Freemake Video Converter With DXVA Support

Although still at an early version, Freemake Video Converter has already made a name for itself as far as changing the format of your movies is concerned. The application penetrated the market with a strong set of features that covered all the popular video formats a user would require.

Not too long ago the app reached a new stage of development and changed its version to 2.3. Since then two minor builds ensued, in order to mark the fixes that occurred since the launch of the major edition of the software.

There aren’t too many changes on the surface, as the program sports the same intuitive and easy to use interface, with the same shades of green to mark the output options in the lower part of the main screen and the same nuance of blue to spot the input data supported.

However, Freemake Video Converter does feature some modifications, and these refer to the algorithm used for carrying out the conversion process. Besides CUDA support, the converter now comes equipped with DXVA support, which stands for DirectX Video Acceleration and basically translates into faster processing of the video; during our tests it took 20 minutes to prepare a 1GB DVD title for rendering on PSP.

The technology permits offloading hardware intensive operations to the graphical processing unit (GPU), just like in the case of NVIDIA’s CUDA. During our tests CPU usage was still high, but we did notice that the conversion went pretty fast, especially if the result is set for a smaller resolution.

One of the best things in Freemake Video Converter is that you do not have to choose between CUDA or DXVA technology, because the application picks the right technology for you. It automatically detects the optimal conversion parameters and makes the selection according to the graphics card on the system.

The program preserved its versatility regarding the various conversion needs of the user. You can practically prepare your vids for any type of portable device you want, be it a smartphone or a PSP, as well as other platforms, such as YouTube. Moreover, the list of presets can be enriched by creating your own custom profile.

It allows you to convert an entire video piece or just the part you deem more interesting. Edit mode, which also dubs as preview area, allows you to cut the part of the video you do not need and convert only a piece of it. There are also minor transformations you can do, such as flipping the image horizontally or vertically, or rotate it by 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.

Although it is a tool for the beginner and average user Freemake Video Converter does lets you navigate the file frame by frame in order to find the right scene you want to cut out.

Besides simply converting from one video format to another Freemake Video Converter can be used for other tasks, like creating Blu-ray discs or DVDs, complete with menus.

On the downside, although its abilities include DVD ripping, it does not do too good of a job. We noticed that it doesn’t always detect the subtitles available in the titles; and when it does pick them up, the languages are all mixed up. With audio may seem like a safer bet, but it is still a gamble, as in some cases changing the track would do absolutely nothing and picking Italian would actually enable French.

If you’re looking to create a slideshow with your vacation pictures, look no further, as Video Converter has this covered, too. The utility is basic in settings and options, but the end result looks pretty good, especially if you add some background music that goes with the pictures.

Although it may seem like a simple conversion instrument Freemake Video Converter’s abilities extend even to creating beautiful visualizations from audio data. You simply have to load the track and choose an image of your own or one of the custom visualization options available.

Setting up the application is easy as pie as the options available let you choose the temporary folder to handle all the processed data or enable or disable automatic detection for accelerated conversion. Additional configuration details let you define the connection parameters and provide the credentials for online accounts for services such as Facebook or YouTube.

The Good

Handling the conversion process and all the other options is designed to make the life of a beginner or average user extremely easy.

The range of supported formats, both for input and output files covers all the popular choices, regardless of the rendering platform (online or portable device). The preset profiles are very useful and you can add your own entries as well.

The Bad

The Truth