In the idea section a person said they cannot think of a way to use this and should be provided some suggestions.
Just go to the website and watch the video before you make a suggestion that is already covered.

Installed it, Love it.

This little utility really kicks some serious stuff for making videos and by-passing the whole power point circuit. Very cool... if you have a use for it. Much nicer than Animoto as well.

Would be nice if it had an "undo" function though.

Thanks so much for this give-away.

#30, Mike
Starting from what you begin with I'm pretty sure that Boxoft must be a refoundation/affiliate of the Chinese developer A-PDF who participated here (1&only time) on 3/15/07 by giving away PPT2PDF.

(I hope this is not too much of a secret to be banned from appearing.)

#21, chris, you're a day late and a dollar short, although that's partly due to moderation delays. See my comments #19 and 22. The moderator deleted my comment about how to use the ordinary, free Adobe Reader X (update yours if you're not using X) to play PDFs as slideshows, figure it out for yourself. The examples I linked were older examples just to show that PDFs can handle rich multimedia. Acrobat X no longer supports third-party legacy multimedia players, substantially reducing security vulnerabilities.

#17, beep, I don't think DVDs are cool, they're long-obsolete. I have an optical reader-writer which can write almost anything, handling formats which most can't, but I haven't burned anything in years. A DVD doesn't have the resolution to display text like you can on a computer monitor or even an HDTV, but if you want to do that sort of thing, see my comment #22 about how to do it without the installation impact of Boxoft, as noted by #30 mike (that's why I let him be the guinea-pig for this type of software).

Hmmm...a friend recommended this download. I've been under the weather, so since this is hosted as a download on a site that allows other products to download and ruin my day, if i use the wrong "DOWNLOAD HERE," come-on buttons, I goofed and got all the crap I didn't want which tried to mess up my machine. I just started making my own .PDF books of Pictures/Illustrations, with text. The friend said try this...I'm thinking the >pdf I've already made gets easily (?) transfered into a .wmv etc file I can edit, add sound to, etc. So is this easier that starting in Vegas Pro, sounds like it, but with all the cleaning I had to do of my download, before even downloading the right program, (done that now), and reading all this, I'm about ready to give up, as several people said these sorts of pdf's add security holes. What an exercise and I haven;t even opened the program and feel glad i didn't, I think..must add ghost text? great. Hmm.

I must admit I orginally thought strange who would want that. After downloading the program and playing with I can only say I want it!!!
I do agree I think it ia marketed wrongly emphasis should be on a slideshow producer that has the ability to include pdf documents.

Why so many unnecessary comments. This works so easily and registered quickly. Give it a try before you complain.

1-any images 2 video too
2-Ghostscript needed
3-tick during "capture]: press fwd button

Downloaded and installed without a problem on Win 7 64 bit - loaded as a 32 bit program. However could not convert to wmv - converted to avi okay. Don't have much use for the program, as the program pdfzilla can convert pdf to jpg and then the jpg can be loaded into Windows Movie Maker and the output file can be wmv or avi, etc.

Sorry meant to say PowerPoint. Which PPT can be saved to PDF and then altered. Vice versa.

A lot of memorial services use PDF slideshows so this could be ideal for them. I myself intend on using it for a hundred things because of the things PDF's can do, then turn into a movie, then go flash and wala, its an uploadable story book to my www pages. Its one of those programs when you really need it, you REALLY need it.

Maybe a better marketing slant would be Images to Video with Music. I recently attended a funeral where someone had taken a ton of old family photos, put transitions between them, and applied some soft background music to provide a DVD "Memories" that was displayed on a TV in the guests break room. Outside of that and maybe some marketing or training materials, this seems to have a very narrow market.

#15 - Fubar, don't be discouraged; I watch for and read your reviews and advice as often as Ashraf or Mike, you just post yours later, maybe due to time zones.

#24 - I suggest you use Revo Uninstaller for these types of downloads, it does an advanced cleaning and you will be surprised how many leftover files and entries that it find for you; by the way, the free version is just as thorough if not more so than most uninstallers that I have tried, and that is a 'higher than most' number.

Alright, I've converted a presentation using the Build To Video function, but sad to say that while the Preview clearly shows that I've added music, the final converted video does not have any Music. this is true for the avi, wmv and mpeg formats.

Anyone has a different outcome?

So, in conclusion, Music and Audio does not work. In fact, the audio feature is "greyed" out.

Is this deliberate or is this a bug? Hope the developer can shed some light on this. Thanks.

Requires Ghostscript to be installed to run PDF.

It accepts Images (jpeg, png, etc) other than PDF format.

It handles slide interval but not individual slide. Once set, it applies to all the slides.

It allows you to add music.

There are many transitions and there is a preview. The Preview is of bad blur quality but I did not actually convert to video to see the final quality.

So, it is worth downloading to try out and maybe keep.

I have never used the PDF except for text but have used Powerpoint for many years for presentations to directors and senior managers of PLCs. Powerpoint is far more mainstream than PDF 'presentations'; well I have never seen one!

Boxoft PDF to Video's title bar shows A-PDF To Video, & clicking Help you get a PDF doc titled with the same name. It's an app for creating slideshows, that also accepts PDF files you import one at a time -- the 1st time you try to import a PDF you're prompted by a message window to visit http://www.a-pdf.com/convert-to-pdf/gs.htm to download/install the free Ghostscript interpreter [gs.exe -- ~16 MB]. Rather than converting images to video conventionally, Boxoft's/A-PDF's app plays the slideshow & then screen captures the player window. This more complicated way of doing things means installation also includes capture software. Today's GOTD includes quite a few between picture screen transitions/FX, but drag/dropping a transition to an image (or between images) wouldn't work -- there is an FX called "Random Effect", & at the bottom of the list a button for "Apply current select effected to all" [text as quoted]. While the FX don't have icons -- just text -- clicking one previews the transition using the selected image.

Boxoft PDF to Video installs/registers Direct Show [DS] filters/files that apparently conflict with the little bit of video software I have installed in an XPMode VM -- it stalled/crashed trying to create video... since the video stuff installed in this VM is a *very* small subset of what I've got installed in XP & 7, I don't believe there's any chance it would run in either Windows install, so I can't say how well it works, or doesn't -- Sorry. By way of brief explanation, when Windows opens/writes a media file using DS it attempts to put together a chain of the various DS filters it needs to do the job [called building a graph]. There can be (& often is) more than 1 DS filter telling Windows that it can do the same job as some other DS filter, & they sometimes lie. DS filters also have a value assigned by their install routine called Merit -- the higher the merit, the harder Windows will try to use that file. Hence you can wind up with Windows trying to use a hodge podge of DS filters that don't get along with each other at all. That's why it's a widely held belief/practice in video circles to install the least amount of DS software possible -- while there are tools to change a DS filter's merit [e.g. Filmerit], getting things working can be an extreme PITA, if/when it's possible.

Just because I had problems doesn't necessarily mean that you will. OTOH by installing several DS filters Boxoft PDF to Video increases the level of risk. Sad to say it also installed an identical 4th copy of a Microsoft C runtime -- [a personal, *Strong* dislike, the same sort of developers who don't bother having their install routines check for an existing copy 1st, are the same sort who don't always bother to write the install routines properly... after spending at least 30+ hours spread over months, I still run into occasional problems in XP Pro caused by a screwed up C/C++ runtime install included with the Sony Vegas Pro 9c update]. Off the soapbox [with Apologies], Boxoft PDF to Video's program folder holds 19 files & weighs in at ~24 MB. It includes/uses a VisioForge SDK that's installed to Common Files taking up ~12 MB with 23 files, 6 folders. The Ghostscript install [gs.exe] adds a folder with 347 files, 7 folders, taking up ~35 MB. All Users\ Application Data got an A-PDF folder, while the duplicate runtime install added 38 files housed under Windows\ WinSxS. I recorded 2.8k+ new registry entries.

That all said, if Boxoft PDF to Video worked for me, with its limitation of importing PDF files one at a time, it would be faster to use another utility to batch convert the PDF files to images 1st, & at that point I could use any Slideshow app... thanks to GOTD I've already got a few PDF converters & Slideshow programs, so I'm not sure why many GOTD regulars would bother with it.

I can imagine that many Youtube video's are made this way. Those with text and photos! Tell me if I'm wrong.

There is a major need for this with some of the stuff I do. When I'm working with slideshows to convert to a video format and someone includes a pdf file to add in a specific area, I usually have to convert it to an image file and then *hope* it works. This may be the solution.

I'm a bit apprehensive to download it since someone mentioned that a portion of the file was considered malware. Has anyone else experienced this?

I'm going to keep an eye on the comments, and download as late as possible today just to be sure.

I don't want any recovery drama having to be dealt with in the middle of an already atrociously busy day! :)

PS I embrace and am "one" with my inner Neanderthal!

6.)Comment by Ismail
"However, I must note that a previous Boxoft program installed a file that my anti-virus labels as malware."

I realize that your comment is well-meaning, and intended to be informitive. I think it would be useful if you would state which Anti-virus tool labelled the Boxoft file as malware. What type, or "family" of malware was the file categorized as? That info would be useful, as there are a lot of anti-virus, and anti-spyware tools being offered by a lot of vendors, which rampantly mis-label files incorrectly as malware.

These "false-positives" are bad enough, that I have stopped using "freebie" shareware and purchased versions I paid for these products, by well-known branded software vendors, because the number of false positives they removed from my computer without my permission was inexcusable. It becomes very time consuming to find replacements of and restore the files some of these applications remove, even if the "notify me first" selection is selected in the Preferences, the application suspects the "false-positive" is so harmful it quarantines or removes the suspect file without asking me, and informs me after the file is deleted, not before. This bad Anti-virus software behavior/programming is really annoying. Since this isn't the topic I won't mention any brand names.

Certainly Giveaway of the Day scans each application before making it available for download, to exclude the possibility it is capable of infecting our computers? At the very least they work with trusted partners they know would not upload infected files? If you don't trust the GOTD team, would you download the giveaways here?

It's about time you got some decent moderators.
Kept up to date ..... NOT three hours late ... and printed what is relevant, not some of the stupid comments often printed here. I will submit my comment for the third and last time in the hope that you print it for those of us that were around for the earlier offer Thundersoft Flash Slideshow Factory...........

To GOTD Team,
For those of us who successfully downloaded and installed ThunderSoft Flash Slideshow Factory, would you please advise on how to install the "free" templates as offered on the vendors website. I installed the executable file and rebooted, but only the original 47 templates within the program show.
If this is a fault, can you please have the vendors rectify the problem BEFORE it is re offered.

Thank you
WinXP SP3 User

The last Boxoft offering put a stuff on my computer that I couldn't get off. I tried uninstalling the program through various means (CC and Windows Uninstall) and it still kept popping up, reappearing in my task bar every time I rebooted. It was just a link that led to their website, but I have no idea what else they've put there that I don't know about. And they make it impossible for folks like me (who are not computer experts) to remove it. No more Boxoft ANYTHING will ever be put on my computer again.

Basically this software is badly misnamed. It suggests it can only work with PDF's. According to the 'Features' page on their web site:

· Create sound-supported slideshow with PDF files, images;
· Support acquiring images directly from scanner or digital cameras;
· Support 35+ formats of images: TIF, TIFF, FAX, G3N, G3F, XIF, JPG, JPEG, JPE, JIF, PCX, BMP, DIB, RLE, PNG, DCM, DIC, DICOM, TGA, TARGA, VDA, ICB, VST, PIX, PXM, WBMP, JP2, J2K, DCX, CRW, PSD, IEV, LYR, AVI, MPEG, MPG, WMV, etc.;
· Support add PDF files continuously and Add Folder (Include sub folders) of images at a time;
· Support Drag and Drop to add images, or insert images in front of existing files in lists;
· Support create Import List and Export List of frequently used;
· Support Reorder images: Move First, Up, Down, Last, or drag directly, or sort by name, file size, create time, or Rearrange etc;
· Support Image Setting: Size, Flip, Rotate, Crop, contrast, brightness, Sharp, De-skew, Image effects—B/W, Gray scale and Edge Detection;
· Support add MP3 files, define loop or not;
· Provide 200+ kinds of Transition Effect: expand, slide, unroll, fade, reveal, bars, etc;
· Support Process Control on Step, Interval, Loop etc;
· Support change Layout such as Image Placement, Background, Frame;
· Support slide images setting such as Over Draw, Compress for Screen, DVD or Custom;
· Support preview output effect of slideshow;
· Add control buttons on slideshow: Continue, Pause, Preview, Next, Close;
· Provide 4 output modes: Build SlideShow (EXE), Build SlideShow (SCR), Build to video (AVI, WMV, MPEG), Burn to CD;
· Support Screen Capture Setting on Input and Output while Build to video;
· Design and save as project (.XML) for later use.
So it can use a multitude of image formats INCLUDING PDF's!

With a virtual PDF printer utility (many available for free) you could create PDF's from many different applications which you could then (I suppose) combine in one presentation.

They should call it something like: "Multi Image and PDF Presentation Maker" or whatever.

I downloaded the software. Unable to run. Error - Exception Processing Message - Windows - No Disk. I did register the software. I don't know what to do now.

#14, Daniel Filtness, you can use any of the numerous free tools which can convert PDFs to images, then use any of the movie-maker type applications, including the free Windows Live Movie Maker. No doubt, the moderators will delete this comment, too.

To #3 and #15 above.
The standard version of acrobat costs $140.00. The pro version is $200.

This product costs a fraction of that.

Also rich embedded pdf's open a ton of dangerous security holes on your computer which standard video files do not.

I sought on the internet information, and this what I found. Me this seems interesting and advantageous.
About A-PDF to Video
A-PDF to Video is a simple, lightning-fast and powerful desktop utility program that
lets you to convert PDF Pages (Slideshow) into video file (MPEG, WMV or AVI). WMV
and AVI video files can be played by most mobile devices, hardware DVD players so if
you want to show your PDF presentation on computers or mobile devices where PDF
Viewer is not installed or not supported then you should convert PDF into AVI or WMV
video fil

I don't know why the moderator deleted my comment about how to play any PDF as a slideshow with optional transitions, I guess they don't want you to know that you can do it without other software (but they'll post anything Ashraf or mike has to say). Here's how to add multimedia to PDFs without the need for an external multimedia player.

For #7, If you want to do text or Word docs download the PDFConverter from Nuance.com. This allows you to print any document to a PDF thin this PDF to Video converter will work.

@ Fubar. #15: You're right about the versatility of the pdf-format of course, but this is not the point.
When you do not have the right kind of connectors or wires (there are still many older pc's around), you just cannot play any pdf on a TV-set (larger audience), but after converting you can with a dvd-player. Isn't that cool?

Sorry, but I have to agree with #3, Glenn Kelly. I think what most people don't realize is that PDF documents themselves can do all sorts of stuff, such as play slideshows with transitions, embed video and audio, interactive 3D (very feature-rich), and on and on. It doesn't make sense to do that stuff outside of PDF. If you look for examples on the web, beware of numerous issues. Links can be outdated. Download the PDF and play in the latest version of Adobe Reader X, not in the browser. Don't allow to run fullscreen, leave it windowed and watch for security prompts at the top. You may need a powerful processor and decent graphics hardware and drivers for 3D. You may need external media players. A number of examples were done by people who didn't know what they were doing, and are messed-up. But PDF itself is quite versatile, capable of all sorts of multimedia, so I just don't see the point in PDF-to-Video. Being wary of the issues which I've just mentioned, you can check out 6 Awesome Examples of Multimedia PDFs.

Downloaded and installed with no problems on Windows 7 64 bit.

Upon running for first time you also have to download and install "ghost script"... this is a free open source utility and takes about about a minute to complete.

The program converts PDF documents into images.. you can then add transitions and effects between images like any other photo to cd program.

For me this is great as i have alot of PDF documents to do with my family tree/history... But for others I cannot see a lasting use.

Only briefly used this so cant comment further; but for me it is a Keeper.

I haven't tried this as it's well outside of anything I'd ever use personally:

HOWEVER
As far as I can tell;
think of this as the Adobe/PDF/PDV version of converting ActiveX motion-powerpoint presentations to standard video.

Having the ability to convert PDF into video is an extremely useful tool for those who are online marketers. It gives us the ability to take PDF text and images and turn that information into informative videos that can then be submitted to sites such as YouTube, etc., the goal being to gain signups for products and/or services.

#3: "... a PDF to Video app is something I can’t imagine having much of any market value for consumers,..."

#4: "... Great tool for building and publishing Business, Educational or Informational Presentations, Backed-up with relevant information like, White Papers, Studies, Reserches and etc.... "

When I 1st saw this I thought: "Why in the world?" ... But FWIW, after thinking about it a bit I imagine it could have a niche market &/or following. According to the Boxoft PDF to Video site, the app creates video slideshows. PDF files can hold images. Video is for the most part really lousy at text. So if you have a bunch of images that you want to put into a slideshow, & they happen to be in the PDF format [rather than .jpg, .png, .bmp etc.], Boxoft PDF to Video saves you the step of separate conversions or screen shots to turn your PDFs into images.

Why would you have a bunch of images in the PDF format? Some scanners [stand-a-lone or all-in-one printers] can save scans as PDF files. A business might use PDF files for images because of both their portability & utility -- not every office PC/laptop is going to have an installed image viewer, while many home systems have had image formats hijacked by cataloging &/or editing software... it makes perfect sense for a real estate biz to have images of its properties as PDFs.

If this works well it'll make my life a whole lot easier! Thank you to the publisher.
For those that knock it as being "stupid" or a "waste of time"; It's a case of if I have to explain it to ya, you wouldn't (and probably can't) understand.
But I will say this much; thank you for putting on such a fine display of narcissism and ignorance. It keeps fresh in mind the major problems with society today..... Oh and just how recent neanderthals we're in all our collective history. Thanks guys....

Haven't tried it but it could make pdf's where you don't have to read them or just make them more interesting for other's to see.

I haven't tried the software yet - thought I'd answer the question "What's it good for?"

This software could be used for a number of things, several years ago I helped a guy try to put together a powerpoint presentation for a graduation ceremony. It had lots of pics of the graduates and each student had a little blurp about themselves and different songs. The songs were to be timed with the pictures that were up on the screen but the timing kept changing in the automated mode. We struggled to get it right but never did and ended up having to manually move through each of the slides to keep it synchronized with the slide show. This could eliminate problems like that. In addition this software would be great for making a video of multiple slides with music and being able to distribute it freely (read that as e-book or PowerPoint presentation turned into video - it's called internet marketing).

I will definitely download this and give it a try. Thank you!

I was really hoping for a .txt to vido converter or a Word document to video converter! Maybe next they will do a .wmv to .txt for us! I love GAOTD! I appreciate the software and especially the comments that help me decide what to keep. But, I'm at a loss for this one. If you are a person waiting to take you .pdf files, put some pretty music to it and enjoy a slideshow of documents... this is for you!

To 2 & 3. This is a useful program to transfer a presentation to a video file & then copy to a DVD so that the presentation can be played on any DVD player; as some people still don't have computers.

However, I must note that a previous Boxoft program installed a file that my anti-virus labels as malware.

Great tool for building and publishing Business, Educational or Informational Presentations, Backed-up with relevant information like, White Papers, Studies, Reserches and etc.
The posibilitis are unlimited.

I enjoy the various resources GAOTD makes available, many of which I wouldn't even have thought of needing/wanting which open new doors of exploration into productive and entertaining resources and which I often recommend to others after experiencing via GAOTD. But I'd have to honestly say a PDF to Video app is something I can't imagine having much of any market value for consumers, business, or even students worth producing a specifically focused product for. Perhaps they should just market it as a movie maker that happens to accept PDF files as a source as well.

I guess I'm a bit confused but exactly why would someone want to convert a PDF, which is usually loaded with text, to a video?

It just sounds stupid to me but maybe I'm missing something.

Dear users,

due to major problem with ThunderSoft Flash Slideshow Factory 2.5.0 activation (especially on Windows x64) we have decided to replace it with Boxoft PDF To Video.

As for ThunderSoft Flash Slideshow Factory - we will bring it back as soon as all the troubles are handled.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Best regards,
GOTD team