Despite both services prominence, when I first got my iPod I was a video-deprived user. I didn’t want to buy videos that I would only watch once, and downloading them from file sharing programs is highly risky given the amount of viruses circulating on them, not to mention falsely named files that waste your time.

As time went on, I just kind of abandoned the video function on my iPod and used it mainly for listening to music. However, every now and again such as when I was going on a plane journey or just bored around the house, I would wish I had a few short videos to keep me busy. Around eight months ago I discovered DVD VideoSoft promising YouTube to iPod video. I was sceptical.

A little while ago, Jeffry wrote How To Get YouTube Videos On Your iPod that posts already covers everything you need to convert Youtube videos for iPod but DVD VideoSoft in my opinion makes the whole process a lot faster and simpler.

Surely it would be like the other programs that want credit cards, leave watermarks or which are limited free trials, I told myself. I took the chance anyway. As it happens, it overcame the two main problems that you encounter when trying to download YouTube videos onto your Apple iPod.

Firstly, there is the problem of downloading a video off the internet since YouTube does not generally provide a download service. Secondly, the file must be converted into a format which the iPod can understand and play.

Once you have downloaded DVD VideoSoft, select your language and allow the program to initialize for the first time. When this is done, it will load and you will see the screen pictured here.

You will be asked for the Youtube URL so go to YouTube and locate the video. Once you have it, copy it into the space provided in the DVD VideoSoft screen.

Below this, there is another text entry box that says ‘Output File’. Click ‘Browse’ and select the folder you want the video to be saved in, for example ‘My Videos’.

Having done that, you will see a drop-down menu at the bottom of the window. From this, select Apple iPod. To the right of this there is another drop down box. Select ‘iPod High Quality’ from this. You can select a few other video formats such as PSP or for your mobile phone.

When you are satisfied with all of your information, click ‘Download’. This may take a few moments depending on the size and quality of the video. What this is actually doing is downloading the YouTube video and then converting it into .mp4, a format which the iPod can play. Once this is done, a pop up will appear informing you that it’s completed. Click ‘Output Folder’ in this box.

This will open the folder where you saved the video. You should see your video in an mp4 format.   Now we just need to move it over to your iPod.

Open your iTunes Library and click ‘Movies’. Drag the new movie into this Library. Then simply connect your iPod via the USB connector that came with it. The sync process should start automatically. When it has finished syncing, disconnect your iPod and your video will be under videos.

If you use another piece of software to sync your iPod such as SharePod, the procedure is much the same. Open up the syncing screen and drag the files into it from Windows Explorer. Click ‘Sync‘ or other relevant button (in SharePod its marked ‘Copy to iPod‘) and it will transfer.

Note : DVDVideoSoft will only work for when you want to download YouTube videos onto your iPod and will not work for any other video sites such as MetaCafe. You must also be connected to the internet until the video is finished converting and is saved on your computer.

Do you know of any better and / or faster alternatives to DVDVideoSoft that let you download and convert Youtube videos for iPod? Let us know in the comments.

Image Credit :  Orange_Beard

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• Back To Basics: How To Get YouTube Videos On Your iPod (10)
• Top Online File Converters (Video, Audio, Images …) (23)
• One Online Tool to Handle Five Tedious Tasks (6)
• How To Rip & Convert A DVD Movie For Your iPod (Mac Only) (23)
• How To Download Streaming Video with DownloadHelper (17)

Most videos uploaded to YouTube are made by amateurs like you and I, usually with modest video making equipment. It’s not a surprise that you’d find a lot of the videos lacking in quality and/or content.

Now, quality is something that you can’t do much about but if it is the content that is bothering you and you have the inclination and enthusiasm to make some changes, we’ll tell you how to go about it.  Maybe one particular scene in a video really bothers you and you want to take it out.   Well here’s one way to go about it.

If you want to know how to copy Youtube videos and edit them, it typically involves three steps. Since you can’t edit the videos on YouTube online, the first step is to actually download a copy of the video locally to your computer.

How to Copy YouTube Videos to your computer

There are a couple of different ways that you can copy YouTube videos to your computer and we’ve talked about a few in the past, see 18 Free Ways To Download Videos. So we won’t dwell too much on this part. Searching MakeUseOf for "download youtube videos" will bring you plenty of options.

Which brings us to the second step in the process.

Converting FLV files to Windows Media Video Files (WMV)

There are dozens of software available all around the web that could potentially help you do this conversion, but why bother with all that searching when we have the coolest open source solution for the job, ffmpeg. If you’re comfortable with the command line, you can use ffmpeg directly or download and install the excellent WinFF utility, which is basically a graphical wrap-around for the app.

Launch WinFF and click on the add button to add the FLV file you just downloaded. Select “Microsoft” from the Convert To drop down and select the WMV2 Generic option from the Device Presets drop down. Choose a location to save the converted file to and click on convert. WinFF will launch ffmpeg which will do the conversion for you without you having to use any command line kung fu.

Editing Videos using Windows Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker is a free software bundled with Windows which can be used to edit and enhance videos and it has built-in support to read WMV files. Mark has previously written two excellent articles on editing movies using Windows Movie Maker and those should be enough to get you started.

Use WMM to remove the offending scene(s). Use the preview window to view the results of your artistry as soon as you’re ready.

When you’re done with editing the video, click the Publish Movie button and export the movie using one of the many choices given, including burning the movie to a DVD or writing a new WMV file to the disk for playing on a computer.

Do you know of any better ways how to copy and edit a YouTube video?  If so, let us know.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• Top Online File Converters (Video, Audio, Images …) (23)
• One Online Tool to Handle Five Tedious Tasks (6)
• How to Easily Compress Video Files for Web with Movie Maker (17)
• How to Create a DVD from Any Video File (21)
• FLV Converter – A Freeware to Convert FLV Videos to AVI (11)

So when I happed upon VideoSpiritLite and saw that it could convert video files from and to any of these formats, VCD / SVCD / DVD / MPEG / AVI / DivX/ASF / WMV/DAT / SWF / FLV / 3GP / RM / MP4 / MOV, I was pretty happy and I hadn’t even downloaded the application yet.

While I started downloading the LITE version that is free from here I read through its features and it does some really neat stuff, other than converting, like extracting audio or still pictures from video. They do have a PRO version that costs money the only difference between the two products is the ability to edit the videos. Let’s take a look at what we can do with the free version.

The download was 10.9MB and once I downloaded it, I extracted the exe file and started installing. When it was completed in about 45 seconds it launched the application. You will see an info box when the application starts, prompting you to check that you have each of these three codec packs installed. They are K-lite which I wrote about here, Real Alternative and Quick Time.

With these three codec packs you can convert video files to and from any of the above formats for free! If you do not have any of them installed follow their respective links to grab and install them. I had all of them installed on my system so I was good to go.

Once you complete that, you will click close and you will then see the application. It looks like this:

I know, I know, you want to see how to convert a video file… So here we go. Start with Add Task

Then I chose Convert One File and that brings up the Wizard to get your video converted. Just fill out the fields

I chose the type I want to convert my video to, then I chose the input video and it automatically gives you the most reasonable settings but, if you know what you are doing you can go in and modify most settings.

When you are done hit OK. This will not start the conversion yet. The program can do batch processing – meaning you can set multiple files to convert and then start it. We will just be doing one today though. After you hit OK you will see a task like so:

Hit Start and you are off…

Once the conversion is complete you can view or copy the file from the output folder to where it needs to go. Very easy, and VERY handy!

To use the other features we were talking about it is as simple as going back to Add Task and selecting one of the other options:

You will see options to Split, Join and extract images. You can also convert a DVD. I was not able to figure out how to extract audio only from a video file but their website listed it as a feature. If you figure out how to do it – let us know in the comments!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• How To Rip & Convert A DVD Movie For Your iPod (Mac Only) (23)
• How To Download Free Movies For Your PSP (18)
• How to Create a DVD from Any Video File (21)
• FLV Converter – A Freeware to Convert FLV Videos to AVI (11)
• Digital Video Formats and Video Conversion Explained (8)

However, with its extremely large user base and plenty of tools at your disposal, few may argue that YouTube is the place for your videos to be.

Some time back we showed you some YouTube URL tricks that allow you to change how the player behaves. Right now, allow us to present forth some of the most popular tools out there to go along with YouTube and the super cool stuff you can do with them.

Rip Audio

If you are only interested in the audio of a particular YouTube video and want to rip it off quickly, you can do so using ListenToYouTube. Paste in the URL of the YouTube video that you want the audio extracted, allow it to do its thing and then download the audio as a MP3 file.

Mac users may find that iExtractMP3 performs the same function.

Create Ringtones

If ListenToYouTube allows you to grab the audio, MadRingtones allows you to play with audio. It enables you to make ringtones from YouTube videos or MP3 files from your computer. Creating ringtones is quick and easy: simply navigate to the site, enter the URL of the video or MP3 file and click ‘Load’. Listen through, and it lets you specify the tone’s start/end points and then download it to your computer as MP3, AMR, OGG or M4R file.

Splice and Chop!

There are times when you only like a certain part of a video. You could use the “#t” URL trick to skip to the interesting part. However, if it is more than just viewing the interesting part of the video that you are trying to accomplish, you should check out TubeChop or Splicd. Both these sites allow you to specify a YouTube video URL, the part you want to keep and cut the rest off. You can then embed the “chopped” video on your blog/website or share it with your friends.

Remix or Dub videos

Want to add an MJ track to your dancing kid video? YtDub is a cool video dubbing app which lets you easily dub any YouTube video with audio from another video. Works easy, simply enter YouTube IDs of the video you want to dub and the video you want to use as the background track, hit ‘Dubbo’ and you will get a link to your newly dubbed masterpiece. Play it, share it or do whatever you like.

Dump the default interface

Searching and then clicking to view a video is all fine and dandy, but there is always room for a little change. Bored of the Youtube interface? Then check out:

• YouFlow – which adds a coverflow-like interface and allows you to play multiple videos in a single browser tab.
• YouCube – which lets you map YouTube videos on to the faces of a cube and then share it with others. You can spin the cube to switch between the videos.

• Darao and InfiniTube – let you enter a keyword and returns a playlist of the search result. Hit Play and you have got yourself a non-stop video viewer

Use the cutting edge features

TestTube is like Labs for YouTube. It is a place where you can test drive the latest from YouTube developers. At the time of writing, TestTube includes – CaptionTube – to add captions, Video Annotations, Active Sharing – to show other people what you are watching, Streams – to chat with others who are watching the same video, Warp – a tool to visually browse videos and a demo of the HTML5 Video Tag. There are new ideas added (and taken down) from time to time.

Find sites that have embedded your videos

YouTube provides you excellent tools to track statistics pertaining to your videos. Here, we explained how you can use the tools to track which sites are embedding your videos.

Set a video alarm

A simple online alarm clock that wakes you up with a YouTube video of your choice. Set the alarm time in simple English (tomorrow at 7am, in 45 minutes) and pick any YouTube video you want. No-registration required.

Add Subtitles to YouTube Videos

Ever wanted to add subtitles to Youtube videos and share them with friends? Subyo is a web service that can help you with that. Before anything else, you’ll need to register and get yourself a Subyo account. Next, copy and paste a YouTube video URL into the provided field and click on “Add Subtitles”. Then video will load in the Subyo editor where you can start adding subtitles.

Watch flagged videos without logging in

There are lots of videos on YouTube marked as inappropriate by users. Due to this, YouTube restricts viewing of these videos to registered users only. If you do not have an account (or you don’t want to add a video to your history) and want to view a flagged YouTube video, check out NSFWYouTube. BE WARNED: Due to its niche (if I may call it so) the site has explicit NSFW content, discretion adviced!

Turn Youtube links to videos

Use the Videoembed Greasemonkey script that reads links to video sites on any website and embeds the corresponding video right next to the link so you don’t have click it or visit Youtube to watch the video. It works for a number of other video sites as well.

Get rid of distractions

QuieTube is a cool browser bookmarklet which allows you to view any YouTube video all by itself on a page, removing the surrounding bells and whistles (somewhat like the “Turn down lights” in Youtube). Just drag & drop the provided bookmarklet to your browser toolbar/bookmark bar and click it when viewing a YouTube Video.

Add text, graphics and links to videos

KickLight is a tool that lets you add text, graphics and links to your YouTube video without obscuring it any way. The application inserts a space just below a video and then lets you add your content (text, images and links) there. It also allows you to customize how and when added content should be shown.

Download Videos

There are scores of tools, tricks out there that let you download videos from Youtube. From Firefox extensions, to greasemonkey scripts to complete applications to specific sites — when it comes to downloading, there are probably more than what is required. We covered the best, have a look.

Come Again?

Did I hear you murmur a name we missed? Well go on, use the comments to flame us! Tell us about it. If you have used any of the tools we’ve listed, do share your experiences.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• FLV Converter – A Freeware to Convert FLV Videos to AVI (11)
• An Introduction To Codecs, Converters and Rippers (19)
• 4 YouTube Tools you Probably Don’t Know About (48)
• 4 Quick Ways To Download YouTube Videos Off The Net (121)
• vTap – Download videos on your mobile for FREE (10)

As for other video files – times evolve. The same filesize that allowed us to watch mediocre quality AVIs in the past, now allows us to store HD 720p MP4s. Technology moves on, and so should you.

Converting your video files isn’t always easy. Although, more free apps that can handle the job hit the market every year, there are a lot of technical gibberish involved.

If you want to know what you’re doing in the process, read on for a section-oriented guide with some easy-to-grasp, practical information about the concept and the different factors of video compression. Video Converting in a nutshell, if you will.

Video Containers

Video Containers are what most people use to differentiate between various video files. You should know most of these by their names. The most popular ones include:

• AVI
• MPEG / MPEG-4
• MKV
• RM / RMV
• MOV
• WMV

The container is designed to store the different data types. These include audio, video, and sometimes even subtitles. They’re like the boxes in which we put our candy, or the cars in which we drive our kids around. There’s a great comparison of these container formats and their respective restrictions on Wikipedia.

Note that the biggest difference between these containers lies in the support they give for underlying bits of information. Different containers provide support for different audio and video compressions. Some will enable the inclusion of multiple audio, or subtitle tracks, where others will allow only one, or none at all. If you want to add subtitles to an AVI or WMV file, you might have to burn them into the picture.

Video/Audio Codecs

The real difference between most video files relies less on the used container (and if so, only by means of restriction), but more on the video or audio codec – what’s in the box. The video codec defines how the information is processed. Some of the most popular video codecs include

• DivX / XviD
• h264 / x264
• FFMPEG
• Theora

You should remember that the content, or the way the content is stored is not always defined by the container, although it’s often limited (e.g. some containers support multiple audio streams, whereas AVI only supports one). As a result, there are several different available combinations between containers and codecs.

Different codecs make for different sound or picture quality in relation to file size. The most famous and most often used are the AVI containers, with the DivX or (free) XviD codec (but between you and I – they’re a tad outdated and have a horrible quality/filesize ratio).

I highly recommend using the uprising x264 codec (which has a delicious quality/filesize ratio). You can use it with a MKV container if you’re planning to use multiple audio and subtitle tracks, or else with a MP4 container. The MP4 container only supports one video and audio layer, but has a higher support rate and can be played on iPods, PSPs and most of the newer mobile phones as well.

Bitrate

A bitrate defines the speed of the data transfer. In terms of video, this means more data is included in a shorter audio/visual interval.

Most often, you can leave the bitrate as is, or play a little with it if you’re the adventurous type. Higher bitrate means a bigger datastream, so for the ultimate quality/filesize ratio, your bitrate shouldn’t be too low (which removes people from your car), nor too high (buying a bigger car than you actually need).

In a lot of applications, it’s also possible to calculate the bitrate of a movie by providing a target size. This allows you to get the best quality out of your video, while staying under a set file size.

Multiple Passes

This is pretty self-explanatory. Multiple passes defines how many times the application will process the entire film to reach the end result. These days, a two-pass encoding is standard.

Obviously, when working with multiple-pass encoding, it will take longer to convert your video. If your system’s equiped with a quad-core processor, this won’t be the most of your worries, but with an older computer, you’ll better run it at night or when you’re off to the pub.

Conversion Tools

There are a lot of applications that will do the job and MakeUseOf has reviewed some great, free ones in the past. Be sure to check out Handbrake – which is available for Windows, Mac and Linux – if you want to convert your DVDs to video files. For file-to-file conversions, take a look at Will Muellers Top Free Media Converters For Windows or Varun’s article on Linux video convertors.

We hope you’ve learned from this guide, and will be able to process your files to a format that’s easier to handle and share. If you found this article interesting, be sure to check other MakeUseOf articles on movies, converting and surrounding topics, like how to add subtitles to your movies.

If there’s anything you want to ask, or anything you want to share with us or your fellow MakeUseOf readers, the comments section below is open for everyone with a keyboard and a social mind.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• An Introduction To Codecs, Converters and Rippers (19)
• Create DVDs Out of AVI or Other Media Files (14)
• xVideoServiceThief – Ultimate Download Manager for Online Videos (25)
• Use GrabTube To Convert YouTube Videos Online (13)
• How To Easily Convert Video Files to DVD, MP4, VCD, MPEG, AVI … with VideoSpiritLite (22)

Sound Converter

Available via the package manager, Sound converter provides basic batch audio file conversion. Select the files or drop in an entire folder, choose the output format and bitrate from within Edit > Preferences and basically, you’re done.

Gnormalize

Gnormalize is a GTK based tool for audio conversion. In addition to converting audio (between mp3, mp4, mpc, wav, ogg, ape and flac), Gnormalize can adjust the volume of sound files to compensate for varying recording levels. You can also use Gnormalize to rip CDs, edit metadata and play your songs as well.

SoundKonverter

KDE users can try SoundKonverter. It has all the features of Gnormalize like reading tags, replay gain calculation but supports a few additional audio file formats.

OggConvert, WaoN and flac

You always have a plenty of choices at your disposal when choosing software in Linux. Here are some command line tools that are good for specific audio conversion tasks. OggConvert provides you tools to convert almost all major audio formats into Ogg. flac and WaoN are good to use use when working with Flac or mid files respectively.

SoX

Then there is SoX – Sound eXchange. Although not just a conversion tool, geeks swear by it. You just cannot write an article about sound and not mention SoX. It does some hundred different amazing things and is rightly called the “Swiss Army Knife” of sound-processing programs.

WinFF

FFmpeg pretty rules the roost here. You can get all geeky and learn the command line switches or you can try WinFF. WinFF provides a frontend to FFmpeg. It works on Windows and Mac as well. It (actually FFmpeg) can be used for batch conversion of audio and video files. Just add the file(s) you wish to convert, choose the desired format, apply device presets if you desire. Once you are set, hit the Convert button and out pops the command line with one big ass command! Glad we don’t have to type in that ourselves, thanks to WinFF.

You can do pretty amazing things with WinFF or FFmpeg in general. We saw how we can use it to create actions so that you can convert video for your iPod with a right click in Nautilus. Studying the command line that WinFF pops out, you can create more of such custom actions. You can for example, write an action to extract audio out of videos, the possibilities are endless.

Handbrake

Handbrake is a popular multi-platform video transcoder. It can be used to convert DVDs to MP4, MKV, AVI and OGM. It offers additional features like chapter selection, burning subtitle into the picture, cropping and scaling.

DeVeDe

If Handbrake converts your DVDs to MP4s, DeVeDe takes in video files and creates DVDs and CDs that you can run on your regular home CD/DVD players. DeVeDe is available for Windows as well.

There are plenty of choices for you to consider and choose from if you are looking for some good Audio/Video converters for Linux. Did we miss out on your favorite software? Let us know in the comments

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• Top Free Media Converters for Windows (32)
• Max – The Multitalented Audio File Converter for Mac (4)
• FormatFactory – A multifunctional Media Converter (17)
• EncodeHD- Easily Convert Media Files for Any Devices (Windows) (5)
• Top Online File Converters (Video, Audio, Images …) (23)

It used to be that there were only a few video file formats and they were easily download by right-clicking and saving them. Now there is the Flash Video format (FLV), Windows Media Video (WMV), MPEG-4, QuickTime and many more.

Let’s take a look at the tool I would recommend, personally.

So, How To Download Streaming Video

DownloadHelper is the application I use. It plugs in to Firefox, so it’s always there in my toolbar, right when I need it. Any site I’ve been on, where there is video content, I’ve always been able to download it.

Download and Install DownloadHelper

Point your browser at the DownloadHelper site. Once you are there, look for the Add to Firefox button and click right there.

After clicking on the button, you’ll see the Software Installation screen. To continue, click on the Install Now button.

What happens next? Well, let me show you. Camera guy, are you getting this?

It downloads quickly. Then, it self-installs. All it wants you to do now is Restart Firefox. So let’s do that.

Once Firefox restarts, you’ll see the DownloadHelper button in your toolbar. Sure, it’s greyed out, but once we begin to use it, you’ll see how it works.

How To Use DownloadHelper to Download Videos

Let’s say, I go to DailyMotion and I want to download the Glutes are Made For Walking video – just to send it to my wife, because she doesn’t believe me that women do this sort of thing. Seriously though, check out the video. It’s funny, yet creepy – kind of like someone poking you in the belly button.

Once the video starts playing, you can see the DownloadHelper icon in colour, and spinning.

Now, if you just want the video so you can watch it later,  just click on it and click on the file name of the video. You may want to note that the file name isn’t always something easily recognizable. In this case, it’s a bunch of numbers.

DownloadHelper even gives me the ability to convert the video from FLV to, say, AVI or any other format. If this were a documentary, I might want to change it to AVI, so I could burn it to a DVD. To perform the conversion, you need to have some more software installed like FFMPEG, which you can learn more about over at FFMPEG.org. It appears to be the backbone to many video conversion software applications.

DownloadHelper also comes with other features, such as multiple video download, great documentation and a guide, of sorts, to sites featuring videos. It is freeware, but I would recommend donating a few bucks to the developer. It’s definitely good work. Keep the karma going. Just like the glute exercises….

Do you save your online videos? Will this little add-on come in handy? Are you aware of any faster/easier way to download streamig videos? Shout out in the comments!

For other methods of saving online videos, check out:

4 Quick Ways To Download YouTube Videos Off The Net
18 Free Ways To Download Any Video off the Internet
Download, Viewing and Converter Tools for Youtube & Google Video

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• Watch Videos In The Firefox Sidebar With YouPlayer (16)
• vTap – Download videos on your mobile for FREE (10)
• Top 5 Internet TV Players + TV freebies (26)
• Play and Download YouTube Videos On Your Mac with MacTubes (8)
• One Online Tool to Handle Five Tedious Tasks (6)

Using Grab Tube’s Web Converter you can convert any online or downloaded video (.flv, .mp4, .3gp, .avi) and using their service, convert it to MP3, 3GP, AVI, FLV or MPG. This is really useful to grab a friend’s youTube video and throw it on your phone to share.

Let’s see how it works…

First we browse on over to http://www.grab-tube.com/converter where the converter lives and you will see a screen that looks like this:

The URL bar at the top of the screen let’s you simply paste a URL of an online video to download. Drop down the format next to it and hit the download button.

You will see the next screen with links to download the file to your computer. With the file, you can then use the service to convert it to another file type.

Click the link to download the file and save it to your computer.

Then after you have the file on your local machine, click the logo at the top of Grab Tube to take you back to the home page. Once there, browse to your file, choose the format to convert it to and hit the Convert file! button below.

Once the conversion is complete, you will get a link to download the newly converted video, like you see below. Now, you can do what you need to with it! Enjoy.

Do you have another method of doing this? Well then, what are you waiting for?? Share it with us in the comments!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• xVideoServiceThief – Ultimate Download Manager for Online Videos (25)
• One Online Tool to Handle Five Tedious Tasks (6)
• Digital Video Formats and Video Conversion Explained (8)
• 4 Quick Ways To Download YouTube Videos Off The Net (121)
• Top Online File Converters (Video, Audio, Images …) (23)

“What you don’t have any videos for me to watch? I have about an hour and a half to kill each way hook me up!

I did have a crap load of new video files but nothing that was converted to play on the PSP. (This will work for almost all popular video playing devices.)  Yeah that sucks. But I remembered a little application I had seen that would allow my friend to convert these videos himself – and easily.

This application is so simple anyone can use it that can click a mouse!

I burned the video files for him and a little program called EncodeHD. I downloaded the 5.5MB Zip file, Extracted and ran the EncodeHD.exe file.. He was almost ready to rock and roll.

I decided to show him how to use the application before he left and took screenshots of my actions for everyone to follow along. Before we get started I should tell you guys how it works. This awesomely easy front end launched these 3 great tools without you having to know how they work:

1. FFmpeg
2. Atomic Parsley
3. MP4Box from the GPAC Project

With that said let’s see how she works!

The application is totally portable so there is no installation necessary. After launching the exe you will see a window like the one below. Select what type of device you have and want to convert your media for.

Drag and drop your media files into the window below like so:

If your computer can play it – EncodeHD can convert it! The advanced options are pretty simple but this is also where you can find the log file – if something goes wrong.

Check the box to specify an output folder if you do not want to write it to your source folder. You can select your PSP drive if it is connected to write the videos directly to your device so you do not have to copy them later. In this instance I am writing to a folder called EncodeHD on my D:\ drive.

Then simply hit start and you are on your way!

It seemed to take about half as long as the video to convert. So for example a hour episode of something took about 26 minutes to convert. Mileage will vary depending on your hardware!

EncodeHD will batch run each file and when it is complete you can happily watch your media anywhere you want it!

How do you convert your media? Do you have something that is even easier than this? We would love to hear about it in the comments!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• Top Free Media Converters for Windows (32)
• 10 Great Apps to Convert Audio & Video Files in Linux (49)
• Top Online File Converters (Video, Audio, Images …) (23)
• One Online Tool to Handle Five Tedious Tasks (6)
• Max – The Multitalented Audio File Converter for Mac (4)

Today I’ll be showing you how to use the free DVD Flick to convert just about any video files to DVD format. DVD Flick supports a huge number of audio and video file formats. You may create DVDs from avi, vob, iso, wmv, mp4 and even Flash video (FLV) so that you may preserve that YouTube pirated movie cute cat video for generations.

For starters, we’ll need a good video file. In this example, I’ve downloaded the latest episode of Pure Pwnage, which is probably the greatest ever Internet show about pr0s who pwn n00bs @ g4m3z. If you can read that last part, you might have already seen the show. Moving on.

(photo credit: Silvio Tanaka)

Open DVD Flick and click the New Project button. You should have a blank canvas before you. Click Add title on the right side and pick your video files. You can select multiple files and create multiple titles, but we’re going to stick with one to make it simple. Now, select your title and hit the Edit title button on the right.

This is where you’ll be doing a lot of your customization. You’re going to want to name the video and make sure that it’s set at the correct aspect ratio. Under Chapters, you can specify the length of each chapter. For something feature-length this could be five or ten minutes, but for a video this short, I’ve set my chapters at two minutes. Under Audio and Video sources, you may wish to include a different angle of a shot, if available, or an alternate audio track, such as commentary.

Under the Project settings button you’ll find more options to fine-tune your DVD. If you plan on opening this project again later, you may want to give it a title. Your Target size will likely not change from 4.3GB DVD, unless you’ve bought some special-format disks. For simplicity’s sake, and from my own experience, I suggest going for a 4.3GB DVD-R or DVD-RW for maximum compatibility. Under Video, please be sure that your Target video format is appropriate for your region. For the Americas, select NTSC. For just about everywhere else, choose PAL. Finally, under Burning, check the box next to Burn project to disc.

Under Menu settings, you may select your preferred template, with options such as forcing audio track selection. You may preview the menu to make sure that it navigates the right way. Once you have everything set the way you want it, it’s time to hit the Create DVD button.

It may take some time for the process to complete, especially with larger video files. As a rule of thumb, expect the DVD to be completed in about the same time you’d spend watching the whole DVD. If you’re working with big files, this might be something you want to have running overnight when you’re sleeping.  It was quite nice of the developers to include a Tetris game to pass the time. Just hit that little Entertain me button.

DVD Flick makes DVD authoring ridiculously easy. I’m creating a PP season one DVD as I type this, and it couldn’t have been much easier. There are other options, and we’d be happy to hear them in the comments.

As for me, I’m off to pwn some n00bs.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• How To Rip & Convert A DVD Movie For Your iPod (Mac Only) (23)
• Top Online File Converters (Video, Audio, Images …) (23)
• How To Easily Convert Video Files to DVD, MP4, VCD, MPEG, AVI … with VideoSpiritLite (22)
• How To Copy & Edit YouTube Videos On Your Computer (20)
• bitRipper : One-Click Free DVD Ripper for Windows (64)

With so many video formats and too little time to organize our video files, we need an easy-to-use and intuitive video converter that handles all our video files on the go. Let us look at 5 of the best freeware video converters that will keep your video collection a little less insane. For converting other files, you can choose an online file converter that were covered earlier.

Quick Media Converter

Quick Media Converter is a powerful freeware video converter that handles all current formats such as FLV, AVI, DIVX, XVID, MPEG 1-4, iPod/iPhone, Real Media, and M4A. In addition, this whale of a free video converter allows you to record videos from your DV camera or webcam in the classic AVI format and convert the file to any format you need.

Quick Media Converter has two modes. The Easy Mode gives you quick access to all conversion options available in an all-in-one interface. Once you have your video file or folder loaded, just click the file that you want to convert and select the conversion format that suits you. The Expert Mode is less intuitive but it gives you full control of video conversion options like codec rendering, aspect, bitrate, FPS, audio synchronization, and recording volume.

Super Video Converter

Super fits the bill for a simple, no-frills interface that converts videos on the go. Super is actually a shell for different command line conversion scripts. Super handles a large number of video formats like 3GP and 3G2 for mobile phones, ASF, DIVX AVI, MOV, MPEG, flash video, real media, PSP video, and more. Super also handles audio conversion for those who want to extract their videos and rip the audio out for easy listening. Super handles large files quickly, and you can find the settings easily making it convenient for users to set their options and start converting.

Any Video Converter

Any Video Converter is perfect for your younger mother/ brothers/sisters who do not want to be bothered with the myriad of options and just want a fast solution that gets the job done while looking good doing it. The converter handles all popular video files with batch-convert and user-defined options. Any Video Converter also has a dumbed-down interface to make video conversion as simple as possible, although it can handle advanced video conversions if you tinker behind the interface and experiment with options.

MediaCoder

Mediacoder is an open source video converter which works on a large variety of formats. New features, conversion options, and conversions formats are constantly being added to support newly-released devices. Mediacoder dubs itself as the “swiss army knife for media transcoding”… simple, quick, and does everything that it is asked. Mediacoder gives straightforward tools that you won’t easily find in other converters like video compression, extracting audio from video files, and repairing corrupted or partially downloaded video files.

Format Factory

This full-featured converter allows conversion to and from popular formats including video formats for PSP, iPhone, and other video formats. The conversion options are easy to find within the interface and you can even perform batch conversion options for mobile video, pictures, audio, DVD videos, and more.

If you can find other freeware video converters hotter than these, just hit the comments button and share them with the MUO community. Cheers!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• Top Online File Converters (Video, Audio, Images …) (23)
• How to Create a DVD from Any Video File (21)
• How To Copy & Edit YouTube Videos On Your Computer (20)
• Digital Video Formats and Video Conversion Explained (8)
• 7 Free Open Source Video Editors For Linux (28)

The reason they were not initially featured here on MakeUseOf is due to the fact that they don’t offer free products – they cost $49 per year, and typically we only review free products. I did test all the products and was very impressed, so I was glad to see this announcement a few days ago:

We’ve listened to your requests for free products and today we are releasing several free applications that will enhance your desktop:

• Free Video Converter – new application for converting and basic editing of home videos, also included in Extensions for Windows as a new update.
• Free Screen Capturer – new application based on our Screen Capture Extension.
• Free Disk Usage Analyzer – new application based on our Disk Analyzer Extension.
• Free Extended Task Manager – new application based on our Extended Task Manager Extension.

Please visit our updated Products page and enjoy!

The Screen Capturer, Disk Usage Analyzer and Extended Task Manager were previously only included amongst the subscription products, so I was surprised to see these released for free – especially considering I found them to be my favourite three extensions of the lot!

The Task Manager is great, and provides a significantly enhanced UI over the Windows XP Task manager and even over the improved Windows Vista version.

The New Video Converter tools are also very impressive, in fact it’s one of the best free video media converter tools I’ve found – it’s simple, looks great and is very functional. It’s also got a great implementation of the ‘Office Ribbon’, which makes this one of the few applications I’ve seen in the wild to do so.

The Disk Analyzer is also great for working out exactly where all the space on your computer is being taken up. Sometimes it’s a little slow during the analyses, but that’s a minor quibble. For alternative, see our previous article on Visualize your Hard Drive Usage with WinDirStat.

For users tired of Windows simple print-screen button the Screen Capturer is a great little tool with a whole lot of useful features.

If you like any of these tools then we have 10 FREE subscriptions for a year to all of Extensoft products. All you have to do is post a comment below telling us the ONE feature you feel Windows is most missing (Make Use Of employees and anyone connected to Make Use Of employees ineligible).

Enjoy!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• Schedule & Manage Preset Tasks On Your PC (Windows Only) (6)
• ZScreen – Make Screen Captures & Upload To Imageshack (15)
• Visualize your Hard Drive Usage with WinDirStat (16)
• Use Your Voice To Get Things Done With Dial2Do (7)
• Use GrabTube To Convert YouTube Videos Online (13)

In case you are searching for a good video editor for linux, here are some of the good options that you can use in your Linux machine. Some of them are available for Windows and Mac as well. Do check them out even if you are not using Linux.

1. Avidemux

Avidemux is a free video editor used mainly for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It is often dubbed as the VirtualDub for Linux as it can do many things that VirtualDub can do. It supports many files types, including avi, DVD compatible mpeg files, mp4, asf and even the not-so-common ogm and matroska format.

Some of the useful features of Avidemux include a simple WYSIWYG interface, easy conversion from one format to another, plenty of filtering effects and a built-in subtitles processing capabilities.

2. Cinelerra

Cinelerra is a powerhouse video editing software used by many professionals for high quality video production. Cinelerra does mainly three things: capturing, compositing, and editing. It has a great support for very high-fidelity audio. In addition, it is resolution and frame rate-independent.

What this means is that it can handle all sorts of video resolution, regardless of whether it is standard or high definition (HD), without any issue.

If you are using a high-end graphics card, Cinelerra allows you to preview your edited video in real time without any rendering required. This makes your video editing much more faster, easier and intuitive.

Cinelerra is not updated very frequently. If you are looking for an updated version with more features, you should install the Cinelerra-CV community version instead.

3. FFmpeg

Unknown to many, FFmpeg is the most widely used application in Linux. FFmped is a command line tool that is composed of a collection of open-source libraries. With these sets of libraries, one can easily record, convert and stream digital audio/video in numerous formats. It does not come with a GUI, but it is used by many video players/converters as the backend application.

4. Jashaka

Jahshaka is a software that has not been updated since November 2006. Nevertheless, it is still a powerful video editing application that can turn you into a professional. There are plenty of useful features in Jahshaka. Functions include adding effects in real time, adding animations with unlimited features, paint and design on moving video and working in any video format at any resolution makes it a very versatile and sturdy video editor.

Jahshaka makes use of the OpenLibraries as its backend support. The Openlibraries are a powerful set of C++ libraries that provides its users tools to edit, compose, play media, encode and image process.

Jahshaka is cross platform and available for Linux, Mac and Windows.

5. Kino

Kino is a video editing software mainly for Digital Video (DV). If you take a lot of video shots with your video cam, then Kino is the application that can make life very easy for you.

Kino is a non-linear DV editor for Linux. It is a simple software with some useful functions. You can edit, split, trim, add filters and even publish your video to blip.tv. It supports Firewire and IEEE-1394 and is able to capture video from a Firewire connected DV device.

One of its best features is that it supports a wide variety of video formats (DV over IEEE 1394, Raw DV, DV AVI, still frames, WAV, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4) and you can export your work to any of your preferred formats.

6. LiVES Video Editor

LiVES started off as a Linux Video Editing System, but it is now supported in the various OS’s.

The power of LiVES lies in its ability to mix realtime video performances and non-linear editing in one application. It supports multitrack timelines and enables you to import, edit and mix several video tracks at the same time.

There is a VJ mode that allows VJ to set multiple real time effects during playback. There are also plenty of effects that one can add to your videos.

Overall, LiVES is a simple to use, yet powerful and flexible video editing tool with plenty of customization options.

7) KDEnlive

KDEnlive stands for KDE Non-Linear Video Editor. Started as part of the KDE project, it is also available for various desktop managers in Linux.

At first use, I found KDEnlive surprisingly fast and easy to use. It integrates well with the desktop manager and has an simple interface. Most of the stuff (such as adding effects, adding clips) can be easily done by drag-and-drop action, which makes it very user-friendly.

It supports a wide variety of file formats, as well as a wide range of camcorders and cameras. Like LiVES, it allows multitrack editing of unlimited video and audio tracks. There are some nice effects with KDEnlive such as sepia, grayscale, gamma, inverse color and speed changes. One thing that I like is that the effect is rendered on the fly and you can immediately see the preview to checkout the video effect. This is surely one of the great pieces of software that I would recommend.

In conclusion, there are plenty of video editors out there and all have their own pros and cons. Choosing the best one for you depend on what features you need and the level of your technical skills. Some are good for expert users (Cinelerra) while some are designed for beginners (Kino, KDEnlive). Take your time to review each and every one of them and you will be able to find the best one for you.

Have I missed out any other video editors for Linux?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• 5 Easy-to-use Freeware Video Converters (49)
• xVideoServiceThief – Ultimate Download Manager for Online Videos (25)
• Top Online File Converters (Video, Audio, Images …) (23)
• Top Free Media Converters for Windows (32)
• Merge Multiple Video Files With VirtualDub (16)

Today, I will show you some of the top free media converters for Windows to allow you be able to use, watch and listen to all your video and audio files.

Media Converter SA

Media Converter SA may just be the best media converter ever created. Its simple and easy to use interface is enough to get anyone to use it, but besides that, Media Converter SA supports an incredibly large array of formats. It seems as if there are almost no audio or video formats that it cannot convert.

Besides converting in multiple formats, Media Converter SA comes with quite a large amount of settings that allow you to customize the process even further. Its features include: video resolution, start time, maximum file size, audio/video bit rate, recording time, and much more.

(Note: There is also an accompanying online media converter provided here if you would rather convert online.)

MediaCoder

MediaCoder, while less of a user-oriented interface in comparison to Media Converter SA, still supports a fairly large amount of file formats and devices. One thing that really makes MediaCoder one of the top media converters is the number of features. Not only does MediaCoder support converting single files, but it also allows users to convert entire folders, tracks from DVD’s or CD’s, and even URL’s or RSS feeds.

Yet, it continues! You are given the option to change the settings for each format currently supported, which yields a lot of options.

If you are intending on converting a large amount of files or want to convert something probably not supported anywhere else, you definitely can with MediaCoder.

RazorLame

RazorLame is an extremely simple and to-the-point audio converter. While it does not have as many features as either Media Converter SA or MediaCoder, RazorLame supports common audio formats for regular use.

If all you need to do is convert a few MP3 or WAV files, then RazorLame may definitely be useful.

(Note: You will need to download LAME separately and locate it with RazorLame to use the application. LAME can be downloaded here.)

Windows Essential Codec Pack

W.E.C.P. are a series of codecs that allow the user to view/listen to almost any media format introduced. What is neat about W.E.C.P. is that it doesn’t require the user to convert a file to a different format and thus have a duplicate file, but plays files without requiring separate conversion.

W.E.C.P. also comes with Media Player Classic to work with the codecs installed. If all you need to do is use certain media files once, then W.E.C.P. may be one of the best options.

Switch

Switch is an audio converter quite similar to Media Converter SA, due to its simple and easy-to-use interface. Supporting numerous audio formats is only part of Switch’s large array of options. Other features include: the ability to import playlists, ability to convert up to 32,000 files all at once, settings for individual audio bit rates, etc. Switch could be used for a multitude of different media.

I hope this helps some of you pick a media converter that is good for you. What do you use to convert media? Tell us in the comments.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• EncodeHD- Easily Convert Media Files for Any Devices (Windows) (5)
• 10 Great Apps to Convert Audio & Video Files in Linux (49)
• Top Online File Converters (Video, Audio, Images …) (23)
• One Online Tool to Handle Five Tedious Tasks (6)
• Max – The Multitalented Audio File Converter for Mac (4)

FormatFactory is one such tool that can assist you in most of your media conversion needs.

FormatFactory is a multifunctional media converter that supports:

Video Conversion:
From all formats to MP4/3GP/MPG/AVI/WMV/FLV/SWF.

Audio Conversion:
From all formats to MP3/WMA/MMF/AMR/OGG/M4A/WAV.

Image Conversion:
From all to JPG/BMP/PNG/TIF/ICO/PCX/TGA.

Using FormatFactory you can not only convert between all the various formats but you can also perform certain other functions like reducing multimedia file sizes. This can be done by shortening the video/audio (by changing the duration) or by changing the quality with which you want to encode/convert.

You can also attempt to repair damaged audio and video files that just won’t play in your players.

FormatFactory has a special section for converting media files specially for your portable players. FormatFactory allows you to convert your media files to formats supported by your iPod, iPhone, Zune, PSP, BlackBerry and 3GP for supported devices

Last but not least you can use it to rip CD/DVDs to video files or convert them to ISO images.

Usage:

• 1. Download and complete the simple installation.
• 2. Choose the category and file format you want to convert to from the side bar.
• 3. Add in the desired files. Optionally you can change the output settings (click on output settings).

• 4. Once you have them all queued up hit the start button.

• You can also play with the options to tweak the overall settings and output folder for all your conversions.

Let us know what you think of FormatFactory in the comments. Do you have another preferred program for your media file conversion needs?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• An Introduction To Codecs, Converters and Rippers (19)
• 10 Great Apps to Convert Audio & Video Files in Linux (49)
• Digital Video Formats and Video Conversion Explained (8)
• Audio File Formats Explained in Simple Terms (31)
• xVideoServiceThief – Ultimate Download Manager for Online Videos (25)

On an unrelated note we’d like to share some tools for the purpose of ripping, converting, downloading and backing up videos.

Since we’re starting from scratch the first thing I suggest you download is a Windows codec pack. Codecs are necessary to play various different ‘digital streams’ (thank you Wikipedia for making me sound smarter) and files. Varun has alsom briefly covered it in his article about Playing Unplayable Videos on your PC.

When you start dealing with video you’ll soon discover there is an awful lot of them. With these packs however you should have no trouble playing any video or audio files you encounter or download:

Free Codec Packs

XP Codec Pack

XP Codec Pack is one of the most completed codec packs which helps you to play all major audio and video formats.

Vista Codec Pack

The installer will automatically remove most other popular codec releases from your computer before installing this concise yet comprehensive package. You won’t need to make any adjustments or tweaks to enjoy your media content immediately. Windows Media Player and Vista’s Media Center will instantly recognize all your files as playable.

Vista Codec Package does not contain a media player software and it will not associate filetypes.

Free DVD Ripping Program

Without a doubt the easiest and best DVD ripping software you’ll find for free is DVD Shrink. It’s been officially abandonware now since 2005 thanks to some copyright infringement accusations and DMCA takedown notices.

Actually that may not be completely true. I think the developers still hang around on the DVD shrink forums, but as far as further development goes they have released nothing more.

It says something for the quality of the original application that two and a half years after the final release it is still one of, if not THE, best DVD rippers.

You can get DVD Shrink from various mirror-sites, here is one link to Softpedia.

DVD Shrink removes copy-protection and regional codes, although on some newer DVDs I have been unable to rip them, perhaps due to new copy protection measures.

DVD is not a DVD re-authoring program, you’ll have to use other software for that. It does however work in conjunction with Nero burning suite if you use that. If you don’t have plans to reburn DVD’s to other DVD’s then I would suggest not splitting the audio and video files. You’ll find the option when you ‘backup’ a disk.

Any Video Converter

Perhaps an explanation isn’t really necessary for Any Video Converter, however I will recommend it.

Any Video Converter takes some of the frustration out of converting media. It’s not infallible but in my experience it’s worked pretty much every time I’ve needed to do something. It also gets a big plus for having an attractive usable interface which is functional and easy to learn.

You can convert video for essentially any popular media player (iPod, PSP, mobile phone) and also for sharing online with services like YouTube. You can see it gets a nice big button in the screenshot below:

uTorrent

uTorrent is now clearly the most popular torrent client. According to TorrentFreak Azurus was the most popular bittorrent software until 2007 when uTorrent took over.

uTorrent got to be the most popular client for being simple, very light on system resources and stable. For most people, me included, this is enough. I can’t think of any feature I require aside from simply downloading the file.

What codecs, converters and rippers do you prefer? These ones or others? Let us know in the comments!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• Digital Video Formats and Video Conversion Explained (8)
• FormatFactory – A multifunctional Media Converter (17)
• Create DVDs Out of AVI or Other Media Files (14)
• 2-Step DVD-to-PC or iPod Video Conversion using Free Tools (115)
• Top Free Media Converters for Windows (32)

With youconvertit there is an online tool that can do all of the above and a little more.

1. Convert Files

The list of available file formats is extensive, covering the sections Audio, Documents, Images, Video, and Archive. However, once you select a file from your computer, the list will shrink down to show all formats your file can be converted into, which is a great help. You can convert up to 5 files at once, and you will receive an eMail containing the download link for each one. So this is why you need to share your eMail address, plus they want to track site usage by user, and send you updates about contests and Terms of Service. They promise not to share your eMail address with a third party. Well, you never know, so if in doubt, better be safe and use a secondary mail address that can afford to be spammed.

2. Download YouTube Videos

Simply paste the video URL into the respective field and download the file straight from the website, no eMail address required. To be able to watch the video on your computer, you need to rename the file from get_video to get_video.flv, since it comes without the file extension.

3. Convert YouTube Videos

In the same section you can also convert YouTube videos to audio or different video files. Your eMail address will be required.

4. Send Files

You can send up to 5 files with 1000MB each and they will be available for 7 days. You need to give at least one receiving eMail address. Under More options you can enter your own eMail address, a title and message for the recipient/s, but neither is required. For each file, one eMail with the download link will be sent. In case you gave your own eMail address, you will receive an eMail with the link as well.

5. Convert Units

The categories are comprehensive to say the least and I’m sure this section would be quite impressive – if only it worked. When testing the unit conversion for this article an error came up whenever I tried to convert anything. While the video download, file conversion and sharing worked wonderfully, although the eMails arrived with a little bit of delay, this section of the website was down over an extended period of time. Too bad. Nevertheless, I recommend trying it because in case it does work, I’m sure it can come in quite handy for painful conversions such as Faraday to Ampere hour. Does this one make sense at all?

Can you rival this one with a similar “do it all” online tool? Let’s hear!

(By) This post was written by one of our regular authors, Tina from Recommended.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too.

• xVideoServiceThief – Ultimate Download Manager for Online Videos (25)
• Use GrabTube To Convert YouTube Videos Online (13)
• Top Online File Converters (Video, Audio, Images …) (23)
• Top Free Media Converters for Windows (32)
• How To Download Streaming Video with DownloadHelper (17)

Zamzar

Zamzar is a free and all-inclusive (video, music, images, documents) online file converter. In 4 quick steps you can convert almost anything to anything else; (1) simply enter a file you want to convert by pointing to its location on your local drive or address on the web(ex; youtube video), (2) select output format(eg. PDF, doc, 3GP mobile, iPod, PSP…), (3) enter email address where it should send converted file and (4) convert it.

Special features:

• supports all popular video, music, image and document formats. More details
• provides browser bookmarklet(Firefox, IE) which lets you convert and save files from any webpage.
• convert and save any video while you are watching it(supports Youtube, GoogleVideo, Myspace, Revver, PutFile, Break.com, Apple, Trailers, Dailymotion, Metacafe, iFilm, Grouper, Blip.tv)
• file size can’t exceed 100 MB

Media-Convert

Media-Convert also lets you convert all types of files, i.e. video, music, images, docs and archives. It’s also free and supports almost all conceivable file formats. Procedure is pretty much the same; select the file, specify output format and let it do the rest. Once it’s done with a file, it will provide you with a link from where it can be downloaded.

Special features:

• each converted file remains accessible for 6 more days, so if you want to share it with friends you can forward them a link to download page.
• input file format auto-detection(no need to specify input format)
• additional option to adjust conversion settings(like fps, bitrate, codec, audio rate, etc..)
• download file directly to your mobile via WAP or GPRS.
• file size can’t exceed 150 MB

Mux
Mux lets you convert youtube and googlevideo videos to following formats; mpeg-4, Quicktime, iPod(m4v), flash video, windows media, mpeg-1/2, windows avi, 3gb mobile and OGG Theora. It’s not as powerful as above mentioned zamzar or media-convert however it has some handy features that you won’t find with others (see below).
Special features;

• for more demanding users there is a power mux which allows users set additional settings on output file(bitrate, fps, file length…etc).
• there is also a mux mobile which lets you convert web-videos to mobile format(3GP, AMR) and instantly forward them to any mobile for free.

• How To Copy & Edit YouTube Videos On Your Computer (20)
• Top Free Media Converters for Windows (32)
• One Online Tool to Handle Five Tedious Tasks (6)
• How to Create a DVD from Any Video File (21)
• EncodeHD- Easily Convert Media Files for Any Devices (Windows) (5)