I got the last version of this program that GOTD offered and it worked exactly as it should. I just had to re-format so I lost the previous install- thanks for the new copy team!! :)

It amazes me that anyone has problems downloading, installing & registering the software offered here. I've never had any problems because I do read the readme.txt files. Todays was double registering but the instructions are there & if you follow them carefully, they get registered.

For today, after installing, I clicked on the desktop icon for DVD to 3GP. You may have trouble seeing that both programs start up. Register the first one & move it with your mouse, then register the second one.

I enjoy reading ALL the reviews, some are really needed & some are not. Vote as you please & then use your own common sense as to whether or not you try out the offering.

I've look forward to my sessions with GAOTD software & the comments here. Thanks to all of you who bother.

BB

UNINSTALLING, unless somebody has a solution.

I'm having the problem as the others here who are trying to register the Video to 3GP program. I get a blank window when I run the program, so I'm never prompted to enter the key.

I love the people who whine about "no free upgrades", do you think they do that when they buy cars too? "Why should I buy the 2008 model when you won't allow me to upgrade to the 2009 when it comes out?". Guys it's a product they are offering. It's not like it will suddenly stop doing everything it did when you downloaded it as soon as a new version comes out.

I've found a few things here I enjoy and I appreciate what this site provides. Some products are more useful to me than others, but if it works it works, and I see no reason to whine about something free just because I don't get more free stuff later.

Too all those having trouble registering...please take a look at the readme file. You are registering two different programs with two different serial numbers. Thanks to #16 and all the others who mentioned this.
Installed and registered fine on XP.
Thanks GOTD!

I am unsure if I can use this program however I am going to give it a go
It is a shame that so many people give the negative feedback so often which makes me think that people are never satisfied with the gift that costs them nothing as it is not what they wanted but are quick to complain if it has a cost.
Human nature

well i am not going to try this software since my cell phone works fine with other movie formats.
the following are my view to 3gp:

1) not all cell phone necessarily need 3gp format, like my N95 work with real media player (.rm) files and with installing a software into the phone I can even play avi. Check your cell phone specs before using 3gp as there are alternatives. If i can simply drag and drop the file to cell phones thru USB and such why would I need a convertor right?

2) personally i want a software that can convert everything rather focusing on one format and is barely a successor. too many convertors in your computer will make your computer get slower and eventually your harddisk will get messy.

3) 3gp have compressed movie files such to minimize the size, so the quality is worse. rm is the same but I feel rm is doing a better job.

4) sonner of later you will just stream movies thru GPRS/Wifi/HSDPA which are capable in new (within 2 years) cell phones.

so if you have an OLD cell phone with limited memories (like 64/128Mb) feel free to convert and watch movies, but I believe the resolution, color and bettery life won't allow you to do so.

Its been a long time since I was last here, and the comments are still the same. The programs are here as a testing ground for the companies. If you like the program, say why. If you dont like the program, give a reason.
As for the me, its simple. There are dozens and dozens of FREE programs that do the same thing. The intended $44 price tag is a joke.
After tryin it out, there is nothing this program does that other free programs ive used dont do.
its a thumbs down Plato.

RE;44- How do you survive in this Golden Age without a cell phone???

Re Number 26;
In answer to your question-You have to open Plato DVD to 3GP converter and then just cut and paste.It's all there.

Garbage.... Pure Garbage ! Don't wast your time with this software. There are better 3GP converters out there that covert a lot better and faster than this stuff. You will have no control over video size or audio type.

Based on some of the comments, no one should be able to give thumbs up until they REALLY tried the product. But do you really think in couple hours, you can do a complete test of the product to see if it totally work? A lot of time problem won't come up until few days later or few weeks later. And may be first one or two DVD you tried work but the rest of them doesn't. A lot of times, may be you like it the first couple hours you use it. Then later after trying it out for few more days, you change your mind because you start noticing some missing feature or some 'feature' start annoying you.

If you like the offering that day, then thumbs up and if you don't like it, then thumbs down. As simple as that. There is NO WAY for anyone to do a great review of the product in few hours anyway so the rating has NOTHING TO DO with how good/bad the product since it CANNOT be based on thorough review on the product.

For those of you who download things of this site fairly frequently this "new" program will look "old" to you.
This is just a redone version of Aplus dvd ripper. The format is the same, the process in which you rip is the same. Just some buttons are gone.
Pretty shabby, is all I can say.

Fixing the thumbs up or down is an easy solution. Don't allow anyone to make comments or rank the product unless they have downloaded the product and registered it. If they do these steps you will at least get some what of a truthful answer. All you really have right now is a general comment section about a product they may have only read about instead of trying. If they are forced to try it first before being given the opportunity to make a comment, your thumbs up or down and comments will be better skewed. Now, that you have the answer to the problem, which I will call, "answeroftheday" get to it.

Two things come immediately to mind:
1. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth; and
2. You get what you pay for.

it's cliché time!

For many of you this is goodtohave if youdo not already have a converter so you can whatch on the phone. Personaly I think it is very stupid to watch movies on the phone butmany of youdo so so this will help hou.


Re calling the item stupid. Have you...looked at your own msg.

Who really cares who complains, geez, let the complainers complain and comments keep them coming, afterall a little negative comment usually equals ten-fold the positive! As for the usefulness of the program isn't that a little personal, in so being it's the person in the mirror that will decide on using or not using it, and possibly even buying a liscense for the pc software if they find it useful enough. anyway enough said, but as for today's offering i just purchased Tube Hunter Media Edition v2 from: http://www.neoretix.com/ for doing my media work, it works for what i need converted, but hey, enjoy your online time!

#36:

It is definitely fair to discuss the "regular" price here!

My understanding is that the developers release products here for "free" for a variety of reasons, but they definitely include getting feedback on bugs, features and value.

We can't give feedback on the value of a software package without discussing its cost!

Sure -- a free trial can offer some of the same things, but doesn't get the publicity or short-term burst of response that putting a package on GAOTD does. While our feedback may not directly influence the pricing of the posted software, I bet it does for new offerings!

Plus, I've come back to GAOTD several times to look up ratings and reviews on software that was given away in the past to decide if a trial or purchase made sense.

So... Continue to answer the question: Now that you've tried package Y, can you reccomend a friend spending $XX.XX for it? Would you buy it for work at that price? How much would you be willing to give for it?

I agree that reviewers of the GOTD software offers are not helpful to those of us who have tried the software. However, if a reviewer doesn't download the software, explaining that it's used to convert files to a cell phone, he's helped me. I don't have a cell, nor do I try to purchase software that has plenty of features, most of which I cannot use. Finally, I believe that the folks at GOTD could profit from knowing that, say, 75% of the reviewers were not even interested in trying the featured product. It's in their best interests to offer software that most of us would be attracted to.

Sorry to be slightly changing the subject -- but I have been
looking desperately for a program that will let me convert
Videos I find on the Net so that they will play on my portable
Coby DVD player. (So far, most of the videos I try to play are
not recognized by this otherwise fine little DVD player.)

Can anyone tell me if this or any converter will do the job --
and also maybe the "format" used by portable DVD players?



Thanks for any forthcoming help, much appreciated.

thanks, plato makes great products, i think most the votes against this product are from people who just don't have a use for a 3G converter.

Just dropping a note into the discussions here to say THANKS! to the GAOTD Team and all of the Suppliers/Supporters of this fine Web Site.

I'm moving onto a Linux box, so since the majority of the software here is for Windoze, I won't be downloading anything else until I revert back to the M$ (non)-operating system. :)

Thanks again. Keep up the great job...

RIP - GAOTD, will not return here forever. This site gives products for free which are of little or no use, the products offered on download.com in the similar categories gives lots of functions and most of all, free upgrades.
I somehow suspect that GAOTD is trying to make everyone install their free apps and get some private data or something of that sort to see the user trends and use it for their future product analysis...I'm our of here...

DVD converter works fine
Video Converter program crashes upon initial start-up on my XP-tablet.
Its a Shame
:{(>

I'm more often trying to go the other way - from gp3 to video format - anybody know a good little free convertor for that purpose?

Would the same people that complain about many negative % 30 minutes into the days giveaway also complain if there were many positive % within minutes of the giveaway without supporting evidence? I'll give it a 1% chance. People are entitled to grade the giveaway for whichever reasons they choose including not to site why they give it a thumbs up or down. I give todays giveaway a neutral rating, but there is no way to show that, so I won't give any supporting reasons either.

The Plato3GPPack is a set of 2 handy tools for encoding to 3GP compatible Xvid video. Transcoding & conversion is fast & accurate, makes use of multi-core CPUs, & the installation program behaves itself – I had already installed the latest version of Xvid [Xvid.org], and it did not over-write the Xvid files with the older versions included in the package.

3GP is just a sub-set of other video specs, & using Xvid to encode compatible video is certainly possible using other software, free or otherwise. If you need to convert video to 3GP (or think someday you might), there’s nothing wrong with the 3GP Pack & you certainly can’t beat the price from GOTD! Today at least, any discussion of whether or not it’s worth the retail sticker is obviously irrelevant.

Please note that it would probably be a good idea to install the latest Xvid codec software, if you haven’t already, & if you use software like this that uses it.

Also please note that video files can vary widely – regardless their format, you will no doubt find video files that the Plato Video to 3GP Converter will not work with, just as you’ll find copy protected DVDs that will not work with the Plato DVD to 3GP Converter.

RE: free upgrades... Nice thought, but most software doesn’t come with free upgrades anyway. If Microsoft gave free upgrades they’d never update Office or Windows, & the same can be said for most companies trying to make a profit.

RE: Other software... There’s nothing magical about encoding Xvid video, and there are dozens and dozens of ways or tools to do it. If you prefer another program, cool, but – not being a smart-a** – I have a hard time seeing how that’s relevant or helpful in this case. That’s like saying you prefer your eggs over easy instead of poached or scrambled.

RE: Who makes/packages/releases/designs web pages for/or has anything to do with any of these programs at GOTD really doesn’t matter as far as I can tell. If you want brand names go to Adobe & pay for top branded products, but me, I’m more a Walmart/Kmart sort of person. ;-) For today’s program I set a restore point in Vista, installed & tried it. It works – no problems. If it didn’t I’d have uninstalled & restored Windows.

@messenger: A blank window *in my experience* usually means the program didn’t fully load – something stalled as the program was starting so it didn’t finish. Video 2 3GP loads more of the files already installed on your PC when it starts than the DVD version does – I’d guess that maybe it has a problem with one or more of those files, possibly something related to another video program? I’d try emailing the folks that produce the software, or maybe they have a forum? Microsft provides a bunch of Systems Internals utilities for free on their web site – maybe something like Process Monitor would show you what’s happening, and what the problem was?

I probably going to regret this in a few days or weeks, but i'm gonna pass on this. And coming up i'll need a converter and have to dish out $43., Thanks again giveawayoftheday.

#6 graham i know that probably the reason why i've never downloaded any security software of this site or that is not quite true i have downloaded some security software of this site just to test it against
my own malware samples... now i'm a software reviewer for a major computer magazine and a hobby assembly programmer so this site is actually on my bookmarks and quite usefull to me..

I agree with the peoples' postings about all the thumbs down and no comment -- not very instructive, buds and the credibility is minimal.

Two things come immediately to mind:

1. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth; and
2. You get what you pay for.

At least have the courtesy and decency to explain -- to others -- what you dislike about it and what problems you've encountered.

Personally, I'd like to suggest to Giveaway of the Day to remove the thumbs buttons thereby, hopefully, more or less induce people to add some usable comments.

you know, i downloaded it and installed it and so on, its fine. the i put a dvd into my comp and start converting. after half an hour it got 20% of the way (thats slow) then suddenly i smell something thats like...burnt or like that... then suddenly my comp shuts down and wont boot untill after 3 hours of cooling. the dvd was overheated. thats what i call not so good

I am getting a registration error. The program installed with no problems. It came up as a trial version, so I clicked on the 'register' button within the program and then copied/pasted the serial number from the text file. I also tried typing it in manually. When I click on 'register' a window pops up saying "Register Failed ! Registration code is error."
The text file says to enter a name and the serial number, but the registration window only asks for a serial.
I have no firewall installed, I am running XP Pro, and I have done all the necessary troubleshooting.
I searched the comments for anyone else having a similar issue but all of the comments today seem to be not about the software, but about the rating system.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Plato software sucks! DVD Copy stopped working after just a few weeks; I even bought a copy and it stopped working as well. And their customer support is utterly nonexistent. Thanks for the offer, GOTD, but I wish you'd find some more reputable software developers...

I going to agree with #1 because it is odd how so many vote against a FREE product without actually trying it so soon upon being posted; I am also going to do what he says in regards to voting because i don't need it...i believe in order to make this website work better and help the folks running it make better decisions on choices for freebies, everyone writing in should at least vote on the product in question AND write their comment as to why they voted that way.

In regards to my vote on Plato: thumbs down...i don't need it.

The past few choices had a lot of dvd/video encoders and rippers and converters and what-have-you and true, their is an over-abundance of these types of software out there; I also believe Giveaway-of-the-Day should mix it up and offer other types of software, like personal info managers (PIM), free home financial programs, biz or home inventory management products, image editing software, desktop enhancers, etc.
Keep up the good work, G-O-T-D...

Go read #17 and you will see why so many daily GAOTD thumb down. Let me copy part of it here.

Because we’re tired of products by A-Plus, Plato, A-one, Agogo and Acala which a little recent net detective work has suggested may all be the same company; and ever since someone found a little clique of people all posting reviews of the same products at download.com ( http://www.download.com/A-one-Video-Converter/3640-2194_4-10476684.html?v=1&sb=1 ) we’ve been a little skeptical.

Video to 3GP does not register on my XP with the serial number given. The DVD to 3GP does. Tried a couple of thimes and gave up. The product may be OK but in order to use it you need to be able to register it.
As for the scoring of a product, maybe the scorecard should come up AFTER the product has been downloaded thus stopping the thumbs down on a product that they didn't even try out.

Why do so many people complain about these programs. They are FREEEEEE! I think people should only post negative comments if there is actually something wrong with the program or if it may harm your computer, other than that STFU!

it's Very simple #1 why they do what they are doing.. They all come to the site hoping for some kind of to die for software and they look at the Name of the software and go Dam is that it! and they do the NEGATIVE BUTTON.... For what it is Only and taht is why No comments they don't know if there is anything wrong or not.. it's Not the users fault its the Design of the web site... If you give the ability to complain in any way without restriction.. then you are going to get a lot of FREE Loaders looking for A1 Handouts.. THe net is all about what we can find for free or get and hope not to get causge and sex.. it sucks but just read.. thats what they say.. you want the Thumbs down to reflect better.. Fix the site so they cant unless they try it... Not a easy fix but unless you take away the ability to bitch about what it is and not what it can do for you.. you are going to get Rattings built only on what users are wanting at the time.... Not what it is or can do .

I seem to be having a problem with Video to 3GP part. I was able to use the DVD to 3GP with no problem but when I click on the video to 3gp all I get is a blank main interface window. No buttons no words no menu just a blank frame with the words Plato video to 3gp Converter on the top frame. I've uninstall it and reinstalled 3 times now and even twice downloaded the trial version from the company site and still had the same results. Am I the only one having this problem, I'm I missing something here? I hope to get some answer because I could use this.

Was searching for personal use...need to convert from .mov to mpeg format...if it works 3 cheers...or else still 3 cheers...for the experience.

I purchased the Video 2 3GP Converter for my Sony Ericsson K790 and it works very well and the quality is excellent.
A very good package and easy to use.

Does the ranking system actually rank the software itself or is it a ranking about how people feel about what's being offered? If it's the former, maybe GAoTD should somehow add a ranking link to the installation download so only people who really download it can vote. Just a thought....

Anyway, I am going to give this one a try. I have some video clips that I want to convert and use for video ringtones. Since I always have my cellphone with me, maybe I'll also add some movies or TV shows to watch while I'm on my lunchbreak, at the Dr.'s office, on the bus, or whatever. I think it's really all about convenience.

Just my 2 cents, and that's BEFORE taxes!

I totally agree with #1 on the voting statistics, they are not even close to a true representation of the quality of the giveaway. How can you possibly condemn something you have not even tried.
It is too easy to click that thumbs up or down button.
Perhaps it should only be live after a comment or a download.
As I have said before, I have had some damn good programs from this page and I have also had good software as a result of the comments and referral url's from other subscribers.
Todays item does not interest me because I am quite happy with another similar item I got from GAOTD and it got a thumbs up. No vote today as I don't know how good the program is.

44 USD for a program that converts video files to a format that is intended for mobile phones....

On the one hand there's the fact that the TV's and TFT's are getting bigger and bigger and on the other hand you have those that think that what the world is waiting for is the ability to watch movies / vid. clips on screen that are even way smaller then the smallest ever screen for a computer or TV.

I think that the programmer/creator/software company needs a reality check.

Only 20 minutes into the giveaway and already 68% thumbs down and NO comments explaining why it got so much negativity?

Because we're tired of products by A-Plus, Plato, A-one, Agogo and Acala which a little recent net detective work has suggested may all be the same company; and ever since someone found a little clique of people all posting reviews of the same products at download.com ( http://www.download.com/A-one-Video-Converter/3640-2194_4-10476684.html?v=1&sb=1 ) we've been a little skeptical.

I'ld love to hear if Bubby has any inside knowledge of these companies...


G
[* A-Plus, Plato, A-one, and Agogo all use this same identical badly translated wording in their ads:
"Normally, the conversion speed is 3 times of the playback speed"

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3A*&q=+%22normally+the+conversion+speed+is%22++%22times+of+the+playback+speed%22
e.g. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Encoders-Converter-DIVX-Related/Agogo-DVD-Ripper.shtml

Acala, A-Plus and Agogo all share this other identical bad wording: "is a intuitive to use program which convert your "

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3A*&q=%22is+a+intuitive+to+use+program+which+convert+your+%22
and http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3A*&q=%22is+a+intuitive+to+use+program+which+convert+your+%22+-acala

Certain 'reviewers' at download.com all post reviews of products by only these companies and nothing else.

It's a smoking gun with a 90-a-day habit...
]

Hi,
Thumbs down? (See below)
Registration does not work and it is impossible to find the website to correct the error.
Why?
Surely if Giveawayoftheday is to work, registration issues should be fully resolved before the software is put on offer, it is the most fundamental aspect of the whole project.
I can only surmise that others have failed to register the product, given it a 'Thumbs Down' and moved on without further comment. Maybe they could not leave a comment because they are non-English speakers/writers.
Generally I think it's a great site and I tell people about it but this kind of niggle does let it down a bit.
The 'Register' button does not accept 'giveawayoftheday' nor the long code included in the 'ReadMe' ....

Aha! Eureka!

I've tried it again:-

a) Plato Video to 3GP Converter: this only requires the second long license code.

b) Plato DVD to 3GP Converter: An entirely different style of registration box asks for Giveawayoftheday and the first long license code.

It looks like two different programmes have been brought together into one, each has its own unique look and feel.
However, they seem to work easily enough, and are pretty quick.
so - Thumbs Up!

to #3, thanks guys GVC seems one very good converter; I would now have a very strong reason to use any other converter :-)

#1, mysticat:

I really agree. This always happens when screensavers are given away, like yesterday. Yesterday was 35% thumbs up, 65% thumbs down. I bet more than 3 quarters of that 65% didn't even try the screensaver.

I also agree with a new voting system. That would be very helpful to people who only rely on the up/down percentage.

#12, Steve, and all that don't know what 3GP is:

3GP is a format that mobile phones use to watch videos. Basically, it's the MP4 for cell phones, but it has to be 3GP, or else it will NOT work.

Personally, I don't care about 3GP.

Aside from that, I hope this clears up some confusion to those who do not know what 3GP is.

I will not be downloading this program for I already have 2 converters from Plato, including Plato Video to iPod, which was recently given away. I also have no interest in 3GP (as I stated above).

Although, I will check out GVC and SUPER and see what all the hype is about. Some of my current converters either take too long or don't do a perfect job.

Thanks to GOTD for giving us all these free programs, but I don't use 3GP.

Also, thanks to other random users for suggesting freeware to converters.

#12
"Everyone" knows 3gp is the standard video format on cell phones...even cheap phones for $100 bucks use 3gp. That in mind, I think its fairly obvious that MILLIONS and MILLIONS of people care about 3gp.
>.>

Does anyone even know -or care- what 3GP is???