Good alternative to Windows Media Encoder for converting AVI to WMV?

[The Last Laugh]

Hello everyone,

For the last few years I’ve used Windows Media Encoder (WME) to convert AVI (DV) files to WMV. Now, WMW may not be everyone’s favorite format, but it works well for me, and my intention is to continue releasing clips in that format.

Unfortunately, I reinstalled Windows about a week ago, and while pretty much everything is working just fine, I ran into some problems with WME and WMV creation. WME starts the job as usual, and everything seems just fine. But then, when it’s supposed to do the second pass, the encoding ends. I don’t get any error message, and WME acts like the job has been done normally. But the resulting clip isn’t functional at all, being only a few KB in size. I tried changing the settings, but nothing seems to work. I’ve no idea why.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to figure out a solution to my problem with WME. I was thinking that maybe I should start using different software for this. Like I said, I’d really prefer to keep producing WMV clips, as opposed to other formats. So I was wondering if someone has any software suggestions. Ideally, such a program should give good results, at least as good as WME. That is, the quality/file size ratio should be fairly high. Also, it would be nice if it were rather flexible, offering many settings to customize clips, instead of just a few generic options. I mean, with WME I can select any bitrate I want (instead of just choosing among a few), trim a clip, deinterlace, include copyright information, etc.

Of course, if someone knows what’s wrong with WME and can offer help with it, that would also be very useful. Whatever the solution to my WMV-creating problem is, I would be very grateful to anyone who can help, because right now I can’t update my clip store with new products, and obviously that’s a very serious problem for me. Thanks!

 

[CitY of MicA]

Hi, Francois. I use CinemaForge (2.0) to convert files. It has most of the options you were mentioning, although with the bitrate, you're choosing from a drop down list of 8 options (framerate- 11 options). You've got me looking at it, and it appears you can trim a clip (I never noticed this feature before and can't vouch for its reliability). If you do try it, I would automatically change the audio frequency to 44100 (and channel to stereo)- file size isn't affected much in my experience, and there's a big difference in quality over the middle frequency. Edit: I'm not sure if you can include copyright information or how that would be done (I use seperate editing software).

To my knowledge, several people on the forum (maybe Toyou and Rajee?) were happy with Super. It didn't work for me, so I went with something else. Good luck!

 

[LeeAllure]

You can also try Any Video Converter. It's a free program
which allows you to change almost any file format to
another for video or audio.

Lee

 

[The Last Laugh]

Thanks guys (well, girls too)! I'll check out the software you've suggested. Maybe there's something that will give better results than WME. Frankly, I'm very impressed with the quality some other producers manage to get with their previews (not to mention their commercial clips), and with very reasonable bitrates. I've no idea how they do it. I'd really like to make my files smaller without sacrificing quality. Or increase quality for the same file size.

 

[jk666uk]

good one to use is what i use
www.winAVI.com
video converter

 

[The Last Laugh]

good one to use is what i use
www.winAVI.com
video converter

Thanks, I'll check it out. It seems I have a lot of software experimenting to do.

 

[cabalist]

You can also try Any Video Encoder. It's a free program
which allows you to change almost any file format to
another for video or audio.

Just to nitpick a little, perhaps you meant Any Video Converter? I have that program and it was the closest I could turn up in a Google search of "Any Video Encoder". I also believe it's been one of the most useful/reliable of a number of free such programs which I've tried.

 

[LeeAllure]

Just to nitpick a little, perhaps you meant Any Video Converter? I have that program and it was the closest I could turn up in a Google search of "Any Video Encoder". I also believe it's been one of the most useful/reliable of a number of free such programs which I've tried.

You're absolutely correct, that's what I meant.
And yes, it has been both reliable and useful for me as well,
and I have Adobe Premiere Pro which costs a lot more, and
has similar capabilities, but not all, and uses a lot more of
my computer's processing power.

Lee

 

[kered]

I use SmartSoft Video Converter for my camera at home. It might be worth a look to see if you can use it for your projects.

 

[The Last Laugh]

I use SmartSoft Video Converter for my camera at home. It might be worth a look to see if you can use it for your projects.

Wow, yet another option! Thanks! I didn't really expect any replies to my message, let alone so many different suggestions for video converters. This has been very helpful.