I am always looking for new and easy to use Dvd encoding applications as my workload in that regard is usually quite high, with children on the loose destroying purchased Dvd’s in a few days time, I am not going to spend 24.99 + tax on a Dvd to buy another one in 48 hours because the kids scratched it to pieces.
The software that I ran across is called ConvertXtoDVD. This software is incredibly easy to use, and offers quite a lot of features. This is not freeware, but the company (VSO-Software) does recommend to try their trial version before purchasing, as I would also recommend as you never know how it will stack up against what you have. I have in the past had the unfortunate habit of “acquiring” software, especially if I plan on only testing it out, or using it for a one time project. However after picking this software out of some torrents (and picking off the usual trojan viruses that accompany such things), I decided to purchase the software legit after only a couple of days.
I have ran into a few offerings from VSO in the past, but never found much use for their products. When recently looking for something I could teach a new friend of mine how to use in encoding Dvd’s and such for use by the kids, I gave this one a try. As far as software goes, you cannot get easier than this one, literally “drag-n-drop” the file you would like to burn to Dvd onto the file area and your off.
This software will out of the box encode .avi’s converted from previous Dvd’s and will encode Blu-Ray rips some of you might “cough” be picking up off the net including the newer .mkv file format. By default it inserts chapter stops every 5 minutes, but this like every option you could think of is adjustable. There are several pre-set menu screens to choose from, or if you want to spend the time, you can construct your own. I have personally just kept to naming the title, and using the default included menu system, which is quite usable, including a scene selection area with animated scenes.
If you are creating more professional Dvd’s from personal movies or avi collections, you will not miss features here, being able to pick lead-in / lead-out animation points for all scenes and custom times on all scenes. The menu also is almost completely customizable with only features missing for those used to constructing Dvd’s in more professional level setup’s. Setting up a custom animated menu with a lead-in / lead-out animation is very fast and easy to manage, as well as custom audio to use during the menu and scene selection screens. Audio, subtitle and such are also easily selectable for defaults etc, root menu default or auto-playback, and other small features that other software that advertises feature-sets such as this one usually tend to forget or leave out altogether are also included by default. Besides being able to select lead-in / lead-out for menu and scene selection animations from the film you are encoding, you can select previously set up animations from premier pro or other such encoding software for a more professional feel.
This software will also burn straight from the program, offering true “drag-and-walk” functionality, (as I have always called it). I personally prefer to handle heavy encoding jobs during the night when I am asleep so that I am not cutting into my CPU time during day working hours, and this software will easily let you drag a file over, pick a few settings, throw in a blank disk, and walk away. However it is very able to do most encoding jobs quite quickly since this new version includes multi-core support. A heavy encoding job working from a 12 GB blu-ray rip to 4.2 GB Dvd-R on Excellent conversion quality takes around 20mins to 1 hour depending on the CPU time available and the cores available for the software to take advantage of.
Hands down, this is my new favorite Dvd authoring software, letting users quickly and easily convert .avi, .mkv,.mp4 and other files downloaded from common torrent searches as well as home movies and other DV files you may have laying around to a professional looking Dvd in a few minutes. So far I have not found a file format I use constantly that this software will not readily encode to Dvd with outstanding quality. If anyone runs across files this software cannot handle, post in the comments by all means.
10/10 – $49.99 from http://www.vso-software.fr/