VSO ConvertXtoDVD is an attractively designed and easy-to-use video burner that gives you the power to convert and burn a huge range of formats.

VSO ConvertXtoDVD can handle just about any format you throw at it including AVI, WMV, MKV, YouTube, OGM, MPEG and Quicktime. So instead of having to watch your downloaded films and videos on your PC, you can watch them in the comfort of your lounge on your DVD Player. VSO ConvertXtoDVD goes much further than just mere DVD creation though because it helps you create and author DVD menus.

It offers the possibility to add background video, image or audio and even have chapter and audio/subtitle menus. If you do want to add subtitles, it supports most of the major formats including SRT, .SUB/ID and .SSA and VSO CovertXtoDVD gives you control over color and font selection, and supports tags like italic, bold and the ability to toggle them on or off with DVD player remote control. The encoder makes a decent job of converting videos in terms of the output quality although it is slightly slow - estimate about 1 hour for conversion of a full movie.

A powerful and easy way to get your favourite movies and video clips onto DVD and give them an extra touch of class with a menu.

Download VSO ConvertXtoDVD 3.2.1.55 in Softonic

Some players come loaded with too many features and too many codecs - not MPCStar. MPCStar is a universal video player that can play most formats of films downloaded from the internet. MPCStar has been developed using open source libraries, so it's highly customisable if you have any programming knowledge. One of the best features however is a pop-up blocker which prevents pop-ups appearing that sometimes come loaded with films.

To ensure smooth playback and not get weighed down with too many codecs, MPCStar contains only the major codecs including Media Player Classic, FFDshow Codec Pack,
RealPlayer Codecs, ActiveX controls, QuickTime Codecs and DirectVobSub (a.k.a. VSFilter). The only problem is that these codecs are regularly updated and there appears to be no automatic update function but overall, this is one of the simplest and most powerful players I've tried since VLC player.

Download MPCStar 3.1 in Softonic

Ares Tube is a multi-video downloader that comes with a built-in browser and allows you to save clips from YouTube, Google Video, MySpace, Blip TV, DailyMotion, Metacafe and many more sites that support FLV files.

Ares Tube automatically converts to IPOD, MP4 and MPEG so you can watch films on your iPod or external device. Alternatively, you can export downloaded videos automatically to iTunes. Simply surf to YouTube and Ares Tube will automatically prompt you to convert and import the file directly into iTunes.

When you connect your iPod , Ares Tube will automatically prompt you whether you want to transfer your converted files to your device. Note, however, that you'll have to install the .NET framework to use it, although if it's not installed the first time you use Ares Tube, you will be redirected to it.

Ares Tube is a great way to download FLV files from multiple sites without having to worry about which particular one it is.

Download Ares Tube 3.2 in Softonic

When it comes to P2P file sharing, eMule usually wins hands down but UseNeXT is an interesting, slightly more sophisticated offering which has a lot to offer.

For starters, depending on your connection, it can be remarkably quick. You can download at speeds of up to 25 Mbps with DSL/Cable and it¡s pretty constant rather than the fluctuations you often get with such services. The network also prides itself on security over it's rivals such as Limewire and eMule - with ISPs continually cracking down on users, UseNeXT promises users far more anonymity than most.

The Usenet archives are supposedly some of the biggest in the world - more than 300 Terabytes of data available at all times and they claim that around 2,000 Gigabytes of new files are added daily. The problem in the past was that UseNeXT used to be a very complicated affair that only tech geeks can handle. However, nowadays, it's been simplified to such an extent that eMule, Limewire and other P2P users will feel more than comfortable with it.

While it can't possibly hope to compete with the reach and depth of the major P2P networks, UseNeXT offers an impressive selection with some super fast downloads.

Download UseNeXT 4.81 in Softonic

While the iPod is best know for being the music lovers best friend, it can also be a useful tool for movie buffs.

Xilisoft DVD to iPod Converter lets you extract DVD video and audio tracks of DVDs and convert them to audio and video formats compatible with the iPod Video (MPEG-4, MP3, AAC or M4A formats). Like most Xillisoft converters, it's very easy to follow and use with a good looking interface to boot. Conversions are fast but most impressive is the quality which is as good as any iPod converter you'll find. The conversion process is very simple - you can choose to either rip and convert a whole film or sections of a film. Apart from this, there are some customisation options too such as setting a file limit for your conversions, normalizing audio or the ability to compress files that have been extracted to fit your iPod - useful for if you've filled your hard drive with too many tunes. You can also customise the audio, subtitles and part of a DVD that you want to rip. If you've got an iPhone, the program has also now been updated to allow you to put films on your hard drive too.

Flexible, simple to convert and fast, Xilisoft DVD to iPod Converter has more than enough to fulfil your conversion needs.

Download Xilisoft DVD to iPod Converter 5.0.40.0729 in Softonic

With the release of Vuze, Azureus is jumping onto the legal torrent bandwagon. This application features the classic and extensive Azureus torrent client and adds to it an online platform from which you can download and submit legal audio and video content.

Vuze’s interface is a complete shake-up to what Azureus users are used to. The bittorrent developer has decided to focus on online multimedia content and introduce user participation. The first thing the user sees is a list of thumbnails of the latest videos uploaded to Vuze. You can browse these files by using the left side menu, divided in time, main channels and tags. The menu at the top also links to hot and new content. Vuze takes the web 2.0 road and you’ll see that most of the files have tags. You can write out a comment and leave a rating. The program also makes it a no brainer to send a video by email and link to content directly from your blog or website. There’s also a little diggit tag for each file, to submit them to the ultra famous social news site. It’s still a shame that Azureus omitted all the other famous social networking sites like del.icio.us or reddit. Maybe in a few months?

If you’re only interested in using Vuze as a torrent client, click the “Advanced tab” and you will be taken to the original Azureus interface. You can open up the gazillion configuration options that have come to define this as the most exhaustive bittorrent client on the planet. There’s even access to extra plug-ins like 3D view, RSS feed scanner or share exporter.

We won’t expand on the qualities of the Azureus client, for which you can read a review here. Vuze tries to innovate by adding social tools to the program and providing legal content. There’s up to nine channels to choose from, be it Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom Sabotage the Film School or Travel, yet we were disappointed with the content in general. On some channels there’s very little to watch and on others you don’t necessarily find what you were hoping for. The trailers channel for example, offers new video games trailers instead of releases of movies. However, with Azureus striking up a partnership with the BBC, you’ll soon get Dr Who, The League of Gentleman and Invasion Earth and surely other content providers will flock to Vuze. Taking this into account, Vuze also includes a special tag to let you know if a file is High Definition or not.

On the downside Vuze does nothing to atone the principal drawback to Azureus: the over extensive use of PC memory. Yes, Vuze is still a bandwidth hog, and there’s nothing to do about it. We also find the new interface to be incredibly cluttered. The old downloads and currently downloading windows are too similar to have to be separated and we don’t understand why Vuze includes a Library tab when you can access content straight from the Home tab.

While the whole interface felt a bit clunky, and the number of legal content is still limited, Vuze is a promising application for sharing and enjoying legal content. If you’re already hooked on the original Azureus bittorrent client, take a leap into the future with Vuze.

Download Azureus (Vuze) 3 1.1.0 in Softonic

There's nothing more annoying than downloading or ripping a film and then reaslising you don't have th right codecs to play it.

Or worse, the codecs that you have are corrupt and don't playback properly. If you've found yourself in this situation then m5Studio Codec is a neat little package which brings together most of the most important codecs you'll need. m5Studio Codec includes all the major codecs you'll need to make sure that you'll never have problems playing a film again.

Among the codecs included in m5Studio Codec are DivX or XviD, Ogg Vorbis or Cinepak or AC3 plus some some lesser known ones such as CoreAVC and Fraunhoffer IIS. Installation is simply a matter of double clicking EXE file and you've got a few configuration controls to control exactly how you want the codecs to perform.

m5Studio Codec is a useful codec package that will be able to playback most of the major formats that you can download or rip films to.

Download m5Studio Codec 8.3a in Softonic

There are plenty of special effects we can add to IM clients in the form of emoticons, avatars and pictures.

But webcams are generally restricted to nothing but the image you see. However, with WebcamMax Full, you can add all manner of special effects and images to webcam images to make your broadcasts and webcam sessions more interesting. WebcamMax adds videos, pictures and effects to virtual/real Webcams and broadcasts on messenger services.

You can add videos, screenshots, pictures, flash and effects to virtual or real Webcams and messengers including the most popular IM clients such as ICQ, AIM, MSN, Camfrog, Skype, Paltalk, Yahoo, ANYwebcam and Stickam. You can also add special motion effects (Frame, Transform, and Emotion) over your webcam image. If you find that the program doesn't offer you enough effects, you can also download up to 1500 more from the developer's website. Apart from having fun, this program can enhance your YouTube videos or blogcasts by changing the background or environment from where you are broadcasting from.

Perhaps the most useful feature however doesn't relate to effects at all and relates to PinP (Picture in Picture). So for example, you want to talk about a certain part in a film with a friend or discuss it in a review, WebcamMax Full allows you to choose an alternative source which plays in the corner of your webcam in a smaller screen while you talk.

An interesting webcam tool which can be used for fun or more serious pursuits like picture in picture to get the most out of your webcam.

Download WebcamMax Full 5.0.4.8 in Softonic

Some video converters change movie formats and that's it, but AVS Video Converter does much more besides conversions.

AVS Video Converter allows you to capture the latest video formats which means DVD, SVCD or VCD's although it doesn't support HDV or BluRay yet. The video editor, while very basic, allows you to edit in classic style along a timeline and there's a handy wizard that helps you burn creations afterwards.

The latest release allows you to change the look with various skins so you can give it your own personal look which is unusual for a video editor. One excellent feature of the editor is that it helps you cut out adverts and other annoying commercial features which interrupt your films (useful if you've downloaded films or TV shows from the net). It uses a "Scene detection algorithm" to do this by splitting the video into various episodes leaving only the scenes you need.

An excellent all-in-one video converter and editor that will ensure your TV shows or movies are never ruined by TV ads again.

Download AVSVideoConverter 5.6.1.715 in Softonic

If you're a movie fan then you've probably got tons of films - both on DVD and DivX - and you may be losing track of what and what you haven't got.

The important thing with any program like this is that it makes data entry quick and easy and Movie Label 2009 certainly allows this. To get going, simply start the "Movie Query" function and type the name of the movie you wish to add to your collection. The cool thing is that Movie Label then downloads data about the movie and adds it to your database automatically. The problem is that sometimes, it doesn't seem to recognise films but unless you've got a real eclectic collection, you should be OK. It also makes searching through your films easy to check whether you have a film or not - just click on the column header and your collection will be sorted by that particular field. This can be by title, name of actors or theme which is useful in organising your collection on the basis of your favourite themes or actors. To top this out, the program includes export options to XML, HTML, Excel and text files.

A great organisational tool for movie fans that are starting to find their collection spiralling out of control.

Download Movie Label 2009 4.1 in Softonic

SpeedyiTunes is an accelerator for iTunes. The program simply installs an icon in your task bar and claims to download iTunes music and videos up to 10 times quicker. In reality, you might find it's less than half of this although it depends on your broadband setup.

It includes speeded-up connections to shared bookstores, Podcast subscriptions and probably the most useful feature - radio streams. In fact, this was the best feature by far in that radio streams seem to be much more reliable and quicker with SppedyiTunes. The problem is however is that you never know whether it is genuinely speeding up the connections or its your own connection that fluctuating (known as bandwidth flapping.

However, if you are not satisfied with the speed of iTunes, SpeedyiTunes could be the solution you've been looking for - or at least - make your connections to the radio more stable.

Download SpeedyiTunes 1.7.0.58 in Softonic

With YouTube and other sites providing ever increasing amounts of video content, it's easy to lose track of all the clips you've downloaded - that's not to mention all your DivX films.

Personal Video Database is a very simple but functional database that gathers together all of the clips on your hard drive that allows you to catalogue them in some kind of meaningful way. perhaps the most aesthetically beautiful or complete in terms of functionality, but it works and All the basic features you'd expect such as cataloguing by genre, title, rating etc are there plus there's even a rudimentary online database check that can verify what your film or clip is based on keywords. This even extends to importing cover art of films and TV shows if necessary or available although you can disable this retrieval feature as it can take some time. If you want to expand it the program, you can do so via plugins that are included in the installation package although most of these plugins just extend the information retrieving functions.

It's not the best looking program in the world and it doesn't come with any outstanding features but its fast, lightweight and does what it's supposed to.

Download Personal Video Database Portable 0.9.8.10 in Softonic

YouTube is undoubtedly the biggest video site on the internet and one of these business success stories of the decade.

However, with copyrighted content increasingly being removed, the only way to save your favourite clips is to download them onto your hard drive. YouTube Downloader is a software that helps you download videos instantly and convert them into other video formats. The program is incredibly easy to use - just specify the URL for the video you want to download and click the Ok button. It also allows you to convert downloaded videos for Ipod, Iphone, PSP, Cell Phone, Windows Media, XVid and MP3 which is useful for taking your films on the move. The converter is a bit slow but it's a nice add on to have. One problem you may have is that when you've downloaded the clip, you may have no sound. This is easily remedied by downloading a codec which can be found on the developer website.

For those worried about the disappearance of their favourite clips from YouTube or those that just want an archive, YouTube Downloader is an ultra easy to use and efficient option.

Download YouTube Downloader 2.1.6 in Softonic

If you are a die hard movie fan, you'll probably have tons of downloaded films but few of them with the cover art.

Movie411 allows you to search and download movie information and DVD box art (both front and back covers) in a flash. Within a short period, you can build up a huge database of covers based on your own private collection complete with back and front. Simply enter the name of your film or TV series in the search field and instruct the program where you would like to save your movie data. The database will probably throw up various versions of the movie you are searching for and it's up to you to select which one you need. Once you've done this for each film, you'll find that Movie411 collects and formats all movie information into a single, easy to use text file which you can store along with your digital file. In an age of HD, the program can also save high resolution images for your covers and you can quickly see a thumbnail preview of each movie by simply clicking it on the search result page. The only drawback is that the database seems very selective about what films it recognises and what cover art is available. Major Hollywood features are fine but minor releases and documentaries in particular are poorly catered for.

If you want to give your collection a touch of class, then Movie411 will help polish off it off with covers and clipart.

Download Movie411 1.2.1 in Softonic

When you first encounter PPLive it seems like someone’s playing a sick joke on you. Upon first installing the application you’ll almost certainly be thinking this is the most annoying, pointless program you’ve ever seen and will be ruining the time you wasted downloading it. The reason for this being is that at first glance it just looks like a very poor media player and the entire interface is in Chinese.

These problems are made all the more frustrating by the riches promised by the program. The shareware app boasts to offer you the ability to watch free television from across the world on your PC, including live sport, live news, the latest episodes of top dramas and comedies, and a host of brand new movie blockbusters. The software integrates advanced peer-to-peer technology so it can provide the users with the smoothest TV programs with no interceptions, meaning every user becomes a broadcaster, saving the cost of traditional streaming media.

Not being fluent in the Eastern language and uninspired by the drab GUI we were all set to uninstall and even thought about removing the program from the Softonic site altogether to save you visitors from the worst ten minutes of your life. Then something happened – after stumbling across a site devoted to PPLive we realized that was a way around the frustration.

ESSENTIAL USER TIP: How to change the interface to English

By loading up the PPLive TV Engine and right-clicking on the fourth option from the bottom (the one that looks like a squiggle) you’re presented with the chance to change the interface into English. Hallelujah! Unfortunately, opening the Channel List menu gave us even more Chinese to try and decipher but luckily the Football4Less site contains the full list online, as does the PPLive site.

The list of streaming feeds is pretty comprehensive, and although many are in Chinese, it’s possible to dig around and find some great programs such as Desperate Housewives, English Premiership football games, American Idol, WWE wrestling, and a host of new films . Clicking on the link in the ‘Currently’ category on the listings page brings up the schedule of programs for that particular channel for the day, although many repeat the same show or movie all day. You can also search channels by category, such as sports, movies, news, cartoons, etc.

The task of finding western movies and shows is made all the more tricky by the Chinese-to-English translations of the programs, which can be a little baffling until you get used to it. To give you some clues to start with: Friends is known as ‘Six person of like’; Desperate Housewives becomes ‘Crazy Housewives’, and Brokeback Mountain is curiously known as ‘Breaks arm mountain.’

Clicking on a show will open your media player and begin playing the show or film from the start. You can choose to use the built-in media player (which is rather limited in features), or open in Windows Media Player or Real Player. The program uses P2P technology to share TV shows, so the more people are online the faster and more reliable the access will be, and we were pleasantly surprised by the speed in which most of the streams are buffered and the quality of the video. Unfortunately, like many P2P apps, the program turns out to be riddled with malware which installs itself in your temporary drive - so be warned!

Although it’s about as easy-to-use as a rubber saw, PPLive is certainly worth investing a bit of time and patience in if you want to watch TV for free online, and once you’ve figured it out it becomes a very addictive way to spend your time.

Download PPLive 1.9.21 in Softonic

He may be about 87 years old now but Indiana Jones still knows how to bust in a move in his quest for archaeological glory.

In his latest adventure our intrepid hero must recover a precious crystal skull. This official wallpaper of the movie proves that Harrison Ford has still got it, and looking at him standing ready for action in his classic get-up you wouldn't realize it's been more than 20 years since his last outing.

This hand-drawn image is classic Indy, and with the official logo of the film stamped on the picture you'll be the envy of all your friends. This 1024x768 pixel version is of good quality and the only thing I wasn't really keen on was the way he's been cut out and stuck onto the background looks a little crude.

Nevertheless, this is still a must-have download for all Indy fans.

Download Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Wallpaper in Softonic

Manolito is a new Spanish based P2P app based on UDP rather than TCP/IP meaning you can share your favourite music and films quicker.

The application is easy to use. To begin, simply enter your search terms in the search field and from the symbols appearing next to the files you can tell what file type the available files are saved as.

Along the right you can also see the size of the files. File sizes can vary dramatically depending on their quality. Obviously larger files will take longer to download so, depending on your connection to the Internet, choose your downloads wisely.

You should also try, if possible, to download your chosen file from a user with a fast connection.

Enhance your P2P sharig today with Manolito.

Download Manolito 1.19 in Softonic

Ever wanted to download videos from YouTube but wanted them converted in AVI format beforehand? If so, Easy Video Downloader allows you to do so with a range of qualities to suit your needs in AVI and even MPEG4 format which are the most common formats for most phones and portable devices.

Simply enter the URL of the YouTube video you want to save in the interface and click "Start." You must also select whether you want to save the film in AVI or MPEG4 format. The quality is reasonable in both formats although it seems that conversions to MPEG4 are considerably faster than AVI. However, even though there is a longer waiting time with this program than other similar efforts, the time it saves you in conversions is worth it. The program has now been updated so that it can even download the new high resolution videos that are appearing on YouTube. It's also much better at dealing with MySpace videos that before posed some problems due to the way they are embedded.

As a simple all in one solution, Easy Video Downloader is a nice little app, if a little slow.

Download Easy Video Downloader 2.0 in Softonic

This open source multimedia player allows you to watch films by just dragging and dropping the file on the video screen. It claims to support so many codecs that you’ll no longer need to download them. According to our test, though, this is not so true.

The interface is very elegant and the option for scrolling through the film has a pleasant, immediate response. It surely supports many different formats but in our test it didn’t work with DivX files while other competitors like Media Player Classic or VLC media player did. Also, when you open Cineplay for the first time, it tells you that an update is available and asks you whether you want to update the program, but if you click yes, you’ll just get a “404: Page not found” screen. A bit disappointing as a start.

A good option if you want a multi-format reader which is very fast to run and with a minimalist-elegant interface, remembering though that there are less stylish solutions which support a wider range of video formats.

Download CinePlay 1.1 Beta in Softonic

You probably have lots of different videos and films on your computer you would like to play on your home DVD player. Unfortunately, many DVD players can only read the standard DVD format and it's therefore a waste of resources to burn DVDs with avi, mpeg or wmv files.

DVD Flick comes in handy because it converts PC video files to a proper DVD format, readable by all standard devices. The final file size is much bigger than the original, for example: a 600mb requires a whole DVD. The conversion process is also very slow, but you can leave the program working while you use other applications, as you can select the priority your system gives to the conversion software. The final result will be an audio_ts and a video_ts folder, which is the standard for all DVDs and you can also chose to create an iso file which can be burned again at a later date. It would have been good to have the possibility to add subtitles but unfortunately this feature is missing.

If you are patient enough, DVD Flick is the perfect solution for burning your holiday movie to DVD, meaning that whatever DVD player your friends or family have, they’ll have no escape from your not-quite-Oscar-winning production.

This is a reliable program that does what it's meant to but at the end of the day, DVD Flick is really only going to be useful to people without a multi-format DVD player.

Download DVD Flick 1.2.2.0 in Softonic