The Easiest Converter I've Found: AVC

[a2597]

http://www.**************************/p...or_video_free/

Seriously, this thing is the best converter I've seen in near 5 years of using various video converters. Fast, all formats, and FREE.

settings I've been using are converting to 340x240 divx, at anywhere from 700 to 300 kbps, and the quality is amazing. Drag and drop into the player and works great!

Takes about 5 minutes to convert a 30 minute AVI, which ain't bad IMHO.

[CrowdAds]

[BobbyRS]

You weren't, by any chance, reading my post in this thread were you?

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...ad.php?t=26766

[Valdr]

I need to check this software out. Good that it's also mentioned on Video subforum I'll share my experience after some tests.

[Khris]

I tried this software, ands its great that for its ease of use, but whenever I try to convert .flvs (like from youtube) its seems that the audio and video are never in sync and are a few seconds off. :\

[BobbyRS]

Yes, I had this issue too with flv files. It is a setting issue. You have to change the A/V Sync to Default instead of Basic. You usually have to do this with poorer quality videos; most Youtube vids.

[Elton Noway]

Originally Posted by BobbyRS

Yes, I had this issue too with flv files. It is a setting issue. You have to change the A/V Sync to Default instead of Basic. You usually have to do this with poorer quality videos; most Youtube vids.

And all this time I've been under the impression you couldn't download videos from Youtube to your computer. I'm assuming you would first save the video to your hard drive prior to transferring it to your DAP. Obviously I'm confused. Even the Youtube web site states their videos can't be downloaded. Would you mind providing the steps used to download and save Youtube videos? Thanks!

[BobbyRS]

Use an online tool that will allow for the FLV (Flash Video) files to be downloaded (type in "download youtube" in google):

My favorite:
http://www.techcrunch.com/get-youtube-movie/

Then use a conversion tool like AVC to convert it how ever way you like.

[greg donovan]

so i installed any-video-converter from here:

http://www.**************************/download/

by clicking on the Free Try! ,click here link.

then i grabbed a youtube video using realplayer.

avc said that i was in trial mode and would only convert 3 min of video. i converted the clip that was 3:03 and then used the creative video converter to convert and transfer it to the Zen. i was able to view it and it looked and sounded awesome, however, once it got onto the Zen it was only 2:43 long.

what did i do wrong?

[BobbyRS]

It sounds like you downloaded the Pro version trial.
The free version is further down on the page. Use this:

http://www.**************************/a...erter-free.exe

[greg donovan]

Originally Posted by BobbyRS

It sounds like you downloaded the Pro version trial.
The free version is further down on the page. Use this:

http://www.**************************/a...erter-free.exe

i see said the blind man to the deaf mute.

thanks.

probably shouldnt have been fidling around with all of this at 3 am.

[greg donovan]

ok so i got the full free version now.

however, when i convert the file in the AVC it says it is 3:03. then when i open up the zen converter program it says it is only 2:42 long. i even made sure to delete the old one from earlier.

[greg donovan]

i am following the FAQ instructions and using AVC and transferring the files via the zen media explorer "add media" option and some videos still loose time. and some do not.

one video keeps loosing 21 seconds and another lost nearly a minute.

i have DL'd the videos off of youtube using both realplayer and AVC. that doesnt seem to make a difference in AVC they are both the proper length. i have encoded the flv as mp4 and as avi files. the problem occurs when i transfer them to the zen. but only on these 2 video clips.

it is getting kind of frustrating.

[BobbyRS]

I've never seen one loose that much time before.... Just to be clear, are you using an online download tool like techcrunch or keepvid and then converting the FLV file over to a supported Zen format (using AVC)? I've never tried it with Realplayer.

So after the conversion, you can watch the videos and they play fine on the computer, but when you transfer them over to the Zen and watch them, they loose time? Only on these two videos...... Maybe try looking for the same video from a different URL to download and try and see if there is a difference.

[greg donovan]

Originally Posted by BobbyRS

I've never seen one loose that much time before.... Just to be clear, are you using an online download tool like techcrunch or keepvid and then converting the FLV file over to a supported Zen format (using AVC)? I've never tried it with Realplayer.

So after the conversion, you can watch the videos and they play fine on the computer, but when you transfer them over to the Zen and watch them, they loose time? Only on these two videos...... Maybe try looking for the same video from a different URL to download and try and see if there is a difference.

yep, realplayer down loads them from youtube then i convert them to *.avi in AVC.

i also noticed that when i look at the source file even though it says 5:14 in the AVC library it says 4:22 in the source file.

just tried getting the video from google using the download video feature in AVC instead and it says 5:14 in all the places it is located before and after the conversion to a avi. however, despite the clip being labled at 5:14 on the zen it stopped playing at 4:55. which is better but still frustrating. and this time i just dragged and dropped it directly into the avi folder on my zen using explorer.

and i just watched the 3:03 video and at 2:42 on youtube the video is still playing, but, at 2:42 on my zen the credits are playing. something is not right. the fps is set at 25. should i change that.

this is the video that is givin' me trouble:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCRPxqJfGuo

just dl'd and converted a patton oswalt clip the same way and it dropped the last 9 seconds.
i am looking closer and it seems that most of them are ending sooner than the labled time. at least the audio and video are matching up on the patton oswalt clip.

is this just the way the youtube type things work out?

[BobbyRS]

Yeah, it was out of sync converting it to an AVI file. I tried it as a WMV file and it worked. Here is what I used:

Profile: Customized WMV Movie
Codec: WMV V9
Size: 320x240
Video Bitrate: 768

Audio Codec (Greyed Out): WMA 9.2
A/V Sync: Default

I was able to get an WMV file version that was 3.03 in duration without audio/video sync issues.

Edit: If you really want it in an AVI format, BitComet FLV converter worked great:
http://www.bitcomet.com/tools/flvconverter/index.htm
http://download.bitcomet.com/tools/f..._1.0_Setup.exe

Here's the settings I used:

FLV2Video Tab
Export Type: AVI

Video Codec: MS MPEG4 V2
Frame Rate: Original
Bitrate: 800
Frame Size: Original

Audio Codec: MP3
Sample Rate: 44100
Bitrate: 96
Channels: Stereo

After you converted it using BitComet, use AVC to convert it using these settings to get it to work on the Zen:

Profile: Customized AVI Movie (.AVI)
Video Codec: XVID
Video Size: 320x240
Video Bitrate: 768
Video Framrate: 25
Audio Codec: MP3
Bitrate: 128
Sample Rate: 44100
Channels: 2
A/V Sync: Basic

Finally you should have a AVI version of the FLV YouTube video that will work on the Zen.

[MarcelsWayOfLife]

can this tool convert flv ?

[BobbyRS]

Originally Posted by MarcelsWayOfLife

can this tool convert flv ?

Yes.

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...ad.php?t=27711

Edit: Also see thread above about BitComet FLV Converter.

[MarcelsWayOfLife]

sounds good 2 me , think i`ll shoud test it

[greg donovan]

BobbyRS,

thanks a bunch for going through that. i will try it out now. i gotta ask, what did you think of the video?

[BobbyRS]

The video was pretty good. I can do without that music though.