Category Archives: video converter

YouTube changed its website parameters and DownloadHelper immediately released an updated, on the fly, version

Sunday night the (on the fly) updated version of DownloadHelper was released. After just few days of malfunctioning all the features offered by this add-on for Firefox are back again.

In particular it is possible to download again all the videos to have a local copy to watch when we are not able to use the internet.

The team of DdownloadHelper was professional and fast to solve this annoying problem which was caused by changes operated by YouTube on its website. For all the people who has not already used this add-on before, I remind you that DownloadHelper is, in my opinion, the most advanced tool to navigate YouTube videos, download contents for evaluation and directly convert the format from flv to mp4 or other video format you prefer.

For the record, this problem caused the same malfunctioning to all the software with similar features. In particular, you could have problems when using Gmediafinder for Linux (at least we have had this kind of matter during the past weekend).

WinFF: the best mkv to avi converter for Ubuntu

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This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we posted an essential manual about the best software to convert a video file from mkv to a more common (and readable) avi format. First of all we tried with a well known line program: ffmpeg but we had different problems and we did not succeed. For this reason we tried to install the specific libavcodec-unstripped-51 package but we were not able to convert our file. For our second test we installed avidemux but also in this case the mkv file resisted. Then we read in a post that VLC contains a powerful converter and we used it to transform the mkv file to avi. Unfortunately we succed only for the audio part of our file but we were not able to obtain a complete video file. Only during our last test we transform the mkv video to avi using WinFF. This program, based on ffmpeg, has a very clear graphical interface and it is very intuitive to use. After ten minutes of trials we were able to correct our settings and to start the file conversion. In the WinFF menu you can easily choose between many different video and audio formats (in our test we chose AVI) with a Device Preset setted to XviD in AVI (16:9) and decide the output folder you prefer. WinFF -does not work- if you do not insert the mandatory data in the below part of the menu. In our test we setted:
Video Settings
Video Bitrate = empty (null = we did not write anything)
Frame rate = 25
Video Size = 592 x 320
Aspect Ratio = 16:9
Audio Settings
Audio Bitrate = 118
Sample Rate = 48000
Audio Channels = 2
Additional Command Line Parameters (advanced)
null = we did not write anything
We recommend WinFF to all that people who are not very clever with line command programs and need to easily transform video files to a different formats!

PyTube: the best YouTube manager, downloader and video converter for Linux!

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This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we have posted a short review about PyTube, an opensource software which allows you to easier search, manage and convert your YouTube videos. Installing PyTube is very simple; for example, on Ubuntu you can directly add this software using the Synaptic Package Manager and marking it for installation from the menu (as usual, using the Search field you will reduce your searching time). The graphical interface is very simple and all the features can be intuitively understood. Using the search bar you are able to find all the related videos very rapidly, and you can select just the videos you desire to download. PyTube has also many interesting “minor” features like merge-rotate-resize video or -generate a ringtone- contained in the “Multimedia Tool” menu. Moreover PyTube is able to convert them to avi, in just a click. I found this software very useful to improve my Ubuntu knowledge and I recommend to all the people who need a flexible software to deeply navigate YouTube. Recommended!

Watch your DVDs in the PSP using AutoGK and 3GP Converter!

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PSP Today, in our freeware page, we have posted some lines about converting DVD in PSP videos. The freeware conversion method we described is one of the easiest you can use (if not, please, let us know your favourite method). Anyway, after the installation of two strong freewares, AutoGK and 3GP Converter (both very simple and easy to use) you can watch the DVDs you bought on the PSP. The first time, you have to install and correctly configure these freewares (more or less you spend 30-40 minutes) but after that, all the conversion sessions will not be too long (if you are not a video quality “puritan”). Last but not least… be connected with us during the Christmas period… we are planning to post a special review for USB portable software (more precisely, freeware). Thanks to you all!