14 DAY TRIAL // Video conversion is still "trendy" and whether you do it to place a cool video on your website or blog or to turn a FLV file to AVI just for the heck of it, you still need a video converting tool. The avalanche on the Internet makes the job really easy. However, there?s still the problem of picking the right one.
The good ones are generally expensive, but there are some of them like the emblematic VirtualDub that go for free. Of course, it does not cover all the video formats, but it definitely preserves the best quality possible. However, other applications deal with a more pervasive range of video formats and some of them provide very good outputs.
Naruto Video Suite Enterprise is designed to help you in making video conversions from a very large pool of choices, into FLV and AVI formats. Being Enterprise edition the price rises to the expectations and stops at $39.95. The trial period of the application is 30 days, but only if you close the software twice during this time as there is also a 3 times use restriction.
Just like the previous attempt at file conversion, SimplestUtils adopted the simplicity strategy and made a very easy to use program that allows you to convert from all the popular formats (VCD, SVCD, MPEG, MP4, WMV) and less employed ones (3GP, MOV, RM, ASF) to a regular AVI or FLV file.
Besides video conversion, Naruto Video Suite Enterprise also comes with an integrated web video downloader. Supported video websites you can download from include famous locations like YouTube!, Google Video or Myspace, as well as a suite of other websites filled with entertaining short films. For you naughty boys and girls out there, Naruto also provides websites containing adult rated clips. By default, these are not available, but pressing Ctrs+left mouse click will bring them to light.
I do not know if the reverse of the operation is possible as I could not find anywhere the least of information about the matter. So this means that if you have kids and don't want them to use it and discover the true face of humanity, simply do not enable the feature and keep them away from the description of the software.
The interface is so simple I don't even know where to begin. First of all, you don't have the possibility of resizing the main window. The only things you can do is either minimize it or close it completely. The Naruto design in the background is very appealing, but for some users it may not be the best choice as it makes reading the functions of the buttons available a bit difficult.
The FLV grabber is definitely a tool much appreciated among the video grabbers. However, I will have to disappoint you as in our tests Naruto's download instrument could not download the videos from all the links provided and supported. Out of the four tests, the application successfully picked up only one of the links. As there is no option for providing a location for the web FLV downloaded files, I should probably mention that all the downloaded files are automatically going into the installed folder of the application in "Output" folder.
Sometimes, regardless of the fact that the URL for the video was pasted in the appropriate field and the logical move of the software would have been downloading it, the download wizard appers. It provides two main options: search for the URL or paste it again and use it. Additional settings included choosing the web browser (the application does not detect which one is installed and you have to select between IE, Firefox or Opera), input the video type (FLV, SWF, WMV, RM, MOV or MP4) and fine tune the search type (out of the many attempts this option never supplied a result).
For a mere conversion of a video file into AVI or FLV format, things are quite simple. Just open the file (use the Open button in the middle of the screen, you can't miss it) by browsing to the place residence of the file, make the necessary settings and choose the output format: AVI or FLV.
The settings for the conversion aren?t at all complicated and include just video and audio bitrate and custom width and height. If you don't want to bother with these, simply configure the application to preserve the original video size and you are off the hook.
That?s all there is to be set in Naruto Video Suite Enterprise. There is no codec to configure (in fact you cannot even choose a codec to do the job with), no preview of the file, nothing else than what is presented in the main window.
The Good
The application is handled very well by any type of users, regardless of their knowledge in video conversion.
The Bad
There are two blank links in the website videos list. They are pointing to no location at all. There are no advanced settings (Enterprise editions of software usually come very well equipped).
The trial limitations hindered a proper testing of the application and I doubt that you can test it decently given the restrictions. Also, it seems that parental control works one way only.
Considering the above mentioned, the price is quite something.
The Truth
Simple, easy to use, pretty good looking, all for $39.95. During our testing, the application proved that it does work, but we had no proof that this can be done on a frequent basis.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
