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Filed under: Audio, Video, Windows, Freeware

Convert audio and video files in 2 clicks with Oxelon Media Converter

Oxelon Media Converter
There are dozens of great programs for converting media files from one format to another. Some of our favorites are Super, MediaCoder, and WinLAME, and VirtualDub.But if you're looking for a fast and simple solution, you probably won't find many programs that are as simple to use as Oxelon Media Converter.

Oxelon adds two shortcuts to your Windows context menu: one for transcoding audio files, the other for transcoding video. All you have to do is right-click on any media file in Windows Explorer and select the file format you want to convert it to. Oxelon will open a new window and ask you where you'd like to save the file. You can also change audio and video codecs, framerate, bitrate, and video dimensions as well as other settings. But all you really have to do at that point is hit the "Conversion" button to start converting your file.

The free program does have a few quirks. The most annoying one is that every time you close the program, Oxelon Media Converter will open its homepage in your default web browser. The other is that I had trouble converting some of the video files I had shot with my digital camera. The only way I could get them to encode was by selecting the "no audio" option, although it's possible that if I had spent more time fiddling I could have found another option that would have worked. Admittedly, my digital camera records audio at an odd sampling rate.

Oxelon recommends downloading and installing a plugin file to add support for a wide variety of audio and video formats. You can find a picture of the settings screen after the break.

[via Instant Fundas]

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Filed under: Video, Windows, Commercial, Freeware, Mobile Minute

Make your movies mobile with DVD Catalyst Free

DVD Catalyst
Want to watch your DVD collection on your iPod, iPhone, PSP, Smartphone, PDA, or Zune? DVD Catalyst is a simple Windows application that can rip a 2 hour movie from your DVD and apply video compression so that the file fits on your portable device's storage card and still looks halfway decent on your mobile screen.

DVD Catalyst offers one-click DVD ripping and encoding. Just launch the program, select your portable device, slide a DVD into your disc drive, and click the little green button. The program will choose the best resolution, bit rate, and other settings for you.

Up until recently, only a commercial version of DVD Catalyst was available. But now there's a free version with a limited feature set. If you want advanced features like the ability to set 2-pass conversions, split videos into multiple parts, or adjust the volume and framerates, you might want to shell out $15 to $20 for a full version. But if you're looking for a quick and easy way to cram a few dozen DVD movies on your iPod, DVD Catalyst Free might be all you need.

[via Palm InfoCenter]

Filed under: Video, Windows, Open Source

HandBrake DVD ripping app ported to Windows

HandBrakePopular open source DVD ripping app HandBrake has been available for Mac and  Linux for some time now, and has finally been ported to Windows. HandBrake is a slick all-in-one ripping app that will encode your ripped video in MPEG-4 or H.264 (MP4, AVI, or OGM) and has a great built-in calculator that takes the fuss out of choosing a bitrate, which is especially great if your video's destination is an iPod or PSP. Hit the HandBrake forums to get the Windows release.

So what's the deal with the logo? The FAQ says "don't ask."

Filed under: Video, Hardware, Windows, Commercial

TiVo releases iPod/PSP video converter

TiVoTiVo has released a public beta version of new software that will convert TiVoToGo video to formats playable on the iPod and Sony PSP. The software will automatically transfer your recorded TV shows to your iPod or PSP while you sleep, which is a blessing because apparently the transcoding takes awhile—up to twice as long as the video itself. The beta is free but when the final version is released it's expected to cost $15-30. You can sign up to test the beta version of TiVo Desktop 2.4 at the TiVo web site.

[Via PVR Wire]

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