As # 47 stated did not get the problem fixed in time before I retired for the evening. Even at that I don't know how I could have achieved re-registering as I had used all of my email addresses (3). Will not get to try the program.

Unfortunately, because they took too long to fix their system I wasn't able to get a registration code in time. This will have to be given away again. I'm sure I'm not the only person to have missed out on the offer because of this.

Took all of 5 min to completely set up... including lic retrevial via email which was dispatched immediately. Thank you -

This is what others say about Format Factory....in CNet.

"Horrible software contains malware"
July 8, 2013 | By ayubm1986

Hijacked my computer. This software contains Trojan that takes over your computer and sends paypal and credit card details to an unknown e-mail adress.

This was confirmed by my firewall and anti-virus. DO NOT INSTALL THIS malware junk.
Summary
I would not recommend this to ANYONE.
----------------------

"STILL installs unwanted toolbar"
June 29, 2013 | By henning.liese

although I unchecked the ASK Toolbar check box I still installed it anyway. Found Out about it after I rebooted and Firefox asked me to enable the toolbar.
I uninstalled it again. THAT is unacceptable for such a great working program ...

Thanks to Blaze Video + GOTD.

I actually used the software to convert a few video files.
It worked flawlessly.

I actually used this software to download a video from YouTube.
It worked but the software programmer seems to have fallen in love with MKV container.

So my guess is that some never actually tried the software and just join in the criticism, based on other people's comments.

Cons
*Has no feature to “keep original input resolution” for output videos

Didn't like this at all.The lack of the above feature is a major put off.will never use this type of converter. The above feature is a must.

@13 Phil K
Try XVID4PSP there is a "pass size" option that can gave you a close to your desired file size with a pretty good quality

A good reason to use a video downloader is you may have a slow connection and can't stream? you can download and watch video later.

Use Orbit Downloader as Streaming Media Recorder:
Orbit Downloader is a free Streaming Media Recorder which can help you to record Streaming Media from streaming media sites include social video sites and socia music sites easily and with great speed. ...
http://www.orbitdownloader.com/how-to-record-streaming-media.htm

Last Non Adware Version: Orbit Downloader 2.8.17:
http://www.filehippo.com/download_orbit_downloader/6370/
----------------------------

I Also like: YTD YouTube Downloader: http://youtubedownload.altervista.org/

I had a similarly blank Rego Key in the return email (for my Dial-Up address only). Minutes later [on my other PC] I requested the FREE KEY and got it immediately [using my ADSL email address]. Haven't tried the software yet.

Thanks to GOTD & all commentators for this wonderful service.
Cheers from OZ !!

Dear friends, this is Helen Wood from BlazeVideo, I am sorry that the registration code sending system broke down some time ago, now it has been fixed. Please feel free to get the free registration code right now. Sorry again for causing you any inconvenience.

I also got my activation email and the registration code field was also blank too!

If you only want to you just need to use ffmpeg to encode, it only takes seconds to hours

ffmpeg is a great hyper fast video and audio encoder program - however, the command line process isn't for everyone. For those who would like a GUI approach to this powerful application:

Windows: Avanti http://avanti.arrozcru.com/
Avanti versions expect a recent FFmpeg build (January 2013 up)
You can download the latest static Win32 build here: http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/
and copy ffmpeg.exe and ffplay.exe to the ffmpeg folder at your Avanti install directory. If the latest build fails with the current Avanti version, try an older build from this archive: http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/win32/static/

All you need to do is set destination audio and video codec settings to "copy audio" and "copy video" and set container for video, i use mp4, a few other options you can set as well.

----------------
Mac: ffmpegX http://www.ffmpegx.com/

Where is the Registration code?
The e-mail sent by Blaze contains no code (blank)

I downloaded, installed and went through the registration process with no problems, but for one. When I received the activation email, the Registration Code line was blank. Could someone PLEASE clarify the problem.

Have you people really tested the program? How?
There was no registration code in their email (the reg code field was blank)!

Unable to register Blaze Media Pro after install email registration number field was blank.

I have downloaded, installed the app, filled out the form. The email came back with the code number blank. Cannot register it.

I recieved the email from the company after filling out my name and email.

The registration code was empty (blank).

The problem is that the program does NOT accept bkank (or space) in the code field.

Running ONLY as a trial. NO GOOD.

Will propably have to uninstall.

Read the title, description and thought it sounded like a really good product--one that could possibly replace a couple that I already have on my computer. BUT after reading all the reviews, I don't think I will even bother downloading this one, thank you very much. I do appreciate the offer.

As already mentioned, Format Factory is the BEST and is FREE! It will convert from anything to anything (or at the very least, I've never heard of a format it doesn't support.) It has a HUGE number of preset options to help you target your platform. Batch operations are supported, you can queue up any number of files to convert, each with different settings (or the same) and then start the conversion and walk away. My only desire is to see this program take advantage of GPU power when available...

Like Stephen, above, I got an email with a blank license code.

I tried it again with a second email address and got the same thing.

Installed great...registered and got my email BUT my reg code: field was blank also....went and used the trial and converted a video to use on my android phone and seems to work fine...retried to send for another code but my email is already in the system and it wont send another email without another email address. :(

I downloaded and went to the registration site and entered my information and was sent an email without a registration code. I thought maybe there was a glitch, so I did it again using my other email address, but got the same results. No way to register the program without that.

#7: "It says you can convert “at high speed”, not true in the least, it took 24 minutes to convert a 15 minute AVI on a Win7 64bit with 6Gig of RAM."

If it helps at all... I think your post has a lot of good questions BTW...
Lots & lots of factors effect transcoding speed, but the one thing I've seen most often lately is the converter automatically turning on GPU assist -- on any ffmpeg-based app this slows it to a crawl on this rig, despite having an AMD/ATI 7870.

"The “Preview” feature doesn’t work for AVI or MP4 formats. It would not convert my MP4 videos, but does work on AVI’s."

A guess would be it doesn't like the encoding settings or format used in the .mp4 files, or there's some sort of conflict with some video-related software that's already been installed. There are enough converters available that it's not likely worth your time/effort to troubleshoot just this one app, but you might want to make sure it is in fact just this one app, e.g. *If* there's a problem with your .mp4 videos, the longer it goes undetected the more videos you'll have to either fix or toss out.

" I haven’t tried to add a subtitle to AVI yet(I’m currently converting the only video I have with subtitles from MP4 to AVI to attempt adding subtitles).

Generally speaking, & again in case it helps...
Mpeg2 video can have text-based captioning embedded with the video itself that can fairly easily be stripped out & converted to subtitles -- players that can read that captioning are rare, & while your HDTV may be able to display them, that only works for broadcast signals, since HDMI won't pass them through to the HDTV. DVDs, Blu-Ray, & cable/satellite video usually includes one or more separate subtitle streams -- with DVD & Blu-Ray they're graphics, pictures of the text with a transparent background that's overlaid on the video when you turn subtitle display on. Graphics-based subs can be included with the audio & video streams in a .mp4 or MKV file, but players that display those subs, like VLC, are a bit rare. Graphics-based subs can be OCRed [there are several apps for this], turning them into plain text files with formatting added so players know for example the times that an individual caption should be displayed. One common format is .srt, which you'll find on-line for various movies etc. - be aware that captioning & subs, regardless the format, are often (c).

A greater number of players will display subtitles when they're included in a .srt file, either embedded in a MKV file or in the same folder with a name that matches the video -- this is the only way many mp4 players will handle subs, including most often those players that come pre-installed on something like an Android tablet or cell. Because OCRing subs takes time/effort & gives imperfect results, many converters give you the option to overlay the subs on the video during conversion, making them a permanent part of the picture rather than something you can turn on/off.

" It doesn’t allow you to change the resolution(if you’ve got a CinemaScope video, you would need this) nor can you change the Bitrate."

Not sure what you mean by "CinemaScope video" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CinemaScope ]. Some video is anamorphic -- 16:9 DVDs are the most common example -- meaning the stored video frame is narrower than what's supposed to be displayed. Some converters see the 16:9 flag in the DVD video & [re]encode it at the proper aspect ratio -- others require you to play with their aspect ratio settings. 1440 x 1080 is another somewhat common anamorhpic frame size, but support varies & is more rare since it's not used often commercially -- it's not uncommon to have to use something like VirtualDub to create a regular 1080 intermediate video file. Some Windows Media & .mp4 files [e.g. from Nero Recode] can be an odd sized anamorphic video, & you'll usually have to treat those the same way.

Or maybe you're talking about odd sized video frames? It's common for 4:3 film to be shot & then cropped to whatever wide screen aspect ratio the director prefers -- the same thing's done when they shoot digitally [rather than using film], though the original image may be 16:9. Then they add letterboxing when they need a standard frame size, e.g. DVD & Blu-Ray. PCs OTOH can play pretty much anything, so the letterboxing may be dropped [cropped or cut off] with something like an .mp4 you download or a movie you re-encode using for example Nero Recode. Transcoding something like that can get dicy since most video editing apps as well as converters deal with standard frame sizes, so again it's common to use something like VirtualDub [&/or AviSynth] to add the necessary letterboxing back into place.

" It doesn’t support many devices(ex. Kindle Fire)."

I think tablets & cells are the most commonly used handhelds nowadays, & their electronics for the most part favor AVC [H.264] video -- graphics processor based video acceleration of AVC is built-in, making up for any lack of main processor horsepower. The tricky part is that AVC can include enhancements to make the picture look better, but those enhancements mean more processing, which takes more horsepower. The companies making/selling these devices may advertise that whatever tablet or cell will play whatever HD video frame size, but that's often AVC encoded without using the same quality enhancements for example as is used on Blu-Ray. That means you'll often get the best looking video by using a smaller frame size, *but*, using those enhancements. Long story short, you can usually run a couple of tests to determine which looks best [with no stuttering etc.], using different frame sized iPhone & iPad AVC profiles. Every converter I've seen has profiles for those Apple devices, & at least 99% of the time there's little or no difference between them & any profiles for Android devices.

* * *

#11: "Takes hours to rip a DVD (although this could be the nature of the beast)."

If you're going from a DVD disc [vs. a DVD on HDD], there are 2 separate parts of the job... The content has to be copied from disc, then re-encoded. Copying from the disc you'll often run up against a sort of speed governor built into most DVD drives as a means of DRM -- MediaCodeSpeedEdit may help there. For the re-encoding part many ffmpeg-based converters don't do as well with GPU assist turned on, so try it both ways, on & off. While quality may suffer, you might also look for converters or encoders designed specifically to take advantage of your graphics hardware, e.g. there are several based on Nvidia's CUDA. You'll find several tips at sites like videohelp.com that taken all together may decrease the time spent transcoding your audio & video. Depending on what output format you're after, you might also want to try & find a copy of Nero Recode version 10 or earlier -- you used to be able to easily find an OEM disc with Recode pretty cheap, though it might take a bit of searching nowadays. It won't do anything regarding DRM, but from a DVD on your hard drive you're talking ~1/2 hour or less.

* * *

#13: "Always been annoyed at these things. You put a 500mb mkv file in to change to avi, and takes ages, and all of a sudden 500mb becomes 10 GIGABYTES or somesuch. The disproportional increase is baffling, and the end result not great. Not just this prog. Never tried it, but virtually all others"

Well, it's like comparing a 1 megapixel image with a 15 megapixel image -- the image with 15x more data means a much larger file. Forget about the container for a moment -- that's all avi & mkv are -- and focus on the content... the larger file simply holds lots & lots more data. Unfortunately when you go smaller to larger, most all of that extra data's also useless.

With video the way it works is each frame starts out as a complete image, the same thing you'd get using a still camera. Then, to reduce the amount of data that would have to be read from storage & displayed, some sort of video compression is added, at the very least converting each still image to jpeg [called motion jpeg], &/or storing the video data in more native YUV etc. Once the editors are done with it, the video's then encoded [recompressed] for distribution using something like mpg2 or AVC, much the same way a recording studio might compress a song, encoding it to mp3 before posting it on-line. There are different quality levels based on the amount of data that has to be moved from storage to player to speakers or screen, but in all cases a lot of data's tossed out, sacrificed to make the file smaller. You can take those files & re-encode them, making them smaller still, & sometimes that makes sense, e.g. Blu-Ray disc to tablet. OTOH going in the opposite direction has almost no benefit at all -- it's like enlarging one of the icons on your Windows desktop to full screen, where yes, there's a color to fill each of your screen's pixels, but no more detail than the original icon possessed. The only benefit is if you're editing a video or mp3 file, you won't lose any additional data to re-compression while you're editing -- later when you re-compress the finished audio or video you will lose some unavoidably.

As far as specifics, I've no idea what format the video is or was in your MKV or AVI files. If the files got bigger you increased the frame size, went to a format with less compression, or both. It's often possible to take content out of one container & put it in another, as-is, but you don't use a converter for that. It's also a bit unusual to go MKV -> AVI. I'd humbly suggest searching a site like videohelp.com for whatever it is/was you're trying to accomplish, i.e. why you wanted to create an avi in the 1st place, & hopefully find the best ways [& the best software] to do that.

The installation went smooth, I tested few options and they worked correctly (the video conversion was a bit slow in my case) but I found it difficult to use. For my needs, I prefer to use few free alternatives such as:

YouTube mp3: online service used to convert any YouTube video to MP3 file. The service is free to use and very quick.
http://www.youtube-mp3.org/

Video to MP3 Converter Free: convert any previously downloaded YouTube video to MP3 audio file. The software is freeware.
http://www.dvdavitools.com/products/item/video-to-mp3-converter-free/

Mp3 Volumer: increase the volume of some low-quality MP3 files downloaded from online youtube-to-mp3 services (youtube-mp3.org). The software is freeware.
http://www.mp3volumer.com/

Thank you for the giveaway anyway :)

The field on video converters is so saturated.

THE BEST,PORTABLE and FREE: Video to Video Converter
http://www.videotovideo.org/

Got my activation email however the reg code field was blank

Still waiting for my E mail with keycode some 4+ hours later.
Tried re-sending the form. It won't let me.
Says that E address is already in use.
I know.
It's MINE.
So where's the keycode???
(Sidebar: In fairness... this is the FIRST time I've had trouble receiving an E'd keycode. All the rest arrived immediately. LOVE GOTD.)

I downloaded and all good on install.
Filled out form, got quick response by email.
Took time to try software out.
Picture slideshow creator works ok. Pretty quick creation and conversion.
Not many user options though in the creation of slideshow.
The "Clip" and the "Edit" don't work.
And the "Merge" takes a very, very, very long time to create eg. two 29Mb videos.
I couldn't imagine staying all night waiting for a movie length or music video conversion.
I also find most "Utube" downloaders a waste of time because you have to go to the website to obtain url to copy it into the "Utube downloader" anyway so why not use "download helper" in your firefox and internet explorer bars instead. Found here:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-downloadhelper/ (FIREFOX)
OR here:
http://ie-downloadhelper.com/ (INTERNET EXPLORER)
I didn't check out the "Open DVD" function.
I'm not sure if I want to spend time with the conversion aspect.
Best "Video Conversion" software (I got my free versions from Giveawayoftheday.com) I've used is Aiseesoft Total Media Converter. found here
http://aiseesoft.com/total-media-converter.html
Thanx ;-)

I just used this to merge 7 flv's into one ~58 min XVID.AVI
The video was converted as I set, but the audio was not.
I set it to MP3 44.1 at 128K but the merged avi file has audio of 48 at 32K .I have no idea why. (XP SP3 i5)

I would like to see the blazeHDTV as GOTD

#5: got the same thing. Uninstalled and reinstalled with Admin privileges. Worked! However, their homepage (Tech Spec) says it can convert dvr-ms. It can't, simply crashes. Tried with different files. No use.

I made the mistake of purchasing one of Blaze's programs a few years back. The terms stated no refunds, and advised users to test out the trial version on their machines and make sure it worked before purchasing. Problem was, it worked fine right up until I entered the reg key, then it stopped working and never worked again. Customer support was non-existent, and I chalked it up to developers who didn't really know how to develop. No thanks - I'll pass on Blaze products.

The inability to keep original input resolution

Always been annoyed at these things. You put a 500mb mkv file in to change to avi, and takes ages, and all of a sudden 500mb becomes 10 GIGABYTES or somesuch. The disproportional increase is baffling, and the end result not great. Not just this prog. Never tried it, but virtually all others

A really interesting box of tricks and the only thing that stops me really liking it is the fact that it will NOT “keep original input resolution” nor will it let you set the values.
I created a slideshow and it is the best quality slideshow I have seen, this was reflected in the rather large size. Sadly, like most slideshows individual images could not have individual audio attached to them.
One rather alarming aspect of the program was converting from a 640 x 480 AVI to an iPad size video in MP4 format when all four cores lit up to 100% and stayed there, never seen that before! From this it would appear it does not use GPU power.
I tested this before I read Ashraf’s comments and came to exactly the same conclusions, they are worth reading because the program is worth reading about. If the developers read his comments and act on them they will have a really decent product that is worth the money.

The inability to keep original input resolution and the fact that you cannot set it manually is extremely disappointing and if I do decide to remove it from my hard drive that will be the reason.

Download dot com reviews by users:
Pros
Nice user interface.
Cons
Poor customer support. Emailed their technical support with a problem. Asked for more information which I gave. Never heard from them again. Program works for some, not all DVDs. Has trouble with large DVD segments (2.5 hours or more).
Takes hours to rip a DVD (although this could be the nature of the beast).

WOW! This software will "convert DVD/Video for payable by kitchen handheld MP4 players" ! I'm so excited. I have so many kitchen handheld MP4 players (don't we all?), and I am so desperate for help. Will this work in my bathroom, living room, bedroom or family room?

Very disappointing software is unuseable as a fully licenced program because the licence code is not given even after filling in the required form on their website

I've tried and so far I'm quite disappointed with it's functions. It says you can convert "at high speed", not true in the least, it took 24 minutes to convert a 15 minute AVI on a Win7 64bit with 6Gig of RAM. The "Preview" feature doesn't work for AVI or MP4 formats. It would not convert my MP4 videos, but does work on AVI's. I haven't tried to add a subtitle to AVI yet(I'm currently converting the only video I have with subtitles from MP4 to AVI to attempt adding subtitles). It doesn't allow you to change the resolution(if you've got a CinemaScope video, you would need this) nor can you change the Bitrate. It doesn't support many devices(ex. Kindle Fire). All in all, I'm not impressed at all.

Thought I'd take a look...

Accepted all my 9 files of various formats by drag 'n drop including those with Chinese character filenames, including flac & mp3.

x Didn't play any of the files. Displayed 'loading'.

Format parameters have a 'default' setting. What this is isn't very apparent. 'Keep original' would be so much more useful.

(The setup.exe was detected by Bitdefender IS 2013.. had to shut off its AV - reported to Bitdefender).

Installed the software and then tried to run it. All I got was an empty window entitled Video Magic with only a close button.

Oops, I mean Blaze Media Pro.

Downloaded and installed it but cannot start the program. After blank white Startscreen the program hangs and doesn't go further. Please help.

I used Blaze Video Converter for a long time. Now I'm happy to get this Giveaway. It's awesome software.

Pros
*Works with multiple input and output formats
*Allows you to perform basic video edits
*Does more than just convert videos, such as ability to rip DVDs
*Supports batch processing

Cons
*Has no feature to "keep original input resolution" for output videos
*Can't be set to automatically shutdown/hibernate after conversion
*No offline help

Free Alternatives
Review of best free video and audio converter for Windows

Final Verdict
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