Despite the name, this is a general purpose audio/video converter. On the plus side, it doesn't mess with your codecs and has a large number of customizable options for each major format. The player is detachable. There are a lot of spelling errors and the image brightness/contrast/saturation controls didn't work (or didn't display as working). I'll let someone like mike who actually uses these do a more complete review. It's hard to say whether something like this is generally useful because there are so many formats, whether the the ones which you want work well or not will determine its usefulness to you. I noticed almost no WMV codec options.

I received CyberLink MediaShow Espresso free. It supports the iPad, but generally has almost no options, and definitely messes up your codecs. On the plus side, it theoretically supports encoding using your ATI or nVidia video card, if it supports hardware encoding.

The moderator let mike talk about RegShot and RegShot 2 (which is totally separate from RegShot) for tracing things like the damage which almost all multimedia apps do, but not my comments on them.

In the first place, RegShot won't give you a complete trace under the best of circumstances. Windows XP has a security hole which you could drive a truck through, which allows you to execute programs with System privileges. This yields a more complete trace using RegShot or some similar programs.

Years ago, I wrote a simple command (batch) file to run RegShot with System privileges under XP (only):
RegShot.cmd
After downloading, right-click and select Edit to open it in Notepad, command/batch files are just text. Don't make any changes unless you know what you're doing, even spaces are significant.

The numerous problems with RegShot, RegShot 2, and other free tracing tools are why I bought I home license to Blue Project SysTracer Pro 2. You'll find that almost all multimedia apps mess up your codecs, and there's nothing you can do. You should set a System Restore Point prior to installing multimedia apps. You generally can't repair things with an uninstaller. If you don't want a particular app, uninstall it then do a System Restore to the point you just set. As Restore Points age, they become much less useful, as they roll back \Windows, \Program Files, all executables everywhere (installed or not) on protected volumes, etc.

Fubar  –  14 years ago  –  Βρήκατε αυτό το σχόλιο χρήσιμο? ναι | όχι (+29)

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Well, thought I'd give it a go & now about to uninstall....

By the looks of it, it is very much based on the FREE program "Format Factory" .....
http://www.pcfreetime.com/

Not as good though, my main complaint being that I can see no option for 2-pass encoding....
In my opinion, any maker of a video conversion tool (especially a paid for one) that doesn't allow 2-pass encoding should be shot. They are the main reason for all those blocky videos out there on the web....

So, to reiterate to anybody reading this.....
If any video encoding software out there does not support 2-pass encoding bin it & find one that does....
& on a side note, any software claiming to be fast is also admitting to poor quality, the only way to speed up a video conversion is to cut corners & compromise on quality. If you want it faster get a faster PC.

Alrock  –  14 years ago  –  Βρήκατε αυτό το σχόλιο χρήσιμο? ναι | όχι (+21)

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MKV Converter Studio is basically the same sort of converter GOTD regulars are used to, with the twist that it also handles MKV -- an alternate format [like Windows' avi & Quicktime's mov] that acts as a container for your audio &/or video content... that content itself can be encoded in a wide variety of formats. MKV is popular among enthusiasts on-line because it can hold almost anything, allowing you to play video for example that your system can't handle outside the MKV wrapper.

MKV Converter Studio is fast -- DVD -> 320 X 240 wmv @ ~175 fps vs. ~50 - 75 average among converters, but not competitive with A's Video Converter [supposed to use ATI GPUs] @ ~700 fps. Profile selection is a bit awkward, & the limited customization choices are sometimes a bit odd. On Auto it didn't handle aspect ratio correctly, so do a test 1st to make sure you have it set correctly -- fortunately running a test is easy since the editing portion of the app works very well [better than most converters] to preview, cut & trim. It includes a subtitle editor for working with text based subs -- it wouldn't display the graphics subs embedded in a DVD -- but that's a relatively minor benefit as apps handling text subs are plentiful & free.

Installing MKV Converter Studio may be problematic for some folks, with several files intended for Windows' folders. Many of those added files, plus several files in the program's folder are .NET related.

mike  –  14 years ago  –  Βρήκατε αυτό το σχόλιο χρήσιμο? ναι | όχι (+18)

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I looked up the Matroska format. Here is the Wikipedia information:

Matroska From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Matroska MKV Extension Icon
Filename extension .mkv .mka .mks
Internet media type video/x-matroska audio/x-matroska
Developed by Matroska.org
Type of format Container format
Container for Multimedia
Open format? Yes: GNU LGPL

The Matroska Multimedia Container is an open standard free container format, a file format that can hold an unlimited number of video, audio, picture or subtitle tracks inside a single file.[1] It is intended to serve as a universal format for storing common multimedia content, like movies or TV shows. Matroska is similar in concept to other containers like AVI, MP4 or ASF, but is entirely open in specification, with implementations consisting mostly of open source software. Matroska file types are .MKV for video (with subtitles and audio), .MKA for audio-only files and .MKS for subtitles only.

Matroska is an English word derived from the Russian word matryoshka (Russian: матрёшка, IPA: [mɐˈtrʲoʂkə]), which means nesting doll (the common Russian egg-shaped doll within a doll). This is a play on the container (media within a form of media/doll within a doll) aspect of the matryoshka as it is a container for visual and audio data. The loose transliteration may be confusing for Russian speakers, as the Russian word matroska (Russian: матроска) actually refers to a sailor suit.

Rick Siegert  –  14 years ago  –  Βρήκατε αυτό το σχόλιο χρήσιμο? ναι | όχι (+16)

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20 said: "NOOOOO!!!!!!People please do not support the MKV format
stick with divx/xvid MKV are way too problematic and not very well supported, please do not help this format."

What are you talking about? This application will HELP people convert it to another format. I will donate some of my IQ points to you if it helps (but no more than 5, so that will give you a total of 10).

Zapp  –  14 years ago  –  Βρήκατε αυτό το σχόλιο χρήσιμο? ναι | όχι (+14)

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