Using Any Video Converter

Portfolio Writing Sample By Charles Veitch http://www.charlesveitch.info

Liability
Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of AnvSoft, Inc. The software described in this document is furnished under either a license agreement or a non-disclosure agreement, but not otherwise. AnvSoft, Inc. makes no warranty of any kind with regard to the material contained herein, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.

Copyright
No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, for any purpose without the express permission of AnvSoft, Inc. Copyright AnvSoft, Inc.

Waiver
This manual describes the steps to convert videos for mobile devices from different hardware manufacturers. Describing the steps to transfer files to your mobile device or to burn files to a DVD for television playback is beyond the scope of this user guide. Refer to the manual provided with your device for help. This evaluation software has been provided free of charge and contains open source software released under the GNU General Public License. The steps in this guide are described assuming you are using a Windows based computer.

Document History
Document Version Number 3 Document Release Date Document Status

Oct 13, 2008 Written by Charles Veitch (student sample).

What is Video Conversion Software?

Video conversion software is a utility that converts videos from one format to another. Conversion enables videos to be played on different devices like a mobile phone or a portable game player. Computers are capable of playing many different types of media. Windows computers can play certain types of music or movie files because Microsoft designed their operating system to handle those formats. An example of a Windows format is Windows Media whose files end in the extension .wmv. Apple has designed its own media format and those files end in .mov. Mobile media players like the Microsoft Zune and the Apple iPod are designed with a default format. Compatibility between competing systems is a reason you might want to convert videos from their original format to some other format. Sometimes conversion is done to accommodate a smaller or larger screen size. Screen resolution, also known as screen size, is measured in pixels. The Sony PSP has a screen size of 368 x 208 pixels while the Zunes screen measures 320 x 240 pixels. In order to play a video produced to fit the Sony PSP on a Zune, the video has to be converted. The software takes a file, analyses the information, and then creates a new file, leaving the original intact. Video conversion allows portability between media players and provides freedom of format choice.

What does Any Video Converter do?

Any Video Converter is software that converts todays most popular media formats. Any Video Converter converts videos for you and makes a new file that can then be played by the mobile player of your choice. The software supports formats for mobile phones, game players, and smart phones. It supports higher quality closed source formats with codecs from DivX, Xvid, Real Media, Microsoft and Apple, as well as the open source Ogg Vorbis format. The basic function of Any Video Converter is computing process called Encoding. Encoding requires an input file and once performed, a file is output. This software is fast and provides a high quality output. Any Video Converter takes a file and encodes it. Encoding is a process the computer performs in the background. Your original file stays the same while the software creates a new file. Besides converting videos, Any Video Converter has features for simple tasks, but also has video editing features usually found in more expensive technical suites. You are encouraged to use this evaluation software which introduces you to the world of digital video converting. When you discover the way Any Video Converter meets your video needs, consider purchasing the professional version which unlocks the software.

What conventions are used?

This document uses the following typographic conventions.

Convention
Bold

Meaning
Text you must type exactly as written is in boldface type. The statement Type text means that you type the word text and press the return key. Boldface text is also used to emphasize words in paragraphs.

File->Open

Specifies the menu and command for an action. It means: From the File menu, choose the Open command. This convention is used to reduce the number of words in online help information instructions. The names of keys on the keyboard described in the text, menus, and commands are shown in bold letters. Specifies keys that you press simultaneously and are shown in bold letters. For example, while holding down the control(ctrl) key, press the lowercase letter c to copy or ctrl+v to paste. Data in a file is shown in a different font, such as

Return or Enter ctrl+c ctrl+v /user/wrap.txt

Ariel Bold.

References
The following documents were used to develop this document: Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, Third Edition, ISBN 1-57231-890-2, Microsoft Press, 336 pages, 2004. Microsoft Word Users Guide Microsoft Press.

Getting Started
Identifying the parts of the user interface
This section describes the parts of the screen, the working screen and how the software uses profiles. To use the Any Video Converter software, you need to know about two windows: > The Getting Started screen > The Main working screen

The Getting Started Screen

The first screen, the Getting Started screen, appears every time you open the program.

Figure 1. Any Video Converter Getting Started Screenshot.

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On the Getting Started screen, you can see the three steps indicating how to use the software. This basic instruction indicates the three main concepts of using Any Video Converter: 1. Click Add video to add video clips 2. Click Profile to choose profile 3. Click Encode to start ripping The three main tasks appear in the Any Video Converter interface are shortcuts as follows: Add Video, Profile and Encode. The Add Video is a shortcut to the Adding Video Clips feature to your project. The Profile shortcut includes a pull down menu containing options. Encode is the process that the software performs in the background.

The Main Working screen

The other screen elements are as follows: the Main Working Screen containing the Media Manager, Profiles and the YouTube logo. The Main Working Screen contains the following columns of information: Name | Duration | Format | Video Size | FPS | Status. The Media Manager is a file browser. When the software is first run, the Media Manager is open. It displays the Source Files, the Converted files and the Downloaded files. The Media Manager can be closed by clicking the X in the blue task bar below the Encode shortcut. When the Media Manager is closed, click the right arrow to open. Name is the filename. Duration is the length of the video in minutes and seconds. Format is the type of video file such as Windows Media Video (wmv) or Flash Video (flv). Video Size is the video resolution in pixels. FPS stands for Frames Per Second and is the rate at which the video was recorded. A Profile is set of rules the software uses to associate a video player with screen size and file format. They have been built into the software to make the encoding process easier. Profiles match the codecs the hardware needs with the maximum screen size of the mobile device. For a full list of codecs supported, see the Appendix at the end of this guide. The YouTube logo is a shortcut to the Import Video From the Internet feature of Any Video Converter.

The next section will show the details of using Any Video Converter to convert videos from one format to another.

Converting videos
This section shows how to convert videos to play on a mobile phone and to get them ready for playing them in a DVD player. Converting videos from one format to another is simplified with the powerful Profile feature found in Any Video Converter. The steps that follow assume you have a file to convert, you have downloaded and installed the software and have opened the program.

Converting a video to play on a mobile phone

If you want to play a Windows Media movie on your phone, you must convert the original to a format that can be played on your phone. To convert a video from one format to another, perform the following steps:

To Convert a video to play on a mobile phone:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. In the Any Video Converter main screen, choose File->Add Video Files. A file browser window is displayed. From the files on your computer, browse to file to be converted (for example c:\myvideos\skateboard.wmv). Select the file and click Open. The file is displayed in the main screen and is selected. Click the Profile menu and choose the best option for your mobile device (for example, if you have a 3GP phone, chose Profile Mobile Phone 3GP Movie.) Click Encode. To Continue to Evaluate, click OK. The video is encoded.

Tip: Once started, if you had a reason, encoding can be stopped by clicking
the Stop shortcut before proceeding. restarted.

Warning: If too large a process was stopped, the program may need to be
6. To view the location of the new file, click Open Output Folder. The first time you convert a video, the software places the new file in the appropriate folder. The converted video is placed in the Mobile Phone 3GP folder in the Media Manager.

Viewing all Profiles

To Browse all available profiles, choose the Profile menu and scroll.

Tip: To preview any file within Any video Converter, press the play button on the
preview sidebar.

Convert a video for DVD playback

You can use Any Video Converter to convert files to the format used by DVD players in North America (NTSC) or Europe (PAL). The following steps assume you have produced an uncompressed AVI file which is a common format created by video capture software. To convert a video for burning to a DVD and television playback, perform the following steps.

To Convert a video for DVD burning:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. In the Any Video Converter main screen, choose File->Add Video Files. A file browser window is displayed. From the files on your computer, browse to the file to be convert (for example c:\myvideos\family.avi). Select the file and click Open. The file is displayed in the main screen and is selected. Click the Profile menu and choose the best option for your DVD format. For North American playback, chose Profile DVD Video NTSC Movie.) Click Encode. To Continue to Evaluate, choose OK. The video is encoded. To view the file, click Open Output Folder.

The following section shows how to convert a video project that contains more than one video.

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Batch Encoding Videos

Any video converter has the ability to link multiple videos into a single video. It can even do it with files of a different type. If you have collected several videos on your computer and would like to create one a single video, Any Video Converter uses a process called Batch Encoding where the batch is a folder on your computer where multiple videos have been collected. To encode multiple videos into one file, perform the following steps.

To convert more than one video:

1. 2. In the Any Video Converter main screen, choose File->Batch Add Video Files. A file browser window is displayed. From the files on your computer, check the folders containing the video clips to be converted (for example c:\myvideos\vacation2007\). The Folder is selected and is displayed on the main screen. Chose the Profile menu for the format which best suits your needs. Click Encode. To Continue to Evaluate, choose OK. The video is encoded. To view the file, click Open Output Folder.

3. 4. 5.

The following section describes the way to customized video conversions by choosing the options not provided in the Profile menu.

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Customizing videos
This section describes how to customize your videos. Customization allows you to convert videos with options not found in the pre-compiled Profile menu. To customize videos, perform the following steps.

To convert a video with custom options:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. In the Any Video Converter main screen, choose File-> Add Video Files. A file browser window is displayed. From the files on your computer, choose the file to be converted. On the Profile menu, choose your Customized format. Click Video Options on the Preview Sidebar. The options appear. Click to choose your custom Video and Audio Options including Video Bitrate, Video Framerate, Audio Codec, Audio Bitrate and Audio Framerate. Click Encode. The video is encoded. To view file, click Open Output Folder.

The following section describes the steps to download a video from YouTube or Google Video.

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Downloading videos from YouTube

This section describes the process of downloading the videos in YouTubes native Flash format. The download feature in Any Video Converter uses the website address or URL, Uniform Resource Locator. For example, the URL for Any Video Converter is http://www.any-video-converter.com, however a YouTube or Google video has an address like the following example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X564IF-xjw Assuming you know how to highlight the address, copy and paste, perform the following steps to download a video from the Internet.

To download a video from YouTube or Google:

1. 2. Go to http://www.youtube.com and search for a video you want to download to your computer. Copy the URL address in your browsers web site address bar. With the entire address highlighted, press CTRL+C or select from the Edit menu Copy. This places the address in your computers cache. Choose File->Import Video from the Internet dialog box opens. A dialog box is displayed and the cursor is blinking. To place the address into the box, where the cursor is blinking press CTRL+V on your keyboard . The address is pasted. Click OK. The video is Ready for Download and appears in red letters in the main screen. With the box selected, double-click the name of the file to download. The video downloads and the time depends on your connection speed and the original file size on the YouTube server. To view the file, click Open Output Folder.

3. 4. 5. 6.

7.

order to play them on your device, the Flash file must be converted into the format of your device because mobile devices do not have the ability to play Flash content. The following section describes how to use Any Video Converter to edit video clips.

Note: Any Video Converter downloads videos from YouTube in Flash format. In

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Editing videos
You might want to cut a small section from the source file before you encode it. By editing video clips in Any Video Converter, you cut only the project you are working on. You do not cut the original clip. To edit clips from the beginning or the end, perform one of the following steps.

To Edit clips from the beginning:

1. 2. 3. 4. In the Any Video Converter main screen, choose File->Add Video Files. A file browser window is displayed. From the files on your computer, choose the file to be converted. The file is selected and is displayed. To read the file details, single-click the file name. The file is selected and the details are displayed (for example, see Start Time below Output Duration. Enter the new start time in seconds or minutes. 00:00:10 5. 6. Choose a Profile. Click Encode. The new file is cut from the beginning.

To Edit clips from the end:

1. 2. 3. 4. In the Any Video Converter main screen, choose File->Add Video Files. A file browser window is displayed. From the files on your computer, choose the file to be converted. The file is selected and is displayed. To read the file details, Single-click the file name. The file is selected and the details are displayed (for example, see Stop Time below Output Duration. Enter the new stop time in seconds or minutes. 00:00:22 5. 6. Select your preferred Profile. Click Encode. The new file is cut from the end.

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The following troubleshooting section provides a few hints to troubleshoot when a conversion isnt quite right. Sometimes a video encoding process goes wrong or a file is corrupt.

Troubleshooting
Sometimes a video conversion will go wrong. This is sometimes the result of a problem with the video codec. Perhaps a file is corrupt or there is a problem with the codec. A video codec, short for coder/ decoder, is a technology used for compression. Most of the files we use to look at video or listen to audio contain some kind of compression. These formats use codecs that match hardware to software. Sometimes the software detects an error during the encoding process and a video has been converted without sound. Or you may have a video with sound but no images. Try converting your file with a custom codec. For example, look at the file properties to determine the codec currently used. Try a different codec.

With your file to convert selected, click Video Options and choose a Video Codec. Click Encode.

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List of codecs and format sizes

Format
Apple iPod Mpeg-4 Apple iPhone Mpeg-4 Sony PSP mpeg-4 Sony PS3 mpeg AVC DVD NTSC (North America) DVD Pal (Europe) MS Zune .wmv MS Zune .mp4 MPEG-1 MPEG-2 Flash video mobile phone 3GP (3gp) mobile phone 3GPP2 (3g2) mobile phone mpeg4 Nokia N series AVI WMV MP3 audio OGG audio Wave audio

Codec
Xvid x264 mpeg-4 x264 mpeg2video mpeg2video wmvV8 mpeg4 mpeg1video mpeg2video flv h263 h263 mpeg4 mp4 xvid wmvV9 mp3 ogg pcm

Size
320 x 240 480 x 320 368 x 208 480 x 272 720 x 480 720 x 576 320 x 240 320 x 240 352 x 240 352 x 240 220 x 176 176 x 144 176 x 144 176 x 144 320 x 176 160 x112 - 720 x 576 160 x112 - 720 x 576 No size, audio only. No size, audio only. No options. No compression.