Video Converter - 5 Features to Look For
by: Tony McBride
If you happen to be shopping for a video converter, you are probably overwhelmed by the varieties of products that are available out there. There are so many choices of video converters to choose from that it's difficult to make a decision on which one to buy. To simplify your selection process, we came out with 5 essential features that you might want to look for when you are shopping for a video converter.
1) Support Multiple Input and Output Video Formats
The first thing you need to find out is if the video converter supports the input formats that you are converting from and the output formats that you are converting to. Some examples of popular video file formats are: ASF, AVI, MPEG, MP4, MKV, RM, WMV, FLV, 3GP, MOV, 3GP, 3GPP2. Make sure that the video converter you are purchasing supports these essential video file formats listed above.
If you need to capture sound in your video and convert it into an audio file, make sure that your video converter supports exporting to various audio formats. Some popular audio formats that you should look for are: AAC, AC3, MP3, OGG, RA, WAV, and WMA.
2) Allow Video Preview Before Conversion
Most video converters supports video previews before or during conversion. This feature allows you to view the video in a small preview window. There should be a little slider button that you can grab with your mouse to navigate to certain parts of your video. Do not purchase a video converter if it lacks this feature.
This feature is important so that you can select portions of the video that you want to convert and take snapshots (discussed in 2 features below).
3) Allow "Clipping" of Video Segments
Look for this feature if you need to "clip" certain segments of your video and leave out segments that you do not need to convert. You can clip your favorite segments by navigating to the starting frame and ending frame of the segment that you are interested in. The start time and end time will be displayed on the screen and you know exactly how long the segment is. The video converter should allow you to clip as many segments as you like.
4) Ability to Take Still Picture Snapshot
If you need to extract a picture from a video, make sure that your video converter supports this feature. You can simply grab the slider button on the preview window and slide it to the part of the video that you need to take a snapshot from. Once you find the still picture that you are interested in, simply click on the "snapshot" button to take a snapshot of the still picture. You will be prompted to name your picture file (most likely in BMP format) and save it a folder in your computer.
5) Support Batch Conversion
This is a time-saving feature that will come in handy when you have many video files to convert and you do not want to open every single one of them and convert them one by one. You can simply select all the video files in a folder that you want to convert, click on the "Convert" button, go make yourself a cup of coffee, and by the time you come back, hopefully all the files will be converted.
There are many other features that you need to look for in a video converter (for example, the speed of conversion, the quality of the converted videos, ease of use, etc), but we think the above features are the most essential ones to look for.
We have tried many different video converters in the market and we found one that performs exceptionally well and it has all the features above. It's called TOP Video Converter. It converts video files with blazing speed and it allows you to set the quality of the output video and audio files. It supports video files that play on popular devices like iPod, iPhone, Zune, PSP, etc.
Download a free trial version of TOP Video Converter now and give it a spin before you purchase it.
article source http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_4723.shtml
