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mediAvatar Video to DVD Converter Giveaway
$32.99
EXPIRED

Giveaway of the day — mediAvatar Video to DVD Converter

mediAvatar Video to DVD Converter can create DVD movies from almost all popular high-definition and standard-definition video formats, and also convert and burn video files to DVD folder or ISO file.
$32.99 EXPIRED
User rating: 421 64 comments

mediAvatar Video to DVD Converter was available as a giveaway on March 25, 2011!

Today Giveaway of the Day
$24.96 / month
free today
Your all-in-one solution for home theater entertainment!

Professional yet easy to use DVD creator, mediAvatar Video to DVD Converter can create DVD movies from almost all popular high-definition and standard-definition video formats, and also convert and burn video files to DVD folder or ISO file. This DVD maker enables you to create a personalized DVD menu, clip videos, crop video frame, add subtitle and audio files, embed watermarks, add artistic effects and the like to create your own DVD movie.

Key features:

  • Create DVD movies with your videos (collected, downloaded or taken by camcorders or iPhone 4), including M2TS, MTS, TS, MOV, MP4, MKV, AVI, DivX, XviD, MPG, MPEG, QT, DV, VOB, RM, RMVB, WMV, H.264/AVC, ASF, DAT, FLV, 3GP, etc. Also convert and burn videos to DVD folder or ISO file.
  • Create DVD menu just by choosing a menu template, and personalize your menu by adding background music or picture, menu title and opening film, and making menu thumbnails.
  • Clip video files to extract your favorite segments with unwanted ones removed.
  • Add custom subtitles (up to 32 subtitles files) and soundtracks (up to 8 audio files) to the DVD movie.
  • Edit movie frame effects by cropping video frame size, adding artistic effects and inserting watermarks.

System Requirements:

Windows XP (SP2 or later)/ Vista/ 7

Publisher:

mediAvatar Software Studio

Homepage:

http://www.mediavideoconverter.com/video-to-dvd-converter.html

File Size:

33 MB

Price:

$32.99

GIVEAWAY download basket

Developed by MPCSTAR
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Comments on mediAvatar Video to DVD Converter

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#64

Worked fine on Vista Home Premium/32. I found this program to be simple and straightforward, with an intuitive interface. Didn't have to look up a single thing to compile my first movie. I'm a teacher, so I don't need a lot of fancy features that sometimes over-kill on some other programs. This one let me compile a quick, nice-looking DVD presentation in just a few minutes, plus burn time. Definitely a keeper.

Reply   |   Comment by Mark Magill  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#63

Question for # 58 ,Peter-does the DVD burned using DVD Flick play on PC,in addition to standalone player?

Reply   |   Comment by vanierstein  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#62

Thank you GOTD and mediAvatar Software Studio,

Today's giveaway is rather neat. I played around with a video and editing and find it rather cool. So will find it a keeper. For that price is reasonable. I yet to have time to check out further e.g burn into dvd only see the preview. Thanks and everyone have a lovely weekend.

Reply   |   Comment by Jul  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)
#61

I got an error saying there was not enough space on the DVD for my videos. The videos are about 2.2 GB, and the blank DVDs are 4.7 GB and I tried several of them, and a couple of different major brands, all with the same result. The program reported that the blank DVD-Rs had zero (0) available space on the disks.

Reply   |   Comment by Ken  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)
#60

Be advised, i installed this program on my Toshiba Dual Core Laptop
32 bit Windows 7 Home version and it wiped out 98% of my desktop
shortcuts. Consequently i now have to restore my system from my
external drive because before i installed the program i created a
restore point, and it did not return my system back as it was before
i installed it! But what little i used it seemed to be a decent
program!

Reply   |   Comment by Ron Lewis  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)
#59

First off ... thanks for the software!!!

Considering it will take the rest of the day to process as LARGE 9GM MKV file in my first test, I can only offer a few suggestions for the developer at this time.

1) You really need to spend time composing a more comprehensive help file, preferably one with a search capability too.

2) Although you offer a Crop feature, this area does NOT allow you to INCREASE size of the video output. Another software that I use, allows me to stretch the video to better create a full frame image without the black bars above and below. Although I'm testing with your "Full Screen" function turned on, it would be nice to see this option previewed somewhere like in the crop area, or, have the crop area to allow you to add negative numbers to help stretch the video so no black bars are visible in the preview thus helping guarantee their removal.

3) It would also be nice to allow video files to be added to the menus, instead of only a static image. The other software I use also allows a wide-variety of video files to be used to create a unique animated background to each menu, main, chapter, root, audio, ect.

4) Really confusing was the colored graph bar at the bottom to help indicate burn size of the media you select. As I recall but can’t verify because I can’t open a second instance of the program, this graph displayed poor results when selecting to create the output to the PC rather than a direct burn to DVD. Both folder and .iso options displayed red in the graph, which is very confusing considering my PC’s file system is NTFS and can handle larger than 4GB files unlike a fat32 files system. It might be best to simply have the graph disappear when these options are selected, rather than display a problem that does not exist.

Reply   |   Comment by Robert  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#58

@37 the read me file contains this info,Registration name: giveawayoftheday: Registration key:1CC2B830-B551-4849-B4871-2D86-F9CF-F4AF, run the program and enter above info

Reply   |   Comment by popz  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#57

Installed on XP home SP3. Made an iso file from a mpg file. The iso
plays with VLC, the iso can be mounted by MagicDisc 2.7 106 and that
mounted "DVD" played with several PC programs. The iso was burned to
a DVD+R (by Ashampoo Burning Studio 2010 Advanced v9.24) and that
DVD+R plays OK on the PC. BUT, the DVD+R does not play on a
stand-alone DVD player; the menu shows but pushing the play button
on the remote or the one on the front panel displays Stop.

The same procedure but using DVD Flick 1.3.0.7 738 to make an iso
file is OK; the burned DVD+R plays on the stand-alone player.

Reply   |   Comment by Peter  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)
#56

Yet another program that tries to connect to the Internet (208.43.79.146) every time you start it (sigh). And yes, I have "check for update" turned off. But what really puzzles me is that I insert a DVD into my laptop, start the program, choose an .avi file to burn, and in "Destination" there's no option for DVD, only for "DVD folder" and ".iso image". WTF? (Win7 x64).

Reply   |   Comment by Jim Smithers  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)
#55

#38: "Only high-end editing & authoring packages tend to support chapter menus."

FWIW Roxio, Nero, DVDStyler, most of the other DVD author ft ends etc all allow you to work with chapter menus -- too many apps to begin to list them all.

"So anytime you convert between different formats, you will get an audio offset."

Maybe you're using mp3 vbr [an editing no-no], or else you might want to use different software... In a nutshell audio & video are always separate streams, though sometimes they can be interleaved with the video, which has more to do with the container file headers than the streams themselves. At any rate, 10 minutes of audio should be 10 minutes long -- the audio should just progress along as if you were recording or playing a tape at constant speed. Ideally the audio should start at the same time as the video recording, or be synced in an editor that way, with a new audio file created -- you should then be able to strip the audio out, put it back or replace it, all without having to worry about delays.

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)
#54

Security Note: When installing the program, Comodo Defense+ flagged an attempt to access my email client in memory. I chose to block this and the install proceeded OK. This is probably a "dial home" mechanism to the software publisher.

Reply   |   Comment by Vinnie  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)
#53

#39: "...Mike, this is OT but who’s we? We’re not the producers of film & TV we consume and don’t get to pick the all too frequent cutaways (or nauseating shaky cam and overly tight zooms or other trendy crap du jour) Just sayin’…."

I'm sorry -- I didn't word that well I guess... What I meant was that the average person watching any sort of video is easily bored -- we've been trained that way. If you have lots of short clips from your vacation &/or of the kids that's cool, but your neighbors & brothers/sisters maybe aren't going to appreciate them just strung together the way you are. Adding whatever transitions etc. between clips can help make it less boring. Now I'm not talking about the kids' soccer game or things like that, but stuff along the lines of dozens of clips of the kids in front of the animals at the zoo can put folks who aren't members of your immediate family to sleep.

Far as shooting/editing your own video, AFAIK the two most common tools are the zoom & more than one camera -- some people feel they get more bang for the buck buying two or more cheap cameras, e.g. you & someone else can both use one to record that soccer game or concert independently, then mix/match cuts editing. Using the zoom, since most consumer cameras zoom too fast, use an editor to fade/transition before/after frames while audio stays the same.

* * *

#44: "Two questions please! How fast is the conversion, and what quality is the finished result?"

For me speed with imported DVD spec video was average to slow -- speed from HD [1080p AVC] was *slightly* faster than some apps, at roughly 1.5 X real-time. Quality was generally good, but not as good as it should have been because bit rates were too low... You want to use the highest bit rate you can up to 9 or 9.5 [9 is more compatible], balanced by the fact higher bit rates = bigger files. Your mpg2 encoder should be capable of VBR [Variable Bit Rate], which helps a lot with longer video, & you should be able to get maybe 2 hours of video [at the extreme end] on a single layer DVD without it looking nasty. Depending on your source, 23.976 fps with pull-down can help a lot too -- if you like the *film look* but can't shoot 24 fps, see if you can shoot PAL 25 fps & edit the file headers to 24. ;-)

* * *
#47: "It has Cuda technology built in so it is fast."

Purely FWIW, I suggest trying it with/without when possible, as the algorithms they use for either NVIDIA or AMD/ATI tend to focus primarily on speed vs. quality. If/when you want to find out if your graphics chip is contributing at all to the work load, check out the free GPU-Z.

"...If you have say 250 files just do 99 then 99 then 52 files Convert each block of them them to DVD files & save. Then take those 3 DVD files you authored & add them back in already formatted. Your conversion time will be nill because they are already dvd files."

Again FWIW, as a rule you'll get better encoding performance & more settings if you use an encoder outside of your DVD authoring app, but if you don't have one, or any other way of joining clips, could work. OTOH as I & others have posted, mediAvatar Video to DVD Converter will not pass through DVD spec video, but insist on a re-encode.

* * *

#52: "Suggestion: on subtitle they have choose font right, but how about color like yellow or green on subtitle instead of white , most eye doctor said that yellow is best for reading on tv , dvd ,etc... "

Usually FWIW I like to use a very pale yellow because it shows against most every background you'll encounter... Ariel Narrow Bold works very well for DVDs.

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+7)
#52

Some of the controls are a bit balky, & your options are severely limited, but mediAvatar Video to DVD Convertor could be an alternative to apps like the free DVDStyler [which is also available in a portable version at portableapps.com]. OTOH while it is a very good start for the mediAvatar devs, they're going up against companies having a very large codebase that's grown over years -- mediAvatar Video to DVD Convertor simply can't go up against products from Roxio & Nero, not to mention brands like Sony or Adobe, nor does it compete well against apps from Corel/ULead, Mediachance, TMPGEnc etc. And then you have the individual devs & small companies that have been at this for years, like Video Redo that folks always mention on GOTD. Many (most?) of those apps can be found from time to time on sale, putting them into direct competition with medAvatar's Video to DVD Convertor. As far as freeware goes the free version of Muxman is hard to beat *if you don't need menus or encoding*, while pretty much everything else that's free is based in one way or another on the DVD Author code. Personally, if you can put up with the bloat & Huge installation impact, & if you can find it on sale for $35-45, I like Roxio's Creator 2011 -- you get an editor, the ability to convert most formats, a much more developed DVD/Blu-Ray authoring app, & if you have the right graphics hardware [NVIDIA or AMD/ATI], surprising speed. [I should note that Blu-Ray is still new, & AFAIK there really is not a great consumer-level app to create them -- the pro stuff starts at around $20k -- though the free multiAVCHD is worth a look. ]

Using Video to DVD Convertor, on the plus side it converts HD AVC video in mkv files to DVD, & it accepts separate audio files. On the downside, looking at the results the [MediaInfo] reported bit rates were far too low [e.g. 4 when set to the max of 9], even if that was the average & 9 was the peak or max [normally MediaInfo reports both]. The DVD was also a bit non-standard, with PGCEdit reporting multiple BOVs [Button Over Video]. I also missed a good way to add, edit, & import chapters; good way(s) to handle/create/edit chapter &/or other added menus; the ability to place &/or edit buttons; the ability to use video clips for menu backgrounds; the ability to *pass-through* clips already at DVD spec; & compared to many apps, encoding was average to slow, using ~30% of an AMD quad. It does allow importing subs in .srt text format, but handling wasn't on a par with Sony's DVDA, & it won't take graphics/based subs. In short I can say it allows you to create DVD layouts with menus, but very little else.

Installation of Video to DVD Convertor has by default much more of an impact that it has to... Monitored in the XP Mode VM it added one of the Microsoft C++ runtimes, resulting in several added files & the majority of the "528 registry entries added" -- copied to win7 ult 64 SP1 it created what it needed, which was a tiny fraction of that as far as the registry was concerned. Either way you get folders under User & User Local Application Data for XP, User App Data Local & Roaming for 7... the app's folder comes in at 900 files, 55 folders, weighing in at ~94 MB. Checking dependencies with Process Explorer [SysInternals at Microsoft.com] I didn't see anything really unexpected, though it does load the ATI OpenGL stuff -- IOW your performance may vary [given ATI's somewhat lacking OpenGL support, hopefully those running other brands of graphics will get better results, though those without OpenGL at all may suffer more].

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+9)
#51

Suggestion: on subtitle they have choose font right, but how about color like yellow or green on subtitle instead of white , most eye doctor said that yellow is best for reading on tv , dvd ,etc I have known that convertxtodvd has set color font.

Reply   |   Comment by Jeffrey B  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#50

Whatever happened to developers put out version numbers and history files???

I have a version of this program installed on my computer now and want to know if this would be an update.

I went to their site, but no luck finding out this information. I know generic sites are easier to handle, so they do not have to update them with every version, but history files would be helpful.

Sorry this is one of my pet peves.

Reply   |   Comment by Mark Latimer  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+7)
#49

#39 - "...all too frequent cutaways (or nauseating shaky cam and overly tight zooms or other trendy crap du jour)...".

Oh how I loath those things. Agree with you 100%. Think it started around about the 'Hill Street Blues' era. As I recall, they had people talking in the background so much it was often difficult to hear the main dialog. As they used to say in 'Dragnet', 'Just stick to the facts', but in this case, they should get back to just sticking to the main reason we watch which, IMHO, is to be entertained by an interesting show.

Oh yeah, the current GOTD, sounds great and will give it a go. Wish Ashraf was back with his reviews and especially his free alternatives.

Reply   |   Comment by Rhino  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#48

Thanks, Steven for #s 41, 42

Reply   |   Comment by Brian Flanagan  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-4)
#47

like #33 does not work on my windows XP sp3, tried loading flv and mpg files ... error: "not a valid video"

Reply   |   Comment by JonC  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#46

Just use this for what it is.
It is DVD software.
For this it is great.
It has Cuda technology built in so it is fast.

If you have say 250 files just do 99 then 99 then 52 files
Convert each block of them them to DVD files & save.

Then take those 3 DVD files you authored & add them back in already formatted.
Your conversion time will be nill because they are already dvd files.
You just need to burn.

It's free, it works.
It's not really a 2nd step at all, because it requires no added conversion.
You just have to add 3 files Lol.

Reply   |   Comment by Mr Chatterbox  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+6)
#45

Downloaded, tried to install, opens starts to install ,and then wants to config DVD drives.. hangs then wants to send a repot to home?? tried several time NO go, running Vista 32 bit.

Reply   |   Comment by Rick  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#44

I have no problem with Norton Internet Security 2011 (all options activated)
also you can registered under your Name

Reply   |   Comment by Tony77  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-3)
#43

Two questions please!

How fast is the conversion, and what quality is the finished result?

Reply   |   Comment by sparkles  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-5)
#42

I'm somewhat confused by most of the above comments today. For those complaining about the 99 file limit, you do realize this is a burner and not an editor?

There are multi-track video editors (NLEs) that you use to edit/combine video segments to create your video using segments (files) as well as any editing you like, and some also allow you to burn to DVD. Then there are utilities that allow you to convert videos to various formats. And finally there are utilities that allow you to burn various video formats to DVD. This program is the latter. The fact that it handles multiple clips is a bonus.

And to the poster who stated you cannot adjust output quality - you can do that under settings, along with many other options.

I don't work for the company, but my company does do video work as one of our functions and I'm always on the lookout for good quality "quick" utilities to use. This looks like a good one to have in the toolbox to serve the intended purpose - burn a DVD from a video file quickly without having to use a full editor. I'm not saying it's the best one on the market, but I do think it's a decent app.

For those who want to simply string 1,000 ten second clips together to make a video, you should possible check out one of the paid/free video editors on the market. Or just use WMM.

No trouble installing or registering on Vista, nice little application for the use...

Reply   |   Comment by Terry  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+10)
#41

To #18 and #40
Here is more information if you are getting a WS.Reputation.1 warning from Norton Internet Security.

The WS.Reputation.1 is not a virus warning, it means that this file has a low or no reputation among Norton users.
Considering that Norton has possibly tens of millions of users – just about any software package put out by an independent software shop or any other non-mega company will fall into this category.

Here is a link on the Norton site on with details and information on how to get around this issue.

http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-Internet-Security-Norton/Clarification-on-WS-Reputation-1-detection/m-p/232155#U232155

Reply   |   Comment by Steven  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+7)
#40

#18 You're experiencing one of the wonderful features of Norton Internet Security. It has deleted the application and will keep deleting it everytime you install it. You will have go into your Norton settings and tell Norton that this app is OK and then reinstall.
Nothing wrong with the app just Norton stupidity.

Here's a link with info describing the problem:

http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-Internet-Security-Norton/What-is-WS-Reputation-1/td-p/228251/page/9;jsessionid=E025A060DEB08771A894219545E10554

Here is a link on the Norton sight on how to get around this issue.

http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-Internet-Security-Norton/Clarification-on-WS-Reputation-1-detection/m-p/232155#U232155

Reply   |   Comment by Steven  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+12)
#39

#18 Norton 360 did the same thing: "blocked it, stating something about suspicious activity with the program. I tried it again and it wouldn’t even open…?"

Reply   |   Comment by Brian Flanagan  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-2)
#38

"Also maybe bear in mind that the average film or TV show we’re used to watching usually changes the view or perspective every 10-30 seconds — we Americans have tremendously short attention spans. ;-)"

Mike, this is OT but who's we? We're not the producers of film & TV we consume and don't get to pick the all too frequent cutaways (or nauseating shaky cam and overly tight zooms or other trendy crap du jour) Just sayin'....it's hard to satisfy our perfectly normal attention spans or sense of quality when almost every genre being produced is fixated on dark scenes, cheap videography effects & edits, and/or poorly mixed audio tracks complete with autotuned vocalists and door slam beats.

It does seem reasonable to have to edit our raw clips into some ensemble of chapters less than 99 - if for no other reason than for better content.

Am looking forward to giving this a spin - thanks GOTD

Reply   |   Comment by redruM2001  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)
#37

The DVD standard has a limit of 99 titles. (Of course, Disney DVDs deliberately break this rule as one of the copy protection tricks.)

Most basic authoring packages only set up menus for individual titles (like this program), so this limitation flows directly from the standard. It is certainly possible to combine many clips into a single title (which is a principle taught at video editing courses to keep the film interesting), but, you are going to need a real video editing program, not this tool for novices. Only high-end editing & authoring packages tend to support chapter menus.

One "free" method that may not be too complicated for basic users may be this: Use this giveaway to convert your clips into VOB files. Now that you have a standard MPEG stream in the VOBs, you can import the 99 titles as clips into Microsoft MovieMaker (free with XP, etc.) which allows you to do some basic to mid-level editing. Now you can create a single title to export out to DVD.


Almost all video formats interlace audio & video packets, and have different default audio delay offset settings for synchronization (due to different packet sizes, etc.) Plus, the author may have specified additional delay adjustments for various reasons (e.g. the audio track encoder used was from a different source). For DVDs with multiple audio streams, the built-in delays are different for each audio stream. Delays are often handled automatically by better video editing packages, or ignored completely by lower quality packages.

So anytime you convert between different formats, you will get an audio offset. Because most software is ignorant of this fact, you will get sync errors. The key is to adjust the audio delay so that it is not noticeable as you are watching the film (which usually takes some trial & error).

Unfortunately, I've not found a single Flash to MPEG conversion tool that doesn't have some quality or sync issues. Almost all YouTube videos are slightly out of sync, and older YT videos used lower quality encoders. An out of sync source gets magnified by the conversion.

PGCdemux & MuxMan are two freeware "low-level" tools that allow you to extract and interlace MPEG audio & video streams from / to VOB files. You can adjust audio delays during interlacing.


All major camcorder manufacturers (e.g. Sony, Canon, Panasonic) include in the box (or have available) software that will convert AVCHD or DV to standard MPEG. Check with your dealer or the manufacturer website if you tossed your CD. (By the way, better quality video is usually found on camcorders that support firewire ports.)

These are some of the reasons I really dislike "easy to use" video editing & authoring tools. Unfortunately, the better ones all have a steep learning curve / long learning process.

Reply   |   Comment by CompNetTeach  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+35)
#36

From what I can see I cannot save this as a project to burn later. If I am incorrect please let me know because I tried everything to save it to my drive not to a blank dvd. I had added effects and everything to test it out and I had to just close it down because I could not save it.

Reply   |   Comment by Roblou  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+8)
#35

Holy Cow this is awesome software. I truly and really appreciate the responses here at gaotd because without you guys I really would not know what to look for in the software and what I would probably run into eventually.
Tanks to all.

Reply   |   Comment by godalmighty  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-4)
#34

I downloaded it and made adjustments to 16.9 and full screen.
Converted a FLV movie to AVI.
It took about an hour and forty five minutes.
Slipped it in my DVD player to watch on my TV.
Perfect!
Not quite!
The sound is off. About 30 seconds behind.
I have downwloaded over a hundred movies and used free converters before. Never once had a problem with audio. Why does this one need to be changed?
I uninstalled it. It is possible in the future I might forget to change the audio and waste almost two hours in converting?

Reply   |   Comment by shipdog  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+12)
#33

Installs but doesn't work at all for me on WinXP SP3. Same issue as last time this was offered: reports "not a valid video" for any video file added, any type. No such problem for any of the other video-to-DVD converters on this system, so obviously a fundamental bug in this program.

Reply   |   Comment by DVMarsh  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-3)
#32

For those of you with more than 99 files to put on a DVD, here is a possible solution if you don't mind joining some of your small files into one video. Download Format Factory (http://www.formatoz.com) install & run it. Click the advanced tab and use the Video Joiner to join your smaller video files into one file. This may not be the optimal solution for some, but it may be just what others are looking for.

Even if you don't need it for joining files, I highly recommend Format Factory. It is by far the best conversion program available for video & audio - and it is free!

Reply   |   Comment by Thom Porter  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+18)
#31

I have installed and downloaded this version on Windows 7 64-bit operating system. The install went without any difficulties and the registration went perfectly as well.

The interface was clean and easily navigatable. I ran a test using 13 wmv files to convert to DVD. The test run continued and burnt everything without any problems as well. The entire process took aproximately 40 minutes but all of that depends on your processing speeds. There were several background menus to choose from with the options to add your own and include music as well. The thumbnails had the option to display as a still picture or to customize with a short video clip if wanted. The features were somewhat impressive and all in all I liked it.

For some recommendations. I would hope that the interface would add more options than just the letterbox,Pan and Scan, and Full Screen. This is quite a lot but what I found was the video was slightly cut off at the edges to fit the screen. The program supports over 27 different file formats but as mentioned above, it still does not support swf. One more recommendation for the software is the addition to add an extra folder that may contain data other than video. For example, one use would be to create a video tutorial but need to include sample files such as html or txt files if the user so wished to use the DVD on their desktop.

But all in all, this is a decent software program and can be easily used.

Reply   |   Comment by Lifetime Upgrades  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+12)
#30

Overall a nice little product that could benefit from some additional features but does the job and for putting together a simple DVD is ideal for most.

Reply   |   Comment by PhilS  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)
#29

Just in case anyone else is as confused as I was initially, the 99 files limitation does not apply to the total number of DVD’s the program will allow you to make.
A very easy to use DVD authoring program that offers a good choice in the quality of video, and a decent number of menu templates. The more I have used it the more impressed I have become, most definitely a keeper.

Reply   |   Comment by OldScotty  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+9)
#28

#22: "...being able to set how much the audio should be ahead or behind the video. This happens often because a conversion has been done, which has used the wrong bit rate for the audio, so it goes out of synch with the video. This can correct that, which is not a common feature on a lot of programs that only videos,..."

NOT trying to criticize or downplay the significance of shifting audio forward/back... DVDs store content in VOB files that are containers for video along with one or more *separate* audio tracks & optionally sub tracks. Being able to shift the audio start time is probably part of the original DVD spec [it's expensive & requires an NDA to buy it, so along with most others I've never seen it], & included in many but not all DVD authoring apps. Audio delay [either + or -] is probably used more on retail DVDs, where for example there are usually a few warning &/or studio credit clips before the movie starts. At any rate you'll more often see the option to set start/delay times with apps also used with or for backing up DVDs you own -- apps geared to using your own footage assume you've fixed sync already in an editor, & normally do not include this feature.

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+11)
#27

@Lennard Gill & promytius1
It's not a file count problem really.but when you add a video file to the program it creates a new title for that video.and if i understand DVD specs correctly a DVD can only have 99 titles.If that is true then if a person has a lot of short clips,say more than 99,the person would need to combine those clips before importing them to the DVD.Hope i clarified anything from my previous post.Good day to all.

Reply   |   Comment by Pooj  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+12)
#26

RE: suggestion: "see the program not to limit the freegiveaway downloaders to only load 99 files"

The DVD spec has limitations -- remember it was created over a decade ago for less advanced electronics/players.

* * *

#6: "Before I download this, could someone help with Lennard Gills question. If the maximum number of files is 99, this program wouldn’t do what I want – the reason for this is that I do not video to feature film length (or anywhere near) but is short clips of a few minutes. Obviously this soon mounts up to a fair few files."

With a DVD the number of titles & chapters is limited -- hate to say it but the spec was originally intended for movies & TV shows etc... they may not have thought DVD creation would ever reach the levels of popularity that it has. There are ways to get at least partly around those limits, which effect slideshows on DVD too.

Probably the easiest method is to join many clips together & use a Chapter Point at the start of each segment, though there you have limits too -- you can then jump to each chapter from the menu if you want, use the Next button to jump from chapter to chapter, have the chapters play in sequence etc. [BTW, (over?) simplified, DVD players actually play playlists made up of chapters, so you can have different playlists play the same chapters in different orders.] DVDs can also have title playlists, where for example 3 files made up of several, individual clips themselves play in sequence. At any rate, by using video files with more chapters made out of individual clips, & by sometimes even using menus with no visible buttons to store clips, you can push the limits a bit, but be sure to test well because not all players like that sort of thing. Some usually more expensive DVD authoring apps may also have *tricks* to let you try and expand that sort of thing further. For more info on this very common subject Google/Bing "more than 99 video titles on DVD".

You can also go away from the DVD spec/format... Many, many players support DivX/Xvid [most players that handle the payware DivX handle the freeware Xvid too], where video files burned to a regular data CD/DVD are treated more-or-less the same way as mp3 files on a disc. There are also loads of *boxes* that play regular & often HD video, sending the signal to a TV, or use a PC/laptop -- setting up a cheaper or older PC as a media center is very popular, & there are several, free software packages you can use.

* * *

#13: "If this is targeting the home consumer who takes many short video clips of their young children and their vacation, then the 99 files limit would be an important consideration. It would be nice to know about this limitation upfront."

Yes, judging by the number of hits you get on Google searching on "more than 99 video titles on DVD" you're far from alone. OTOH if/when you're putting together a bunch of smaller clips you've taken of the kids etc., a lot of current software, including Windows Movie Maker try to make it as easy as possible to string them together in interesting ways, with optional transitions & voice-overs & such. Software packs like the Roxio suite even have apps that string them together with music automatically -- little or no manual editing required. No offense intended to anyone, those approaches may also make your video easier for others to watch -- a delicate subject I'm likely going to state poorly, not everyone loves your kids as much as you do, or finds your vacation shots as spellbinding. Also maybe bear in mind that the average film or TV show we're used to watching usually changes the view or perspective every 10-30 seconds -- we Americans have tremendously short attention spans. ;-)

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+51)
#25

I understand the whole 99 file limit, not because thats the limit, but because it's the same version as the company's trial that anyone can get at the website. But either way, I would've thought people would be more appreciative. Damn. It's free, and beggars cannot be choosers.

Reply   |   Comment by Jake  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-10)
#24

I have a Canon AVCHD camcorder that generates a file every time I stop recording video. Common videotaping tips include recording shots in short segments lasting maybe 10 seconds, and that works well for me. This creates a lot of separate digital video files in a short session. I also use my digital camera to record video in a similar way. Last year I took a weekend trip to a lighthouse and came home with 160 files that should easily fit on a single DVD. I've come home with as many as 657 files after a two week vacation. If I record 99 10-second files I calculate that I end up with only 16.5 minutes of video, so the alleged limitation hurts.

Reply   |   Comment by Amigotoe  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+8)
#23

so far so good. I like this. It reminds me of DVD Flick but with better control over the project and menu creations---thanks GOTD!

Reply   |   Comment by spk  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#22

I know a lot of people will dismiss this as "just another converter", but actually it is very much more than that. Usually you need to convert the files first and then use a DVD authoring package to assemble the converted files into a DVD (there are menus, chapters, .ifo files, etc. to be sorted out, you cannot just burn the converted files to a DVD and expect to play them on ordinary DVD players for example). Some people have been confused about that when leaving comments for programs that will only convert video.

This really is a combination of video converter and DVD authoring package, all in one. It is not as flexable as seperate software, but it is not as complex to use either. Personally, I think they have got the mixture about right on this - They have neat little features (that seem to be underplayed, as they are quite good!) such as being able to set the audio level for each seperate input file, and ALSO being able to set how much the audio should be ahead or behind the video. This happens often because a conversion has been done, which has used the wrong bit rate for the audio, so it goes out of synch with the video. This can correct that, which is not a common feature on a lot of programs that only videos, so is all the more impressive on a "combined" program like this.

Which brings me to to the only major drawback I've found while experimenting with the program today. That is when you are altering the sound in the preview pane, you get multiple pop-up warnings that the video might not be in sync with the audio, but that will not affect the output however, as it is only the preview it effects. Well, the multiple pop-ups are very annoying. They can easily be disabled, but that is not the point. It needs to be rewritten, so that they only come up once, not multiple times. More importantly, how can you preview the effect of advancing or retarding the audio track against the video, to get them back in sync, when the preview pane itself is introducing it's own serious mis-timing?

That really needs to be addressed, if it can be sorted out, then this program would be a real winner for most people, as it would be so flexable and yet still easier to learn than seperate software packages. At the moment, you are reduced to experimenting and most people will not be prepared to bother with all that trial-and-error for anything other than the most treasured recordings. My benchmark for things like that is always Irfanview - Although it is for altering stills, not video, their preview function is superb. I realise the coding is a lot harder for video, but if it could be done, this software would be outstandingly simple to use.

Finally, I've not had chance today to explore it fully, but I have not found any setting for output quality? As in, are you recording at 1 hour per DVD, 2 hours, 4 hours, etc? That setting makes an incredible difference to the output quality, so I would have appreciated knowing what it was set to, or if it was automatically adjusted (in which case, how many minutes do the input videos tally to please?)

In adjustments, it would be nice to balance the colours and perhpas sharpen as well? They are a suprising amount of effects in there already, some very unusual to find in video. However color balanceing and sharpening are likely to prove more useful than several variations on "Emboss".

Full kudos though for having settings for black & white, negative, vertical and horizontal flipping. These should be basic in all conversion/DVD authoring packages, but a suprising number of them leave one or more of these out.

Reply   |   Comment by TeeK  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+76)
#21

Downloaded successfully on Windows 7 64 bit. I have not tested the program, but the interface appears clean and well organized. Please note the automatic updates are "on" so you should disable them to avoid losing the program after today. Unless I am misunderstanding the companies intent, their are no free updates as listed in their GOTD terms.

Reply   |   Comment by Londons Calling  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-4)
#20

I would tend to agree, 99 files is a good amount of movies to have on a DVD, but in the description it states you can make video clips and to me that means short videos, and then it can use more than 99 videos on a DVD very easily. I will check this out though, and it would have been nice to see that in the posting.

Reply   |   Comment by larry  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-6)
#19

To No. 7, can I install Vista too from a thumbdrive, using this software? Would it be the same instructions at the link you give?

Reply   |   Comment by Tim McMillian  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-6)
#18

Downloaded, installed and registered. The first time I tried to use it, my Norton Internet Security blocked it stating something about suspicious activity with the program. I tried it again and it wouldn't even open...? Anybody have a problem with their security programs?

Reply   |   Comment by mcleod55  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#17

Follow-up to Lennard - sorry, I did see you also figured that out in a subsequent post, combining file sets to create larger ones, and I do not think file number is a limit on a DVD; I think it is simply the total size of the files, and if I understand the program's abilities, you would not be, as others suggest, adding, say 99 files, but only 1; or as many sets of combined files as will fit. Therefore the initial compression of the files will matter, and the compression of the output file will determine how many files fit an any one media, it is not the number of files. This has a nice interface, installed flawlessly, and runs well; thanks for this one!

Reply   |   Comment by promytius1  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+13)
#16

So far I'm a bit disappointed in the menu template options.The button placement should have options to use text and where to place them.I don't like the squares.
Also,the chapters don't seem very adjustable.

Reply   |   Comment by duder  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+10)
#15

I had to laugh as I believe this was offered not too long ago by GAOD and I installed it.
I first went to their web page and checked to see if it would convert SWF files...
It said it did...great!
So I tried to convert an SWF file and it would not convert this file.

I sent them an email about this and when I look now on the web page it does not list SWF files in their references:o)

Reply   |   Comment by Sherwood Tucker  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+25)
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