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Sothink Video Converter Giveaway
$29
EXPIRED

Giveaway of the day — Sothink Video Converter

Convert Videos Between All Popular Formats with Sothink Video Converter!
$29 EXPIRED
User rating: 240 34 comments

Sothink Video Converter was available as a giveaway on April 29, 2010!

Today Giveaway of the Day
$39.99
free today
Uninstall programs without leftovers!

Sothink Video Converter is a compact and user-friendly video converting application. It can fast convert videos between all formats including AVI, MPEG, iPod, iPhone, PSP, 3GP, Zune, etc.

This video converter can simply crop and trim videos into clips or segments, and convert video clips into other popular formats. It also provides video previewing and batch video conversion mode for convenience.

Compared with other video converters, Sothink Video Converter will bring you faster video conversion experience, and higher picture quality. It is a professional all-in-one video converter.

System Requirements:

Windows Vista/XP; Server 2003/2007/2008

Publisher:

SothinkMedia

Homepage:

http://www.sothinkmedia.com/video-converter/index.htm

File Size:

13.1 MB

Price:

$29

GIVEAWAY download basket

Developed by MPCSTAR
Developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated
Developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated
Transform media files for playback on various devices.

Comments on Sothink Video Converter

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#34

There are excellent software given away by GAOTD, but this is not one of them. I have downloaded and installed it, and although free today, I would not keep it to clutter my machine.
An alternative, completely free, Any Video Converter, is an excellent, and does about everything this one does, and everything that is mentioned about Sothink as "lacking", or negative.It has one of the same shortcomings however, cannot set a chosen name for the output file; however, if a file with same name exists, a number(1,2...) is appended.It is still light weight,has Flash support,general MP4 settings, allows changing the codec, bitrate, resolution. Choose the output folder; batch processing, merge multiple titles into one; hardcode subtitles. It has crop/cut/colour adjustment.Hell, you can drag an IFO from a DVD folder and have the DVD converted to whatever format you want(except no RMVB support).
iWisoft, the free version, is also a better alternative(except it cannot hardcode subs).
Yes, all these are important features that a $20 or so software should have, and the lack of a certain feature for the simple fact that it is available in a different product marketed by same company, well...that's just lame.
Bottom line, thumbs down.

Reply   |   Comment by Somniantis  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)
#33

I've been using Format Factory for a few weeks now and it
works great AND it does mp4 and flv among many many others.
Why in the world would I want to waste disc space with this?

Reply   |   Comment by Buskieboy  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#32

Excellent tool. Fast, Reliable, good outpout quality in AVI. Besides that, if you have avisynth and vobsub installed, it is a fast way of *pasting* subs into video files without having to do ANYTHING EXTRA, replacing avi recomp ( a great tool too) I say, install avi recomp that installs all the subtitles plug in needed, and then install this one, convert from avi to avi putting the sub and avi file, both with the same name in the same folder, and voila, you'll get a perfect avi with subs pasted. definitely, a keeper.

Reply   |   Comment by Pablo Senzanonna  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#31

Read all of the Positives and Negatives in the reviews But decided to install anyways, since it had one feature I have been unable to use any other program for, Converting video successfully for PSP. (could write a book on all my unsuccessful attempts.)

I was Pleasantly surprised when this not only converted more than 10 videos without issue, and all of these videos played wonderfully on my PSP, but it also kept my ratio on these videos. my widescreen remained widescreen, and my standard remained standard.

My only concern with this program would be that it did tend to task my processor quite a bit, and upon further research I found that it loaded ALL of my codex's upon startup. As my PC is the Center of my home media entertainment system, I have a Lot of codex's loaded.

For a PSP converter I do Like this Program, and will use it for this purpose, But due to the automatic loading of codex's that it does not necessarily need to use in a session, this will not be my day to day conversion program.

If you do happen to use a Lot of Codex's or have a slower PC be prepared for a bit of hang time.

Also, Has anyone who has tried this program found a way to disable the notification Music on completion?

Reply   |   Comment by Selentra  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)
#30

Sorry for the developer, but with the limitations in place even as a give away today's offer doesn't compare well.

Get Format Factory instead. http://www.formatoz.com/

It is free, simple to use, converts from FLV, converts to MP4 and does video splits. It works with any format you would care about. Did I say it is always free?

Reply   |   Comment by Ricardo  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#29

aRenegade I have passed on saying anything for awhile, but I agree with most of the other users on here. If you review the Giveaway then just post the results, and yes you can express your opinion. But don't just bash and belittle. We read these reviews to determine if it is worth downloading. Not to hear how no one else needs to look further than your thoughts.

Reply   |   Comment by Alan  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)
#28

Just a follow up to my original post at #22. Uninstalled Sothink, and my other conversion utilities were able to convert from xvid to mp4 once again.

When I ran a conversion after removing Sothink, I got a prompt regarding ffdshow (which I'll usually get the first time running ffdshow), so Sothink was definitely doing something with the previous codecs installed.

Conversion was pretty slow with Sothink as well.

Reply   |   Comment by conversion  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)
#27

Although undocumented,the program supports drag and dropping of flv files in order to convert them.
:)

Btw I appreciate aRenegade’s rebellion,her/his insight... and eloquence.

Reply   |   Comment by StrayCat  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#26

Installed Sothink Video Converter and converted .mp4 to .avi very easily. Want to show video on digital photo frame. The .avi is rotated. Is there a way to stop this from happening?

Reply   |   Comment by Pat  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#25

#7: "I can’t think of any video converter product that allows a user to freely change codec’s ... how often do you play with codec’s in alternative video converter products?"

There are 3 basic design choices for video-related apps -- 1) they can provide all codecs &/or Direct Show filters internally [e.g. Cyberlink's PowerDVD], 2) they can rely on whatever you have installed that's available to all Windows software, & 3) some combination of 1 & 2. Generally more advanced apps use the combo route, though there have also been some on GOTD. Why change? Because nothing works everywhere. If you only transcode for a Zune or iPod for example, then once you have a tool that works, there's little need to change anything unless it's to improve something -- if however you [even occasionally] want your video to also play somewhere else, you either change stuff or do everything all over again using another tool. Changing stuff is usually quicker/easier.

"As for not supporting “general” .MP4, I don’t believe that’s much of an issue considering it’s a hardware device and part of a host of New Wholesale Products in China."

Actually Sothink Video Converter, like other apps using Xvid, does produce mp4 avi files [Xvid *only* does either the more generic H263, or if set up properly in the front end app, the more recent & efficient H264]. Don't be confused by the .avi file extension -- .avi, .mov, .wmv, .divx, .mp4, .h264, .vc1, .avc, & a whole host of other video file extensions can include or are exclusively mp4.

* * *

#8: "It does in fact keep close to the same quality..."

fwiw... No transcoder is going to maintain 100% quality. Output quality is influenced by the encoder, by re-sizing methods [when used], by the level of video compression [more bandwidth / higher bit rate = less compression], by how good the source was to start with, & by how similar the in & out formats are [e.g. you're going to lose more if one is RGB & the other YUV based]. Every step transcoding, re-sizing, re-encoding etc loses quality. To actually compare results from app *X* vs. *Y*, start with the same source, set identical bit rates & output formats, then compare results. If you want to go all out, there are comparison tools for/with AviSynth.

"But it did shrink the video size and didn’t give any options to maintain video size. Can’t allocate output directory at all..."

Can set output folder, & depending on the template you choose, you can set output size too.

* * *

#13: "Thorn by my side finding something free to convert to MP4…"

Check videohelp.com -- click the Tools tab & you'll see all sorts of choices, including limited reviews & user ratings. Otherwise I can't recommend just 1 app not knowing what you're starting out with, &/or where you want to play the result. Mp4 itself is rather generic, & can mean anything from Quicktime to Windows Media, Real, etc...

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+6)
#24

SourceTec overall produces dependable products and I’ve never any problems performance wise with them. I’ve been using an older version of today’s GAOTD and liked it so much that I bought it for the free updates.

Reply   |   Comment by aRenegade  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#23

Two more freeware options:

1. Handbrake
2. Super

Reply   |   Comment by Happy Person  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+15)
#22

Ran into a problem with this application on two different Windows 7 x64 installs.

After this program was installed I can no longer perform xvid to mp4 (mpeg or h.264) conversions, using other conversion programs.

One quick little program I had used in the past was Allok mp4 converter, and have never had issues with it, now any xvid file that is converted only contains an audio stream, no video stream whatsoever in the converted movie.

Tested with several different files, even ones I had converted in the past using the same conversion programs, and the files will not convert into mp4 anymore. (only an audio stream is created, no video whatsoever)

I guess be careful if you have other installed conversion apps, so far it only seems to have affected xvid to mp4, other codecs will still convert to mp4 just fine (using other conversion apps)

Reply   |   Comment by conversion  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+11)
#21

I'm able to open flv by placing *.* on the filename and selecting the flv file.

I wish it could stitch multiple movie files into one file.

Reply   |   Comment by chie  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+6)
#20

I like aRenegade's comments. He looks things from different perspective. Internet is an integral part of Democracy and anyone has right to say his word. He (assuming the guys is male) doesn't offend or insult anyone and anything. It's just a different perspective and different angle. Go aRenegade! There're people who like to read your comment.

Reply   |   Comment by Jimmy  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-16)
#19

With file dates of 2/09, today's GOTD, Sothink Video Converter, is a simpler, wizard-based converter compared to their recent, more ambitious video conversion apps. It's still high impact as far as Windows goes, including older ffdshow & Flash-ax setups, Xvid, & 16 video-related files for Windows' system folder. Conversion speed seems very poor, & it bungled the aspect ratio, badly, at default settings. You'd be better off picking up one of the Fast or WinX converters [they've been offered for free several times in the last 4 - 6 months], or most any of the free conversion apps at videohelp.com.

Ffdshow is a free collection of audio/video codecs with several complicated configuration windows. By itself ffdshow is *usually* not a problem, but as it's configured to take over handling of different types of audio &/or video, you can get conflicts with whatever software previously did that particular job. In a nutshell it can break audio/video apps, including players, as well as break audio/video handling of some formats in Windows itself. You can usually fix those sorts of problems, but it's not fun... in extreme cases think days rather than hours. The included Flash ax setup adds Flash9f.ocx to your system rather than the current version. And while the included Xvid files don't show version numbers, they're dated 2/5/07 -- the last version off Xvid's site is dated 7/6/09. Seven of the files intended for Windows' system folder can conflict with other software installations.

On current hardware average conversion speed for files containing both audio & video is roughly real-time... if the video's 10 minutes long, it takes roughly 10 minutes to convert it [outputting HD &/or encoding to AVC generally take longer]. Today's Sothink Video Converter took 2 minutes + to convert 20 seconds of DVD video [from a VOB file] to 320 X 240 wmv [Windows Media], using between 33 - 36% CPU with an AMD quad in XP Pro SP3 32. DVD mpg2 has 2 possible aspect ratios, & the aspect ratio is included in the file's header... today's Sothink Video Converter took 16:9 wide screen video & pillar boxed it in a 4:3 frame -- it should have lettterboxed it [black bars top & bottom] [that's what was set by default], but instead it narrowed the picture even further adding black bars at the sides. With only 2 possibilities for the original aspect ratio, & with that info embedded in the file itself, well written software handles conversion from DVD video both automatically & correctly.

My advice is if you need to convert video, find out 1st what you want/need to convert it too -- that itself narrows any potential software choice. Sometimes, like with a family member's Zune, you have a few format choices -- might check then to see what looks the best at the same file sizes. If you're targeting hardware [vs. PC playback etc] research to see what works & is popular -- you may not have any choice of software, & when you do have a choice, be aware that having a template for whatever device doesn't mean it'll actually work on that device. Check out snapshots of program windows to make sure you'll be comfortable using a conversion app -- the best software in the world is useless to you if you can't figure out how to use it. Very often working with audio/video is a progression where you start out simple, advancing as you learn... it's often better to *trade-up* to more advanced software &/or methods as/when needed, kind of like jumping into the deep end of the pool *after* you've learned how to swim.

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+26)
#18

It seemsa to me that a couple of the favourable comments above are somewhat suspect in the way they praise this trhing. Afetr all, it's just a perfectly serviceable viseo converter that converts well, but lacks several of the possibilities of many others, even free ones. And it certainly lacks functions that other software that has been given away free on this site has had.

Nonetheless, it does convert well. And that's all that can be said for it.

Reply   |   Comment by laduqesa  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+8)
#17

I couldn't even start the program - it crashed at start-up.
OS: WinXP SP3.

Reply   |   Comment by Mike  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-2)
#16

To aRenegade: Your input would be much more helpful if you kept the personal (and albeit 'angry') stuff out of a software review. Not sure how many times you used the word "I" or referred to yourself.. it was a lot I believe. It's not about you... it's about the product you're reviewing. I look at this site every day and read user comments to decide as to whether or not I want to try the program. I don't read them to get 7th grade dribble like yours. Have an awesome day dude!

Reply   |   Comment by thedude  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+21)
#15

This program is good but can't be compare to Total Video Converter which can do any format from FLV to Real media, you name it will do it and has extra features like hard coding a subtitle files to a video which is important if your Divx video player can’t read subtitle files separately… if you are an Anime fan like me and you like foreign movies like me TVC is the best solution you won’t regret trying it. Did I mention TVC can make your videos into DVD format and burn them as well? Portable videos format it will do with ease with the preset functions.

Reply   |   Comment by Peter  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+17)
#14

Tried to install it (more than once) on my XP machine. It will not accept the registration!... I see I have 30 days of free use. Tried a conversion from MP4 to AVI. Think I'll return to Format Factory.

Reply   |   Comment by Peter Huber  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+9)
#13

#1 - Thank you for;

"Does not support “general” .MP4 output:

Thorn by my side finding something free to convert to MP4...

Reply   |   Comment by Lou  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#12

Thanks Ashraf. Your reviews make it incredibly easy to decide whether to download software or not. Thanks also for mentioning the free alternatives.
It's great that GiveAwayOftheDay provides software for free, but it's nice that people test the programmes out for us, so we don't get disappointed.

Reply   |   Comment by sherlizz  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+44)
#11

To aRenegade:
I think that no .FLV and no .MP4 is a big deal and not trivial at all.
Just because you don't use those formats, doesn't mean everyone doesn't. Ashraf points out downfalls of a product, he does not BASH the product. Based on what he has to say you can either download the program or not, based on YOUR OWN needs. For me, I need a .MP4 & .FLV converter, so I will not be downloading this. I must thank Ashraf for his review and pointing out, that FOR ME this program would be taking up hard drive space and not particularly useful TO ME.
STOP with your own "faultfinding" and let the "did you find this comment useful? yes/no", do the speaking for itself. I usually see a + next to Ashraf's and a - next to your's.

Reply   |   Comment by xxx-xxx  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+74)
#10

7 @ aRenegade

Isn't it about time you gave up on the personal slander? I'm sure many people like me just "down mark" you without even reading your review. You are well past tedious now.
It's about time the moderators intervened.

Reply   |   Comment by Nigel  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-5)
#9

If neglecting FLV format was a marketing strategy as aRenegade suggests, then it was a poor strategy. I refuse to install several products for different common formats if I can install one that handles all of them. FLV is very common; therefore, it should be included in this product's feature set.

Reply   |   Comment by sys-eng  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+37)
#8

Gave it a test run, I found the Sothink converter to be very basic, without many options. It does in fact keep close to the same quality on the output video. But it did shrink the video size and didn't give any options to maintain video size. Can't allocate output directory at all, it puts the video's where it wants and you can't direct output where you choose. I'm a user of both Format factory and iWisoft free video converter, both are good alternatives. The iWisoft does maintain video quality far better than Format Factory. Both are reliable and in my opinion, still the better choice.

Reply   |   Comment by cixelsiD  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+36)
#7

I’ll assume SourceTec decided in their marketing strategy not to support flash video (i.e., FLV) in today’s GOTD. I’ll also assume that decision was because its popularity warranted a separate product (which they offer for $19.95). In a capitalistic society, it’s hard to fault them for doing that. I guess that’s one of the reasons it’s called “business”. The program itself has a clean interface, sufficient for the user to work with a minimum of eyestrain. Now if it couldn’t be minimized, that wouldn’t be a good thing; but resizing?

Should there be the need to rename the output file, which by the way doesn’t happen that often in the first place, with any file, all the user has to do is open the folder that contains those output files, select that file, and choose “Rename” in the taskbar. Alternatively, a user can use Windows Explorer and go to the output folder, do a right-click on the file, and select “Rename” in the drop down menu. It takes a bit of expertise to play around with codec’s (compressor-decompressor or, more commonly, coder decoder). Actually, I can’t think of any video converter product that allows a user to freely change codec’s. Besides that just ask yourself how often do you play with codec’s in alternative video converter products?

As for not supporting “general” .MP4, I don’t believe that’s much of an issue considering it’s a hardware device and part of a host of New Wholesale Products in China. And RealMedia Variable Bitrate (RMVB), a variable bitrate extension of the RealMedia multimedia container format developed by RealNetworks RMVB files are extremely popular for distributing Asian content, especially Chinese television episodes and movies.

You Needn’t Surf Out Of This Site For This Verdict:

Once again and time after time, it seems that things on a Bad List, may not be that bad after all. They’re but more of the same old trivial and unjustified faultfinding.

Reply   |   Comment by aRenegade  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-93)
#6

Is this better than the Sothink HD Video Converter that was given away recently on here ?

Reply   |   Comment by Dave C.  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-27)
#5

the quality of Sothink converter is far more better that the free alternatives you have given here. Please do mention it in the review, or else people would miss the better once.

Reply   |   Comment by digish  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-21)
#4

I had tested these softwares. Full data
Tested On : AMD Turion x64 Ultra Dualcore 2.30GHz / 4GB Ram / ATI Mobility Radeon HD4300
Background apps : HFS, Apache, MySQL Server (got only 1 concurrent request by Googlebot)

Input Video : MP4V 512x384 1164Kbps 23.98FPS
Input Audio : MP3 48000Hz 128Kbps 2ch
Input Size 1 : Transformers Energon - 01 - Cybertron City.avi 175MB 00:21:06
Input Size 2 : Transformers Energon - 02 - Energon Stars.avi 175MB 00:19:51

Output Video : XviD 320x240 386Kbps 24FPS
Output Audio : MP3 22050Hz 64Kbps 2ch
Output Priority : Normal
Output Other : Default Settings

Format Factory 2.3 (Serial processing only)
Output 1 Taken : 04:26 69.1MB
Output 2 Taken : 03:44 61.5MB

Sothink Video Converter 2.0 (Serial processing only) + XVID Quality 0
Output 1 Taken : 06:12 76.7MB
Output 2 Taken : 05:58 73MB

Video Convert Master 8.0.1.18 (Serial processing only)
Output 1 Taken : 04:01 69.7MB
Output 2 Taken : 03:34 65.6MB

Would use FormatFactory or Video Convert Master.

Reply   |   Comment by Blastsound  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+54)
#3

I'd like to using online video converters such as zamzar.com and vixy.net .

Reply   |   Comment by Neison  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-64)
#2

Hi, good morning!
What Format Does Sothink Video Converter Support?
Input Format AVI, WMV, ASF, MKV, RM, RMVB, MOV, QT, MP4, DV,
3GP, 3GP2, 3G2, 3GPP, MPG, MPE, MPEG, DAT, VOB, ASX
Output Video AVI, WMV, MPEG, MOV, MP4, 3GP, 3G2, 3GP2, 3GPP
Support Devices iPod, iPhone, PSP, 3GP mobile, Zune, etc
The output is aim to microsoft, Apple and portable device ; ipod, iphone, zune, etc.
Some other converter will support flash format but instal in many case, the flash
codec need to be instal in your systeme, it mean you need to have adobe flash .
You can convert to these output format but you can not choose the specific codec you want it to use (except AVI), it is design to be quic and easy to the most of us (general public).
Not a bad one but if you have the need for complex choice of quality
or need to have total control on the output format setting, maybe you
should consider alternative like FormatFactory - More complet and complex, AND you need to understand the format first!
Hope it help you... Have a nice day
Col-Hectorz

Reply   |   Comment by Col-Hectorz  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+40)
#1

The Good
* Straightforward and easy to use.
* Supports multiple input and output video formats.
* Supports iPod, iPhone, PSP, and Zune.
* Supports drag + drop and batch processing.
* Allows users to crop or trim videos before converting.
* Allows user to automatically shutdown computer after conversions have finished.

The Bad
* Does not support .FLV input or output.
* Does not support .RMVB output.
* Does not support "general" .MP4 output.
* Does not allow user to change video codec for any output except for .AVI.
* No way to change name of output file, or rename it if a file with the same name already exists in output directory.
* Program window is not resizeable.

Free Alternatives
iWisoft Video Converter
FormatFactory

For final verdict, recommendations, and full review please click here.

Reply   |   Comment by Ashraf  –  13 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+190)
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