Testing

For testing purposes I used a video that I recorded with a Canon FS10 video recorder. The video I took was about an hour long and was shot in 16:9 aspect at 480p definition. I wanted to see how long it took to convert the video to different formats and how well it maintained the quality of the video through the conversion process. The file formats I tried converting to were: AVI, MP4, and WMV. While doing the conversions, I only used the profiles supplied by the program and did not change the aspect or the resolution of the output file. While the videos were converting I played around with the priority settings to see what kind of difference they would make. Surprisingly they made no difference that I could tell. The video seemed to take just as long whether the process was allowed to use all of the CPU or very little of the CPU. I don't know if that feature just did not work or if maybe it just doesn't make a difference because of the CPU I was using.

When it came to the speed of the file conversion, this software did not break any records. Converting to WMV took the longest time, which was around five hours and the shortest time went to MP4 at around two and half hours. To be fair though, I should note that the software does support multi-core processors and the machine I ran these tests on was a Pentium 4 running at 3.0 Ghz. Taking advantage of multi-core processing would no doubt speed up the conversion process. The one thing I did change for the output file was the bitrate. I chose a lower bitrate so that I could see how well the program would maintain video quality even though the output file would be considerably smaller than the original. I was not disappointed. In each instance the output file displayed little to no discernible loss in quality. So while I may not have been all that impressed with the speed of the conversion, the quality of the output file more than made up for it in my mind. I would rather have great looking results than fast results any day of the week.

Even though this review has focused mainly on AVS Video Converter 6, its real intent is to review the entire product line, because that is what you get for the money you pay. Obviously writing reviews on all 30 products in one article is not realistic and while I could have reviewed a couple programs at the same time I decided to review just one of them so that I could give greater detail and cut out the confusion multiple reviews in one article might have caused. That being said, I did take a good look at AVS Video Editor and AVS Sound Recorder to make sure some of the other products maintained the quality that I found in Video Converter. Once again I was not disappointed. Both programs showed the same attention to detail, simple design and functionality and in the case of Video Editor I can say that while it may not be on par with some of the more higher end software out there, for the beginner or casual enthusiast it's a good product.

Conclusion

The AVS4YOU software line seems like a good value. AVS Video Converter 6 is a solid, easy to use product. I don't think it's the fastest software of its kind but its ability to maintain video quality and its pick up and use interface make it a good product. Combine it with AVS Video Editor and you can justify the $59 - nevermind the other 28 programs you get as part of the deal. For anyone just getting into media editing or if you are looking for a decent set of media tools, I don't think you can go wrong here.

Chris Baxter is an IT Professional and part time Web Designer who resides in North Aurora, Illinois. Playing video games, watching movies, or reading a good book are what occupies his time when he is not fixing computers or trying to get his hands on the latest gadgets.

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