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Apr 12

Media Converter|ArcSoft Media Converter 8

 

Media Converter|ArcSoft Media Converter 8

Over the course of the past few months, I have downloaded videos from YouTube.com and converted them into formats that were (and are) playable on portable devices such as the Apple Ipod Classic and the newer Ipad. For this purpose, I used two media converters – one of them was a conversion program that was part of a multimedia software package, and the other was ArcSoft’s Media Converter 8.

Get ArcSoft Media Converter 8 at Drewsim.com!

ArcSoft Media Converter 8

I have enjoyed downloading the video clips and converting them into formats that I can use virtually anywhere. What I did not enjoy was how difficult it was for one of the converersion programs(which shall remain anonymous for the moment) to capture the video from YouTube and actually download it to my PC. It was like trying to catch lightning bugs on a warm July evening in summer – almost impossible.
Not so with a combination of a program called Any Video Converter (freeware version) and ArcSoft’s neat media converter program – simply named Media Converter 8.
To be quite frank, once the anonymous program got hold of the video that I was attempting to convert, it did a so-so job but one doesn’t wish to be fighting the program to get it to do its job. This was not the case at all with ArcSoft’s neat program, coupled with Any Video Converter, which for the purposes of this blogpost, will call AVC. AVC’s downloading was trouble free in comparison, and I was able to store my videos for conversion using ArcSoft Media Converter 8.
What’s In The Box?
Media Converter 8 is a very simple-to-use conversion program that allows one to convert videos, non-copyright DVD material, photos and rip audios and to just about any format for a wide range of devices, including TV, PMP, computers, tablets and mobile phones. It has the ability to turn 2D movies into 3D. PC World, Cnet and Softpedia all give the program high marks. So does this reviewer. I’ll save my comments for the summary. Here is a partial list of system requirements:

  • Operating System: Windows 8, Windows 7(32/64bit), Vista(32/64bit), Windows XP (SP2 or above)
  • Processor:Intel Pentium IV 1.6 GHz or equivalent
  • Hard Disk Space: 60 MB free hard drive space for program installation
  • Memory: 512 MB RAM (1 GB DDR RAM recommended)
  • Display: 32-bit color display at 1024×600 or above
  • DirectX 9.0c or above

Supported Formats:
For Importing:
DVD/AVCHD DVD disc/DVD Folder/AVCHD Folder
Photo
BMP, JPG, JPEG, WMF, FPX, GIF, PCD, PCX, PNG, PSD, TGA, TIF, JPS, MPO, RAW (erf, arw, sr2, mef, dng, crw, cr2, nef, raw, orf, dcr)
Video 3GP(3GP,3G2), ASF, AVI,DAT,MOV, MP4(MP4,M4V,F4V),MPG(MPG, MPEG, MPE, MOD, TOD, M1V, M2V), RMVB (RM, RMVB), VOB, WMV, OGM, TS, FLV,DIVX,MTS(MTS,M2TS), MKV, WTV, DVR-MS
Audio
MP3, WAV, WMA, AAC, OGG,RA, M4A
For Exporting
Photo JPEG (.jpg) , BMP
Video MPEG-4, H.264 and MJPEG encoded AVI file, MPEG-4 and H.264 encoded MP4 file, WMV file, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (HD), 3GP/3G2, MOV, MKV, and M2TS (AVCHD compatible)
Audio WMA, AAC, OGG, MP3 and M4A
3D Video H.264 encoded MP4, WMV 3D, WMV 3D Anaglyph
3D PhotoJPS, JPG 3D Anaglyph, JPG 3D
Website Youku, YouTube
All this in a program that only sells for $29.95! Not bad at all, says this reviewer. For more details, go to the ArcSoft Media Converter page by clicking on the image above or the link below this post. One final comment before I sum it all up – the system requirements are the minimum needed to make the program run. For optimal performance, more RAM, more powerful processor, better and more powerful graphics card will help to optimize your experience with this program. The converse of “less is more” is true here.
Summary
I give this program five stars for the simple fact that it does what it is supposed to without fuss or bother. The interfacfive_starse is simple and quite straightforward, and the program does its work fairly quickly. And the price is right. Used in combination with AVC, this is all you’ll need for quick and easy conversion. Kudos to ArcSoft!