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Since my previous review was about a slideshow movie maker, now I will also recommend an encoder to go with it. This time, I’m not referring to a Canopus product, but a SmartSoft one, with a rather more convenient price. This converter can help you transcode various video file formats into other and also offers good conversion speeds so that you will not need to waste time.

  

The interface is quite simple and very user friendly – although not really sleek looking. As soon as you load the video file, you can also watch it in the small preview window embedded into the application. The software has been quite nicely configured by default in order to facilitate the easy and fast conversion for inexperienced users. As you can see in the screenshots, the output settings can be configured individually for each type.

  

The converter is quite flexible as well, in order to allow advanced users to enjoy full quality as well – it allows the tweaking and selecting of various settings and values in order to create very good output files. The help section within the program is quite useful when you need to find out some technical details about the files you wish to encode and here’s another really cool thing – if the converter detects you system does not have a required codec, it will ask you to download and install it with the help of the Google search engine.

  

Applicability:
 The SmartSoft Video Converter supports the following type of conversions: AVI files to MPEG (MPEG-1, MPEG-2), WMV, and RM, MPEG files (MPEG-1, MPEG-2) to AVI, MPEG, WMV, RM, Quick time files (MOV) to AVI, MPEG, WMV and RM, Windows Media files (WMV, ASF) to AVI, MPEG, WMV, RM, Real Media files (RM and RMVB) from AVI, MPEG, MOV, WMV, and ASF, DVD, SVCD and VCD.

Pro(s): The program offers quite a big selection of choices in terms of video conversions and the fast speed makes it quite a good choice on the market.

Con(s): Even if the price is somehow acceptable, the main interface could use some redesign and a better integration with Windows Vista.
 
Official website

Buy: $29.90

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