The Good
* Straightforward and fairly to use.
* Supports many input formats, and a handful of output formats.
* Can do video -> video, video -> audio, and audio -> audio conversions.
* Allows users to shutdown, sleep, or hibernate computer automatically after conversions have finished.
* Allows users to trim videos.

The Bad
* Can convert to SD videos (in addition to HD videos), but converting to SD videos is a big hassle.
* Doesn't properly make use of dual cores (if applicable).
* Developer claims to be able to add subtitles, but there seems to be no option in the program to do this.

Free Alternatives
iWisoft Video Converter
FormatFactory

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

Ashraf  –  14 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+91)

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I always try to do 2 things: 1) add my own 2 cents worth when there's a video related app on GOTD (I've been interested in & have worked with video for years), & 2) try hard to look for good things to say about that day's software [they are being nice after all giving it away], while still being as objective as possible. When it comes to that 2nd part, unfortunately the only positive thing I can find to say about Sothink HD Video Converter is that the program's window's re-sizable. :-(

Sothink HD Video Converter is in a word, Slow. It's slower than any of the 1 dozen + alternatives I've tried that use the same ffmpeg encoder, not even coming close to the 2 dozen or so encoders I've timed. AND, Sothink HD Video Converter has a very high impact on your Windows install...

To explain that last comment, all video related software needs & uses filters to open different formats of audio/video. Some video software provides it's own, built-in filters [e.g. the VLAN player], while some rely completely or in part on what you've installed that's made available to everything in Windows. Some, like Sothink HD Video Converter [and I should mention Format Factory] install audio/video filters in Windows for you [ones that *all* software is supposed to use], assuming you want/need them. This bad habit can break video apps you've already installed, &/or Windows' audio/video handling itself. The 2 worst offenders it includes are ffdshow tryout & the Matroska Splitter -- both are highly configurable [read complicated setup] & meant to take over several audio/video functions from other software, & indeed Windows itself.

[It's my opinion that the *very* least the developers could do would be to refer you to docs on how to set them up, deal with potential conflicts etc, rather than assume you're too stupid to understand the docs or care. I also think they should make you download & install those sorts of things yourself, so you're not only exposed to the docs etc, but get the latest versions which can include important bug fixes.]

Encoding/transcoding HD...
In a nutshell the biggest difference between HD & the video you might watch on a hand-held or with your cell, is there's more of it [pixels that is ;-) ]. Now most hardware that plays video requires certain formats it can understand -- stand-a-lone boxes with USB inputs &/or hard drives, just like hand-helds & cells can be very picky, meaning you have to research a bit & often experiment if there's not a preset or template available. Blu Ray players obviously like the BD-ROM discs you buy/rent, but most I think will also play discs you burn, BD-R & BD-RE [though it may take a firmware update]. Somewhat fewer Blu Ray players will accept the same Blu Ray files burned to a DVD. From reports on-line, slightly fewer players handle AVCHD discs -- a similar to Blu Ray layout popular for/with the PS3, that can be burned to either BD or DVD [your player may accept 1 & not the other]. With Blu Ray & DVD video discs, the *layout* is critical, but using UDF 2.5 it technically doesn't matter whether the disc is DVD or BD -- it may matter to your player since different lasers are used, & the electronics for 1 or the other may include more [or different] decoding capabilities.

Video DVDs use mpg2 but it has to be enclosed in .VOB files within a set structure [e.g. with the .IFO files that tell the player where everything is]. Blu Ray has its own structure, & AVCHD is very close to that. Fewer apps can actually put your video into that structure, so my advice is to start 1st with where you want your HD video to wind up, then look at what sort of input your choice of apps will accept. The free, AVCHDCoder was the only encoder with output that passed compliance testing in my 2 Blu Ray authoring apps -- it may be somewhat more compatible, working in more players. But if you use it, you probably don't want to use a separate video conversion app -- that stuff's built-in, & that's just how it's designed to work. The free multiAVCHD is popular, lets you include menus, has individual presets for Blu Ray players, PS3s etc, but also wants to install some added packages just like today's GOTD. Most free apps that put your files into an AVCHD or Blu Ray layout use the free smartLabs tsMuxer to create that layout. IMHO there's not one outstanding app you can use, so I stop short of recommending one.

Encoding your video to H264/AVC is popular with many hand-helds, is set to be more compatible with new cells, & works in AVCHD & Blu Ray disc *layouts* on BD or DVD. [Mpeg2 is also Blu Ray spec, but can be less compatible -- i.e. may not work where you want it to] Arguably the best H264/AVC encoder is the free, CLI [command line interface] app called X264.exe, used in free, open source, & commercial software -- several free *front-end* apps are available that use it. Many also use the free AviSynth app to handle file import, resizing, & optionally filtering -- AviSynth itself is world class software very popular with pros & in homes. The difference in the front-ends then is chiefly limited to how things are laid out, which X264 options you can use [there are so many most apps don't have all of the settings available], & how many templates are provided, assuming they're offered at all. Many video converters take it a step further, embedding X264 in their own code, hiding most options in an interface designed to make everything easier. However it's packaged [think of it like the re-branding common with PC parts/accessories] the end result should be the same, with any real difference caused by the settings or profiles used.

You'll find several encoders at videohelp.com, including megui, ffcoder, AutoX264, HDConvertToX, RipBot, XMediaRecode & so on -- all popular X264 front-ends. Roxio's VideoWave editor [included with Creator 2010] has fast mpg2 & AVC BD encoder templates that can make use of your ATI or Nvidia graphics hardware & work very well, but are hard to use, if you can use them. I have Creator 2010, & to encode HD in VideoWave, you have to start 1st in the included MyDVD [a restriction to encourage your buying their Blu Ray add-on]. While the BD templates were good quality & fast, to adjust them you need to create a new template -- something I could never get working for AVC. And surprisingly MyDVD doesn't like the video you encode, insisting on doing it over with it's slow, mediocre encoder... you'll still need an app to create your AVCHD or Blu Ray layout.

mike  –  14 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+36)

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#5 Nick - Since when has Nero been "free" ?

Phil K  –  14 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+27)

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Quick overview. Ashraf has done a fantastic review on this, one of the best reviews of any product I've seen for a very long time.

Problems encountered on my machine (that has some video driver issues) the preview video would not play, though conversion was flawless.

It's yet another frontend for FFMPEG, a very good video tools library that most video conversion software uses as the "workhorse"

Useful application, it does what it says out of the box and also allows you to change the settings though it's more of an expert tool in this regard as you must click on the "advanced" tab and then key in the settings manually. (I used 640 x 480 at 384 Kbps with mp3 audio at 128Kbps mono 22KHz and turned aspect radio correcting off in the primary settings menu as my test source was "streched") It would have been nice to include two categories, each with it's various options. One for standard definition common formats and one for the high definition stuff.
However, once you get a format that works, it remembers it for any subsequent videos you drag in to the applications and you can save the custom settings as a "profile" which makes life much easier in the future.

It does allow crude "trimming" of videos, a bit of a lacking feature as you cannot select frame by frame, only drag the left bottom arrow for the start and the right bottom arrow for the finish. It makes it very hard to select a scene from a long duration video as it can only move in defined steps as you drag it, you lose some control the longer a video gets. It's also a bit illogical for a novice.

It also does not support "stitching" so you cannot create one long video from a series of "takes" and you cannot mix audio into the video or add subtitles, images, overlay text etc.

It is just a simple video converter with a good backend and works well.

Overall it's a keeper.

Free alternatives:
Formatfactory - converter
Avidemux - a very featured and effective editor but requires a learning curve.
iWisoft - something I have not tried but must give a try from Ashraf's review, it looks excellent.

anton  –  14 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+25)

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This is the "perfect" accompaniment to yesterdays screen capture software. If you are re-recording a streamed video or DVD using 1avcapture / 1avcentre you may end up with file sizes of 10MB per MINUTE of Video. Obviously with this you can then compress the video to a more manageable size.

Installed and registered fine on 7x64

Rayok  –  14 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+20)

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