With so many movies watched on computers these days, sitting around the telly to watch a film or a show is becoming a thing of the past. If you want to reclaim your DVD player then Smart DVD Creator is a decent solution. The program lets you turn virtually any video into a DVD, VCD or SVCD and, as a result, transport your movies from the computer to the living room.

The application is a doddle to use since you only need to load a video, select the format which you want to save it as (not only DVD, VCD and SVCD but also AVI, MPEG, WMV or RM) then choose the quality of the outputted file. Selecting the quality of the video is done through a simple slider and the resulting video can be previewed easily via a pane on the Smart DVD Creator interface. There are lots of other adjustments you can make to the output file, making this a great tool for both beginners and seasoned DVD authors.

Download Smart DVD Creator Pro 2.6.0 in Softonic

There's a huge trend at the moment for programs and applications that bring together content from several sites to save you the hassle of visiting them all.

That's exactly what Shiki Video Downloader attempts to do bringing together content from sites such as YouTube, DailyMotion, GoogleVideo and Metacafe. From the search results, you can then watch the videos directly on your desktop in the Shiki Player rather than, as the developers say, "a webpage full of annoying banners". However, it doesn't stop there. It also converts files into the format of your choice so for example, you can take your clips with you on the move. The number of formats you can convert to is rather limited but currently includes .mp4, .wmv, .avi, .mp3 and .aac. It also has special settings for those that want to convert content to work on iPod, Zune and iPhone.

The program interface looks very slick in black and it is nice just being able to search from such a huge amount of content. However, you'll find that search results are returned much slower than going directly to any of the video sites themselves.

Shiki Video Downloader is one hell of a package - search engine, video player and converter in one. Once the search speeds are improved, it will score much more highly.

Download Shiki Video Downloader 1.0.0.49 in Softonic

With such an ever growing range of multimedia devices, no wonder format converters are becoming so popular these days!

Any Audio/Video Converter is one of those converters: a simple, easy-to-use application that support pretty much any format you can find nowadays and lets you convert both audio and video files in just a few steps.

The program works with a list where you add the files you want to convert, no matter what format they are. Then you configure the conversion options for each one of them separately and finally click on the "Convert" button to let the program do the rest. I think this method is quite handy and saves you loads of work and time; pity the trial version only accepts one file on this list!

Any Audio/Video Converter includes a built-in player in its interface, but it's only good to watch the video while it's being converted and not preview it before actually starting the process.

With Any Audio/Video Converter you can convert basically any audio and video file you can think of, in a quite easy process that involves very little effort.

Download Any Audio/Video Converter 5.3 in Softonic

With multimedia portable devices growing in popularity and features, it's not surprising that DVD ripping tools have started to offer support for them so that you can take your favorite movies anywhere with you.

Xilisoft DVD Ripper Platinum is one of those applications: a full featured DVD ripper than can extract all data inside your DVD movies and convert it right away to another video format, including the most popular ones and – of course – video formats for mobile devices such as the iPod, the iPhone and the PSP.

The program lets you choose the video size, image quality and audio quality, and also create and use different profiles according to the target format or device, though I must say the profile creation process is not very intuitive. In addition to ripping the whole DVD, you can also select specific chapters and convert only those. The whole process is done via drop-down menus and the program is generally very easy to use.

With Xilisoft DVD Ripper Platinum you can rip the contents of your favorite DVD movies and convert them to different formats – including mobile video - in just a few easy steps.

Download Xilisoft DVD Ripper Platinum 5.0.40.0729 in Softonic

With multimedia portable devices growing in popularity and features, it's not surprising that DVD ripping tools like Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate have started to offer support for them so that you can take your favorite movies anywhere with you.

Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate is one of those applications: a full featured DVD ripper than can extract all data inside your DVD movies and convert it right away to another video format, including the most popular ones and – of course – video formats for mobile devices such as the iPod, the iPhone and the PSP.

Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate lets you choose the video size, image quality and audio quality, and also create and use different profiles according to the target format or device. Also, Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate lets you trim specific video fragments, edit video effects, adjust subtitles and even add a watermark so that you obtain fully customized DVD video and audio files.

Additionally, Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate can help you clip video segment, crop video size, edit video effects, adjust subtitle, and add video watermark, to get the customized DVD audio and video files.

In addition to ripping the whole DVD, you can also select specific chapters and convert only those. The whole process is done via drop-down menus and Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate is generally very easy to use.

With Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate you can rip the contents of your favorite DVD movies and convert them to different formats – including mobile video - in just a few easy steps.

Download Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate 5.0.40.0729 in Softonic

Prism video file conversion software is a free video file format converter for Windows. It can convert video files from avi, mpg, vob, wmv (Windows Media Video formats) and more into avi, asf or wmv files.

Prism video converter is very easy to use. Just add the files you want to convert to the list, select the format you want to use, and then click the convert button.

Designed to be very easy and intuitive to use, this software will have you up and running within minutes. Simply download now and install.

Take a look at what this program has to offer:

• Converts all video formats that have a DirectShow based codec to AVI and Windows Media Video formats
• If you can play the video file using 'Windows Media Player' you can convert it using Prism
• Set compression/encoder rates of output files
• Set resolution and frame rate of output files
• Prism can be added to your right click menu for easy access
• Prism video file converter has an intuitive and easy to use interface

Download Prism Video Converter 1.15 in Softonic

River Past Screen Recorder is River Past's award winning screen video recorder. It is the fastest screen video recorder on the market, with a speed comparable to TechSmith's Camtesia Studio, and way better than any other similar software we have tested.

Capture AVI video from the full screen, a window, a rectangle region, or a defined area around the cursor. Decide whether you want the cursor image to be included. You can even record audio into the AVI, from the microphone, line-in, or speakers. River Past Screen Recorder Pro allows you to record to WMV files using Microsoft's Windows Media Screen codec, which is specialized in producing high quality and small screen videos.

Download River Past Screen Recorder 7.7.11 in Softonic

Taking video shots of your desktop is essential for those that are building tutorials or trying to help others in using a program.

The problem is that sometimes, the recording software can be often be complicated or difficult to use but Screen Video Recorder attempts to be one of those rare breeds that keeps everything to an absolute basic minimum. Although it only saves video captures in AVI or WMV format (which are not exactly the smallest formats to share via e-mail or upload etc) it compensates by making taking screen captures very easy indeed.

The interface consists of little more than small window that allows you to stop and start recordings with a few options to configure the audio codec you want to use, video codec, start a timer and a hotkey that you'd like to use to start and stop recordings. The region that's captured depends on which of the 5 options you've asked it to record - random region, window, full screen, fixed size and fixed region.

However, it not only covers screen activity but it can also record images from webcams attached to IM clients such as AIM, ICQ, MSN and Yahoo Messenger. It can also capture video from TV Cards, DVD's and just about any other video input device except video cameras.

A very simple screen video capture tool just about anyone can use for capturing screen activity, webcam chats and video in general.

Download Screen Video Recorder 1.5.33.0 in Softonic

GVC will help you convert your audio and video files using the FFMPEG codec via a simple and intuitive interface.

It is compatible with the most widely used video formats, and you can use it to extract the audio formats from films - great for making your own soundtracks, ring tones etc. The interface however is not simple for those that are not familiar with Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition. However, the good thing is that it's not that hard to learn and there are instructions with the program to help you get to grips with it. FFMPEG can decode (and convert) files of almost any format, including some rare formats such as game music files. You can convert any video file to the following format - AVI, ASF, MOV, MP4, 3GPP, 3GPP2, MPG, FLV, SWF, WMV, DV, OGG, MKV, RM. With audio, you can convert any audio file to the following formats - MP2, MP3, MP4, AIFF, FLAC, OGG, WMA, WAV, AC3, AMR. There's also the option to convert VCD .DAT files and DVD .VOB files to MPG. However for many it will be the audio extraction that is the most useful feature of this program and if only it was a bit simpler to use, it would be more popular.

The solid converter and audio extractor although you'll need to brush up your Visual Basic skills to use it.

Download GVC 0.6 Beta 1.7z in Softonic

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 3.1.3.40 in Softonic

If you have different devices with video capabilities, you need a complete video tool like ALO AVI MPEG WMV 3GP MP4 iPod PSP Converter.

With ALO AVI MPEG WMV 3GP MP4 iPod PSP Converter you can convert from the most popular video formats to those formats used in devices such as the iPod, the Zune, the PSP, the PS3 or the Apple TV. All you have to do is load the source video, select the target format and let the program take care of the rest. Plus, you can convert several videos simultaneously.

Formats are conveniently organized in profiles according to the target device.
ALO AVI MPEG WMV 3GP MP4 iPod PSP Converter lets you tweak those target profiles by customizing bitrate, frame rate, video codec, audio bitrate and other elements, but unfortunately you can't save this customization as a new personal profile.

ALO AVI MPEG WMV 3GP MP4 iPod PSP Converter features a straightforward interface and is really easy to use. It includes a video window preview, but it's meant to only show video as it's being converted, not work as a built-in player.

With ALO AVI MPEG WMV 3GP MP4 iPod PSP Converter you'll always find the right combination to convert videos from one format to another and watch them on any device.

Download ALO AVI MPEG WMV 3GP MP4 iPod PSP Converter 5.1 in Softonic

MediaCoder is a free universal audio/video batch transcoder, putting together lots of excellent audio/video codecs and tools from the open source community into an all-in-one solution, capable of transcoding among different audio/video formats with many extra features.

Download MediaCoder 0.6.1.4140 in Softonic

Portable VLC media player is the popular VLC media player packaged as a portable app, so you can take your audio and video files along with everything you need to play them on the go. It reads all types of formats like MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, XviD, WMV, DVDs, VCDs and streaming.

Download Portable VLC Media Player 0.8.6i in Softonic

The Video Converter is a powerful, universal AVI MPEG converter. Video converter can convert video file between almost all popular video formats such as converting WMV to AVI, WMV to MPEG. Xilisoft Video Converter also supports converting video file between DVD, VCD, SVCD, MOV, RM, AVI, MPEG, WMV, 3GP, etc.

You can select the video and audio codec, set the output parameters. In addition, the video converter provides a powerful way to convert video file to all popular audio file, including MP2, MP3, AC3, RA, M4A, OGG, AAC etc. all conversion processes, such as AVI to MPEG, WMV to MPEG, WMV to AVI, are very easy and fast with hight quality.

Download Xilisoft Video Converter 5.0.60.0707 in Softonic

ALO Video Converter is a small and easy to use video file converter with the following features:

• Convert AVI, MPG, WMV, ASF, MOV, QT, RM, RAM, RMVB to AVI, MPG, WMV, RM formats
• Full Drag and Drop support
• Support Add full folder
• Simple, easy-to-use and highly customizable interface
• Fast Conversion Speed
• Batch video files conversion

Download ALO Video Converter 6.0 in Softonic

With the number of portable multimedia devices constantly growing, converting tools are becoming increasingly more important for the average user.

If what you want to convert is videos, Plato Video Converter is the tool you need. This neat video converter supports the most popular video formats, including those used on mobile devices such as mobile phones, iPod, iPhone, PSP, Zune and more.

The program supports a wide range of source formats and is very easy to use. Simply load the video or videos you want to convert and tweak the conversion options to meet your needs: video size, bitrate, frame rate, aspect ratio and a lot more. The program also includes a built-in player to preview the video.

I liked the simplicity of use and the wide range of formats supported by Plato Video Converter. On the downside, the interface is a bit too dull and has no general option other that being able to set to automatically shut down the computer when the conversion is finished.

If you want to convert your favorite videos to other formats with fully customizable settings, this is the tool you need.

Download Plato Video Converter 7.76 in Softonic

My Video Converter is one of the most powerful video conversion tools you'll ever use with the ability to convert to AVI, MPEG, VCD, DVD and WMV formats. The range of this program is really impressive as it converts almost every imaginable video format such as AVI/DIVX/XVID/DIV, MPEG/MPG/DAT, WMV/ASF/ASX, RM/RMVB, MOV/QT, 3GP/3G2, MP4/M4V, and FLV.

The interface is simple but elegant with main features including adjust output video quality, adjust 4:3 or 16:9 video aspect. Whatsmore, all the latest encoders and codecs are built-in and regularly updated ensuring no errors during converting.

The conversion process consists of nothing more than selecting the video file, choosing the format and making the adjustments required i.e. type, aspect ratio, video resolution etc. The whole process is fast and easy although for some strange reason, the developers have not included a DVD, VCD or SVCD burner for your creations.

Download My Video Converter 1.2.29 in Softonic

Not a day goes by – at least for me – without having to convert media files to one format or another. If you too are in this situation, you need something like FormatFactory.

This full featured format converter enables you to convert all sorts of multimedia files (audio, video and images) between the most popular formats, including WMV, AVI, MPG, MP3, WMA, AAC, JPG, PNG, GIF and more. What's more, FormatFactory supports all the media formats used by portable devices like the PSP or the iPhone.

The program is really easy to use – that is, once you get used to its somewhat weirdly designed- interface. Don't look for any File button or menu, because there isn't any. The option to add files to the program's interface doesn't appear until you select the target format. You can select individual files or complete folders, and also tweak some basic conversion settings if you want.

Despite its slightly confusing interface, I found FormatFactory to be a really handy, efficient application, and also one of the few I know that converts everything: photos, music and video.

With FormatFactory you'll be able to convert pretty much any media file to other formats, including those used by most portable devices.

Download Format Factory 1.32 in Softonic

If your webcam software doesn't exactly impress then River Past Cam can help you get the most out of your camera.

I've lost count of the number of times that I've installed a webcam and the camera hasn't worked for various reasons or the software has just proved cumbersome and useless. Usually, such software gives you very little control over codec standards or compression formats used but Cam Do differs in that it gives you maximum control where all the other fail to. It allows you to specify everything from the file format, codec, and quality of your files, right up to where the audio is taken from. You can define which codec you want to use according to what you are going to use your webcam for - Cinepak, Ideo 4 and 5, Microsoft Video 1, Motion JPEG, DivX and XviD (the developers recommend the latter two for the best speed and quality). Alternatively, audio can be recorded from any source, including microphone, line-in, or speakers and the recording volume can be adjusted manually even during the recording. You've also got full control over the sample rate, channel used, bits per sample, and bitrate as well as control over when the camera is activated due to a scheduler.

For maximum control over your webcam and when and how it is used, Cam Do is an excellent piece of software.

Download River Past Cam Do 3.7.6 in Softonic

River Past Audio Converter is River Past's award winning audio converter and extractor. Convert from almost any audio format to WAV, MP3, WMA, or audio-only AVI. We support a variety of input formats, including the standard WAV, MP3, WMA, AIFF, RealAudio, and the not-so-standard OGG, AIFF, and Unix Audio. Extract audio from the standard AVI, ASF, WMV, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, RealMedia, and the not-so-standard QuickTime MOV and MPEG-4. If the file format exists, River Past Audio Converter probably support it.

Download River Past Audio Converter 7.7.6 in Softonic