting to standard DVD.

For free converters going to standard DVD I recommend HC encoder and Guis that use it, and DVD Flick.

For free conversion of mpg source to avi/xvid playable on stand-alone I recommend AutoGK. The really nice thing about AutoGK is it will nearly always analyze and autocrop letter boxed mpg and create 16x9 xvid or divx output. If you have DVDs from the 1990s before 16x9 was prevalent that haven't been remastered to 16x9 often you can get results with AutoGK that looks quite good on an upscaling DVD player.

For cleaning up .avi source so you can play on stand-alone a good app is AviDemux 2.4 gtk gui version. Get version 2.4 unless you are a stickler that everything must be 2 pass. With AviDemux 2.4 (gtk win32 gui) you can often clean up .avi source by loading with all the automation settings checked(rebuild frames, make vbr map etc.) and just saving. If the video actually needs to be encoded you can often get nice looking output using the xvid single pass bitrate 1500 kbps. I say don't get the version 2.5 because they changed the settings on xvid one pass mode so you can no longer put the search precision at 6. The results of one pass encoding now aren't worth doing imho. Stay with 2.4.

sajman99 · « **Reply #9 on:** October 05, 2009, 12:06 AM »

Quote from: MilesAhead on October 04, 2009, 12:18 AM

For free converters going to standard DVD I recommend HC encoder and Guis that use it, and DVD Flick.

Couldn't agree more with that. DVD Flick for ease-of-use and acceptable quality (ffmpeg encoder) and FAVC, AVStoDVD, DVD-RB etc. with HC Encoder for best quality--all for $0.00.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #10 on:** October 05, 2009, 12:33 AM »

Quote from: sajman99 on October 05, 2009, 12:06 AM

Quote from: MilesAhead on October 04, 2009, 12:18 AM
For free converters going to standard DVD I recommend HC encoder and Guis that use it, and DVD Flick.
Couldn't agree more with that. DVD Flick for ease-of-use and acceptable quality (ffmpeg encoder) and FAVC, AVStoDVD, DVD-RB etc. with HC Encoder for best quality--all for $0.00.

Every time I see a request for help with a line like "how come when I drag a 700 MB avi file onto Nero the output is 2.5 GB?" it brings me right back to buying my first CD burner.

superboyac · « **Reply #11 on:** October 05, 2009, 03:49 AM »

I have to say, I am really liking Format Factory.

sajman99 · « **Reply #12 on:** October 27, 2009, 06:07 PM »

Another freeware video converter perhaps worth a mention in this "what's best" thread is the lesser known AutoMen--it's supposed to be a quick, no-fuss/easy-to-use solution.

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1018336
http://www.freewaregenius.com/2008/10/30/automen-a-small-yet-brilliant-video-converter/

sajman99 · « **Reply #13 on:** October 27, 2009, 07:26 PM »

Quote from: MilesAhead on October 04, 2009, 12:18 AM

...For cleaning up .avi source so you can play on stand-alone a good app is AviDemux 2.4 gtk gui version...

btw- the freeware AVI ReComp reportedly also helps to alleviate playback issues by adjusting all encoding parameters for best standalone DVD player compatibility. In particular, the bitrate spikes control has helped many folks smooth out video playback.

I admit I haven't tried it yet because I don't have a DivX/Xvid enabled player, but AVI ReComp seems to be well regarded FWIW:
http://www.avirecomp.com/news.php
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/AVI_ReComp

MilesAhead · « **Reply #14 on:** October 27, 2009, 09:16 PM »

Last time I tried it, it insisted on running 2 pass mode no matter what. The change log implies it does 1 pass now. May be worth another look.

sajman99 · « **Reply #15 on:** October 27, 2009, 09:37 PM »

Quote from: MilesAhead on October 27, 2009, 09:16 PM

Last time I tried it, it insisted on running 2 pass mode no matter what. The change log implies it does 1 pass now. May be worth another look.

If I had your hardware specs, I really wouldn't sweat it too much.

Anyways, let me know if you check out AVI Recomp. I'm starting to think a cheapo DivX/Xvid enabled DVD player wouldn't be a bad option.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #16 on:** October 28, 2009, 02:42 AM »

I'm pretty happy with my Philips dvp 5990. For the price I can't complain. The main things on my wishlist are:

1) play .mkv high def files.

2) play DVD9 burns without cranking away for 4 minutes during disc load.

3) have a 1.2x zoom feature

My old OPPO player didn't handle subtitles in .divx files as well as this Philips but it had a 1.2x zoom. What was great about it is over HDMI connection you could set 4x3 output to use 16x9 mode. Black bars on the sides would pop up but you still had the higher resolution. When you hit the 1.2x zoom it was just enough that the 4x3 picture would nearly fill the area of a 16x9 video without distorting the aspect ratio. No stretching. The zoom was slight enough that most of the time you could still read the subtitles. On my Philips the lowest zoom is 2x.

I really miss that 1.2x zoom more than any other OPPO feature.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #17 on:** October 28, 2009, 03:55 AM »

Quote from: sajman99 on October 27, 2009, 09:37 PM

If I had your hardware specs, I really wouldn't sweat it too much.

Thing is though, it's a lot faster to convert from low bit rate to high rather than compress. If I'm going to take an hour or more to convert I'll just convert to DVD because I know it will work. Every time I explore new software app I have to learn its quirks. I guess I don't have a lot of patience. I get SuperMediaStore discs or when I can get Verbatim on sale, so I'm not that concerned about saving space. The reason to play the .avi is to do so with little or no conversion. With AviDemux 2.4 even with Trellis Quant enabled I get pretty decent throughput. Plus I can count on the output being playable on my stand-alone.

If I have episodes like of a TV show and want to get a bunch on a DVD then I'll go with AviDemux. But if it's a movie I'll just convert to DVD.

sajman99 · « **Reply #18 on:** October 29, 2009, 12:22 AM »

Quote from: MilesAhead on October 28, 2009, 03:55 AM

...Every time I explore new software app I have to learn its quirks. I guess I don't have a lot of patience...

Yes, lots of folks are not interested in taking time to research some of these converting/encoding issues-- ie. should I use lumgain and/or adaptive quantization and what setting, what's the correct DC precision for DVD-5, what's deadzone quantization, etc.--and then running 2-pass trials to compare output. Many people are too busy so they buy an easy one-click software and call it a day. I've done exactly that on occasion when it seemed like a complicated software required a PhD.

Especially with freeware you're on your own as far as researching/determining optimum settings without any support, but the journey sure can be fun with something like HC encoder based tools.

btw- thanks for the DVD player and AviDemux 2.4 advice.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #19 on:** October 29, 2009, 01:38 AM »

The free converters have sure come a long way. I can remember for awhile it seemed like every free tool I tried just wouldn't produce a compatible DVD. Now instead of worrying about picking one that works I'm concerned with the best looking output. A couple of years makes a big difference.

Crush · « **Reply #20 on:** November 01, 2009, 10:26 AM »

I personally like the freeware Mediacoder. This Converter allows you to manipulate really every codec-feature and supports even GPU-encoding with CUDA. This means your graphic-card is used to code & encode the videos if you like - that´s much faster than normal encoding.

cmpm · « **Reply #21 on:** November 01, 2009, 05:03 PM »

This is free and works, although I use Pazera a lot.

http://www.oxelon.com/media_converter.html

Innuendo · « **Reply #22 on:** November 01, 2009, 05:11 PM »

Quote from: Crush on November 01, 2009, 10:26 AM

This Converter allows you to manipulate really every codec-feature and supports even GPU-encoding with CUDA.

While that's wonderful for those who have Nvidia graphics cards, those of us who don't probably won't be buying one anytime soon due to the problems Nvidia has been having lately.

4wd · « **Reply #23 on:** November 02, 2009, 06:47 AM »

Quote from: MilesAhead on October 28, 2009, 02:42 AM

I'm pretty happy with my Philips dvp 5990. For the price I can't complain. The main things on my wishlist are:

Have you checked for alternative firmwares at DivXpert Firmwares ?

CleverCat · « **Reply #24 on:** November 02, 2009, 07:06 AM »

Format Factory never gives me any trouble!