Just to clarify, in case anybody in the GAOTD still doesn't know: Aiseesoft is a brand name of the Chinese developer, Wondershare. As are at least half a dozen other brand names which are re-skinned Wondershare products.

Today's GAOTD is the latest version of the Wondershare converter ultimate platinum stratospheric best-thing-since-sliced-bread edition (I lose track of Wondershare's inflationary name game)and includes -- most noticeably -- the ability to run 3D 'conversions' and, much more importantly, AVCHD conversions.

The 3D stuff is a fun gimmick and not to be taken seriously. The AVCHD conversion is not a gimmick, because from a slow start with Sony it's now the video recording format of choice of major providers like Panasonic with its global-selling Lumix series.

Three or four years ago, even attempting to convert AVCHD was a nightmare because the container files were all MTS. But in the past 12 months, Wondershare (in its various guises) and rivals like Digiarty have updated their software to cope with this.

Unlike the idiots who constantly populate this thread with inanities like "Gosh I like this, thank you for your generosity Mr Developer!" I've now road-tested today's GAOTD on the output from a new Panasonic Lumix TZ25 camera which records -- superbly well -- in either MP4 HD or AVCHD. When connected to our Sony 42inch TV, the AVCHD looks subjectively sharper and more colourful than the same footage shot in MP4. So-oo. . .

I've taken a single AVCHD test movie at random and converted it with today's GAOTD to HD MP4. The movie ran for 1 minute 10 seconds and has an MTS file size of 126MB.

Aiseesoft took 7 minutes 15 seconds to convert this 1 minute 10 seconds video -- and didn't begin in promising fashion at all: in preview, the AVCHD footage jerked and stuttered for the first 15 seconds before settling down. However. . .

I attribute this to the program's inability to properly play MTS (MKV) video, because when that same out-of-camera file was viewed in my default player -- VLC Player -- no stuttering or jerkiness of any kind occurred. It would therefore seem that relying upon this Aiseesoft software to accurately preview an original AVCHD (MTS) file ain't a good idea. Use the infinitely more capable freeware VLC Player instead.

Much is made by Wondershare and other developers of how their latest software is geared up to maximise the latest video acceleration techniques. Well, uh, yes. But there are millions of computer owners out there who don't have the latest all-singin' all-dancin' hardware -- and I'm one of 'em.

My desktop is a humble Dell Studio 540S with 3GB RAM and a 2.66Hz Intel duo core. It's almost four years old and runs happily on my stripped-down Vista OS. Its graphics adapter is a HD ATI Radeon 3540 which isn't supported by either today's software nor any other because the Radeon is old news.

At a guess, however, the Radeon is still in use by milions worldwide and by many in the GAOTD community, so they'd perhaps like to bear in mind that no, they will NOT get the so-called supersonic conversion speeds promised by software that legislates for Nvidia GPU Acceleration and AMD APP Acceleration, such as today's GAOTD. Nor, if their computer is anything like as old as mine, will they get high-speed processing compared to today's hardware.

On which note, then, a conversion time of 7 minutes 15 seconds to HD MP4 from 1 minute 10 seconds of AVCHD is therefore representative only of *my* machine. It ain't meant to be regarded as typical of every GAOTDER's machine. Anyway. As to the result. . .

Very, very good. Seriously good. Aiseesoft's 66MB MP4 conversion of the Panasonic TZ25's 126MB AVCHD original file is sharp, smooth -- there's none of the stuttering that was evident in preview, hence why I remarked that it's the player component which shouldn't be depended on, not the software in its entirety.

The audio remained in synch with the video throughout. Admittedly, the longer the duration of a continuously-shot AVCHD movie, the greater the chances of mis-synching occurring in transcoding. But then, I've never shot any video of more than a minute's length: I simply edit 'em all together in a final HD MP4 cut and merge -- no point in boring folks with lonnnnng tedious single-scene video when a shorter one made up of different angled shots is far more movie-like.

For further comparison, I ran the same AVCHD file through Digiarty's excellent WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe, using that software's "highest quality / slowest converstion time" setting. Compared to today's Aiseesoft, WinX took exactly the same conversion time. Its HD MP4 output file is 83MB compared to Aiseesoft's 66MB, but one of the problems with video work is that far too many people get hung up on file sizes and think the bigger they are, the better the result must be. T'ain't so: it'll only be better if your eyesight is good enough is to perceive the difference. Me, I don't have the vision of an eagle.

Finally. . . I ran the Aiseesoft as a HD conversion with my computer doing nothing other than that, and then ran the conversion again, this time with the conversion continuing in the background whilst I browsed the 'Net, did some email correspondence, and edited a Word doc. There was no difference in the conversion time whether I was doing other stuff or not -- an indication, perhaps, that if you're running a PC bought in recent years, it will handle background video conversion work at the same time as you're doing something else.

Summing up, then:

Though I'm not entirely sure what kind of problem Peter's having at his post # 11, my own experience is that today's software does handle AVCHD recordings / MTS files. I've re-tested Aiseesoft Total Video Converter Platinum with yet more Panasonic TZ25 AVCHD videos and every single MTS file has been read OK (if not necessarily played back smoothly in preview.)

True, I didn't get the speed of conversion that others will get who have more up-to-date equipment than mine -- but I do have several completed conversions now, in addition to the one high-lighted earlier, all of which look just fine on both my computer and USB'd back in through the television.

And no, in all honesty, I can't tell any difference between the original output, the Aiseesoft conversion , or the Digiarty WinX conversion. (But maybe others will. . . it's all subjective, after all.)

Verdict: there are umpteen video converters out there and most can manage transcoding without too much problem -- let's face it, they're all based on long-established Open Source development work by unpaid and unknown developers, whether the commercial firms are honest enough or not to admit that.

It's when heavy-lifting is involved that a converter is best tested, and as today's GAOTD acquitted itself so well in that regard I don't see it having any difficulty with lighter tasks.

Recommended to all then, though if you want to ensure you don't suddenly lose it from your computer before you've decided whether to actually buy it, then in the Preferences section of theTools menu, uncheck the Update Settings box -- otherwise you'll receive a message that you're entitled to the latest version free of charge, only to belatedly realise that a free upgrade is only relevant to those who've paid for the software in the first place, and that your old version has now been replaced by a new, demo-only one.

Many thanks then, GAOTD, and thanks, too, to, um, Wondershare, and, er, Aiseesoft.

MikeR  –  12 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+72)

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NO COMMENT yet but 80% THUMBS UP?? Come on....LOL!

Anyway this GAOTD looks like an excellent program which does what it claims flawlessly. And it's not just a VIDEO CONVERTER since it's able to merge several video or audio files into a single one, trim video or audio files, add atermarks to your videos etc...

However I didn't find many reviews about it on the NET and I wonder why (for instance on Softpedia it doesn't exist).

Here a nice review of it:

http://www.softwarereviewboffin.com/video-converter-software/aiseesoft-total-video-converter-review.html

As FREEWARE alternative today I recommend you a brand new product which is simply amazing, despite being pretty unknown by the blogosphere:

http://www.cuda-soft.com/video-converter/index.htm

Enjoy!!

Giovanni  –  12 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+58)

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This is version 6.3.26. The last giveaway was version 6.3.8 so I'm not quite sure what to think of this. On the plus side, the registration key is given in the readme file so the installation should be smooth.

I had a ton of video converters from this site before this one was offered. But when I got this one, I uninstalled all of my other converter in favor or this. This is a good program that combines ease of use, speed, and quality. I would definitely recommend this to anyone in need of a converter. Thank you GAOTD team and to Aiseesoft Studio.

dadams  –  12 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+40)

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Download, install and register on my laptop with windows 7 64bit succefully.
Aiseesoft Total Video Converter Platinum seems like a higher version than the Aiseesoft Total Video Converter that I installed from GOTD before and provides the "2D to 3D" feature. It, like other Aiseesoft products, has a clean interface and can register with your own name.

Pros:
1. According to the descriptiong from the official web page, it supports most of the popular video formats to convert and it allows users to adjust the output's settings and effects. It is really nice to those who know video formats and settings.
2. I have checked the output profile list, it provides the latest iPad mini and iPad 4's profile and also Microsoft surface and Samsung Galaxy Note. However, I can not try them because I don't have them.
3. Support hardware acceleration with Nvidia and AMD to make the high quality video conversion much faster.
4. 2D videos to 3D effect conversion. I didn't try it this time, no devices to play a 3D video.

Cons:
1. Only 4 languages to choose and 1 skin.
2. Auto update in the preference should be turn off by default when in GOTD

It is a nice software in general and recommend it to both beginner and veteran in video conversion. I just try to convert my 45 mins wmv files to mp4 fomat for my iPad first generation and it did a great job to convert the file win in 5 mins. The output mp4 file play well on iPad 1.
I will keep it and thanks to GOTD and Aiseesoft.

Pele  –  12 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+34)

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For those wondering what the difference is between the Media converter and this Video converter, it would appear they are the same except for the ability of the Media converter to read directly from a DVD.
So Media converter includes everything that Video converter has plus the ability to read DVD's.

Me  –  12 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+28)

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