Making professional menus in ConvertXtoDVD

This article will teach you how to create a more professional or entertaining menu for any DVD, using ConvertXtoDVD.

If you're one of millions of people (like me!) who love this program then you'll be pleased to know that version 3 ConvertXtoDVD came with a far superior DVD menu editor than has been previously available with the software. VSO haven't just tweaked this part of their software, it's been completely replaced with something far better.

So without further ado, let's dive in and play around with creating our own DVD menus with this popular tool.

1) Start up ConvertXtoDVD.

2) Click on the + icon and add a movie. It doesn't really matter what you add at the moment as we're just going to be experimenting.

Convert your movies to Apple TV

There's a new and easy way to convert any movie you might have on your PC, or even a DVD, to watch on Apple TV. If you're lucky enough to have one of these amazing devices, then check out Cucusoft's Apple TV Video Converter. Read our new review or download the trial here.

How To Watch Movies On Your Nintendo Wii Console

Like the idea of watching movies on your Wii? Then you might find this short guide helpful. While the Wii won't play DVD disks, and has limited support for movie formats like AVI and MPEG, you can convert your DVDs (and other videos you have) to a file format that can be played on the Wii.

I own a number of games consoles, one of them being the Wii. While I think it's an absolutely amazing little machine (not to mention one of the most affordable ones) it does have it's drawbacks. One of which is that it's harder to watch movies on this console than it's more expensive competitors.

So what kind of videos can you play on the Wii?

You're really limited to one video format on the Wii. The only kind of video your good old Wii will recognize is something called Flash Video. Easy to spot - it's a video file that has a .flv after it.

Flash Video is very popular on the web because it's a quick-to-load video format that doesn't take much space. You'll encounter it at websites such as YouTube and Google Video.

As a video format it's not the worst looking thing out there but it looks more like a VCR recording than a sharp quality picture. However, it's very watchable in my opinion. The good news is that the file sizes are much smaller than most other video formats.

Getting videos into the .flv format

Your first job here is to convert a movie to Flash Video format. More good news here: you don't have to pay for the movie converter that does this. Plus it's a fairly easy, intuitive tool. Download Wii Video 9

here. When you run the software you'll see that you simply select any movie file you have (which includes any DVDs you've ripped) and then click the button to convert it to the Flash Video Format.

Getting the videos onto your Wii

There's really two routes here.

Route 1

Most people will simply copy their video files from the computer, to an SD card. (If you are new to SD cards, they're a very small, very cool data storage card that are available cheaply. Many digital cameras take them. There's a slot on the Wii console where you can put them). You can then watch these movies on the photos channel.

Route 2

If you're really feeling tech minded (and you've got a PC in the house as well, with a wireless network setup) you can set your PC up as a server. The Wii can then use it's Wifi connection to stream the movies direct from your PC. I managed to set this up and it's really something! You can download or rip movies and then watch them on the Wii without the need to put them on an SD card.

You'll need the free Wii Media Center X for this job - a great freebie if ever there was one.

Related movie converter resources

• Find out about flash video
• Get Wii Video 9
• Download Wii Media Center X

What's So Great About DivX?

If you love movies, then you'll want to know about something called DivX. It's one of the web's most popular movie codecs (the player and encoder having been downloaded over 200 million times by the end of 2006) and there's plenty to like about this format of video.

What's DivX?

DivX is a video codec (short for compressor, decompressor). It's one of many formats that computers use to record and read video. If you've read my article on Codecs, you'll know that humans and computers see video differently. A codec acts as an interpreter between humans and computers.

DivX movies can be created from pretty much any kind of video, and from any video source like camcorders or DVD ripping. One thing the good people who made DivX were aiming for was to create a format that would look great but be compact enough to use on the Internet. And DivX does this very well. Read the forums and you'll find lots of praise for this codec.

Other great things about DivX

• High quality video playback on computer or TV screens
• Video is compressed so it takes up less storage space
• Can be used to create high definition (HD) video
• Quick to create - encoding is less than other formats

Fit a whole DVD movie onto a single CD

Because DivX is so good at compressing videos you can easily fit a DVD movie onto a regular old CD. This is quite an achievement as DVD disks hold much more information that the humble CD.

To convert or not to convert

Let's say you've downloaded a DivX movie to your computer from the web. (And this is just one way people use DivX). And You want to play that movie on your DVD player. There's really two choices here, and they're dependant on your DVD player.

If your DVD player can read DivX movies (check the instructions / product guide / internet) then you don't have to convert your DivX movies to DVD format. You can burn them to disk as a data disk and your DVD player will understand them fine.

If you've got a regular old DVD player, that doesn't read things like MP3s, and DivX then you'll need a tool to convert that DivX into DVD format before you can burn it to disk. There are some tools, such as ConvertXtoDVD which will do the converting AND the burning for you.

Video On The Move

By Tom Armstrong

At one time, the only way to watch movies when you were out and about was on a portable DVD player. Sure, They looked great, but they still aren't exactly cheap. And they're not all that portable either.

Thanks to a new breed of portable media players, you can now enjoy your videos pretty much anywhere you like. Whether it's on a pocket PC or or a Sony PSP. Video-on-the-move is the latest in cool and there's nothing more fun than watching movies when you shouldn't be.

What are the main portable players?

There are a number of choices at the moment when it comes to watching video on the move. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses.

The Sony PSP

You're getting a great entertainment experience here because this system plays some pretty breath taking games as well as having a perfect screen for mobile video. As well as taking small UMD disks, the PSP accepts memory sticks of varying sizes - up to 2 gigabytes.

You can get your own movies onto the Sony PSP with the help of a software tool which can either rip a DVD to the memory card, or convert a movie you've got on your hard drive to this format.

Other Major Players

• The video iPod
• Archos media player
• Mobile phone (video enabled)
• Watching video on a pocket PC

Popular video people watch on a portable player

• DVDs - full length or chapters
• Downloaded videos
• TV shows from TV or from the web
• Family videos / home made movies
• Adult entertainment

What tools do you need?

There are a number of interesting tools on the market at the moment. iPod Video Converter will convert any movie format you'll come across into iPod compatible movies. PSP Movie Creator is an excellent gadget for ripping DVDs to your PSP. While DVD to 3GP converts DVD movies to a format that can be uploaded to your cell phone.

Warning: Stay safe

One thing that's really important these days is to remember to protect yourself while you're enjoying portable videos. Sadly, muggings have also been on the rise lately. The main target being new technology like MP3 players and mobile phones. Be aware when you're in public and don't switch off totally when you're watching a movie.

System Requirements

The software you'll find listed on this site is designed to run on Windows operating systems. You'll need a PC running one of the following operating systems: Microsoft® Windows® 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP, 2003.

Do you need a MONSTER PC to convert videos?

Although the more powerful PC you have, the faster you'll be able to convert movies, it's not necessary to have the very latest computer, with a huge graphics card, to be able to convert movies. Remember that people were converting movies on their computers years ago - with PCs that would be considered 'slow' by today's standards!

If you've got a computer with a 300Mhz processor or above - you'll be able to run the software listed on this site. Although most people will have a much faster PC than this nowadays. But you can get by with this specification.

Memory required for converting video

About the minimum you should aim for is 64mb of RAM. Again, more RAM will make your job easier. The software on this site will run much more smoothly and convert your flicks faster if you've got a juicy 256mb of ram or more. But you'll not have any problems running these programs with less than that.

Other things you'll need

Here's the other basics that are required:

• Sound Card
• At least 100 MB free space available
• Video Player (For example, Windows Media Player)
• Mouse and Keyboard

Meet the Mpeg

Meet the trusty MPEG! Pronounced 'Em peg', it's one of the most used movie formats there are. Chances are you'll already have some on your computer.

This type of movie has either mpeg or mpg after the DOT in the file name. Mpeg files can contain video, audio or both. The main idea behind the Mpeg format was to get good quality movies with low file sizes. This is all done behind the scenes with some very clever compression.

MPEGs can be played on a regular computer, a pocket PC, a handheld device and even mobile phones. You can play them on just about any video player, including the one that comes with Windows. They are also the video format which is used for the Video CD (VCD) format.

Reasons why people use MPEG as their video format

• Playable on all operating systems
• Can be enlarged without becoming 'blocky'
• File sizes are less than Mov and AVI files
• (Making them ideal for sites offering video downloads)
• Video CD compatible

There are software products that convert to MPEG format from other video formats, such as MPEG Converter. And you can convert an MPEG into just about any other format you can think of.

Help With Codecs

What's a Codec?

Codec is short for "Compressor-Decompressor" or "Coder-Decoder".

The technical description for a Codec is that they "...encode a stream or signal for transmission, storage or encryption" - but that sounds kind of confusing!

Think of a codec as being like a cinema projector machine. It takes the film reel and projects it onto the screen. Without it, you'd have a hard time viewing your movie. Codecs work just like that.

Only codecs aren't just used for playing movies, they're used in making them too. OK, so it's more accurate to think of a Codec as both the cinema projector as well as the machine that creates the film reels in the first place.

In the digital world codecs are used in the making of digital movies and also when you watch them. Except the 'reel' is an AVI movie, MPEG movie, or some other format. And the screen it's 'projected' onto is your monitor.

If you've watched movies on your computer, you've already used codecs -without knowing it! The same happens when you use movie conversion software. You'll be using Codecs to make movies too. Again, without really knowing about it.

What Codecs do I need, and where do I get 'em?

Chances are you've already got a load of useful and important Codes installed on your computer. Where did they come from? Some will have been installed along with your operating system. Others will have been installed when you downloaded a movie player (Windows Media Player, Real Player etc.). But there are some you'll need to get.

Your first stop should be to take a look at the help page - Essential Freebies. You'll also be relieved to hear that any extra Codecs you need are available with the software available on this site. You just install the main software and the Codecs will be installed too.

Glossary

Apple TV

Apple TV is a digital media receiver created by Apple (the folks behind the Apple Mac computers, iPhone etc.) It can store video content on it's internal hard drive or stream videos from another computer. It is a network device and can play videos downloaded and stored on your computer. There are video converters available to convert your existing movies into Apple TV format.

Compress / Compression

You can't do much with computers and videos without running into something called compression. This refers to reducing the size of a movie by reducing the quality. This sounds like a stupid thing to do, but it's possible to reduce size and quality in such a way that you can't notice the difference.

DVDs, for example, use compressed movies. Without compression, the movie would not be able to fit on to a DVD (movies are big and take up loads of space!) Compression is also used to reduce the size of movies so they can be sent or played over the internet. This is especially important for users on slower connections.

Burn / Burning

When you 'record' a movie to a blank disk. This could be a CD disk or a DVD disk. You need a DVD writer drive or a CD writer drive to create disks from your movies. Backing up original DVD movies to disk is the main use of burning when it comes to videos. [ See DVD Burning at Wikipedia ]

Rip / Ripping

This is where you extract a movie from a DVD (but also applies to extracting music files from CDs). You put a DVD into your drive, and then a software tool copies the movie onto your hard disk. A DVD drive and DVD ripping software program are required. [ See DVD Ripping at Wikipedia ]

Frequently Asked Questions

Isn't there one converter that does everything?

There's a LOT of movie converter software out there on the web. Some good, some pretty lousy. While there are some tools that will have cross purposes, there's no tools that can do everything.

Is converting movies difficult?

There's nothing more frustrating than downloading a movie converter that is difficult to use. All of the software on this site has been verified friendly for new users. A good tool should be easy to use, but should also offer options for advanced users.

Does converting the movies harm the originals?

No, your original video will always be preserved and a new version will be created in the format you've chosen.

Aren't there any good freeware programs around?

In all honesty, no. If you want to have a tool that's going to do the job and do it the right way - without any hassle - you're going to have to invest in a conversion tool. But it isn't all bad news. Most of the tools come in at around 30 dollars. For this you get support, updates and the best tool available to do the job.