ffmpegX 0.0.9x r2 review

ffmpegX is a Mac OS X GUI to ffmpeg the "hyper fast video and audio encoder" (http://ffmpeg.

License: Demo OS: Mac OS X File size: 31383K Developer: Major Buy Now Price: $15.00 Updated: 02 Oct 2006

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ffmpegX is a Mac OS X GUI to ffmpeg the "hyper fast video and audio encoder" (http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net). It can decode MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4 (aka DIVX4/5), VOB, AVI MS-MPEG4 V3 (aka DIVX 3), WAV, Real Audio, H263(+) (aka RealVideo 1.0), PGM, YUV, PPM, AC3, PCM8/16 bits, mulaw/Alaw, SUN AU format, MPEG audio layer 2, MPEG audio layer 3, MJPEG and even more formats.

ffmpegX can operate more than 20 powerful Unix open-source video and audio processing tools.

This GUI provides quick encoding to DivX, MPG1, MP2, MP3 & AC3. You can therefore convert DVD video to DivX, DivX to VCD or XVCD, and DVD to VCD or XVCD. Includes a bitrate calculator and an mpeg splitter for multiple CD output

When encoding to MPEG-1 it can author it as XVCD (.bin/.cue files for burning with Cdrdao, or with Toast by dropping the .bin into VCD window) or XSVCD (two .img files to be burned in Toast under Multitrack XA window)

Here are some key features of "ffmpegX":
As simple as 1.2.3 : Drop a file, choose a destination format, and click "Encode".
Reads the following input formats: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DIVX 3, DIVX 4, DIVX 5, XviD, non-encrypted VOB and VIDEO_TS, Quicktime .MOV, .DV, .WAV, Real Audio, Real Video, H.263, H.264, PGM, YUV, PPM, AC3, PCM8/16 bits, mulaw/Alaw, WMA-1/2, SUN AU format, MP2, MP3, AAC, 3GP, TiVo and even more formats
Converts the above formats to DivX, XviD, H.264, MOV, DV, 3GP, MP4, Sony PSP, MP2, MP3, AAC, AC3, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, VCD, CVD, SVCD, KVCD, KSVCD, DVD, KDVD and MPEG-TS with complete control over encoding options.
Super-fast. Many conversions are faster than realtime. DIVX encoding on a G5 dual is twice as faster as realtime.
Queue encodings in the ffmpegX Progress window.
Includes a full-featured universal video player (mplayer) supporting VOB and text subtitles, with choice of fonts, font sizes and international text encodings including Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Greek and more.
Supports subtitles in VobSub, SubRip, MicroDVD, SubViewer, Sami, VPlayer, RT, SSA, AQTitle, JACOsub and MPsubt formats
Allows creation of DVD selectable subtitles
Includes a subtitle converter with OCR from VOB image format to SRT text format.
Includes a bitrate calculator to control best image quality and target filesize.
Includes an automatic crop tool.
Includes a series of video tools like split, join, fix, mux, demux.
Compresses a DVD to 4GB without reencoding it.
Reauthors SVCD as DVD.
Creates DVD image files from VIDEO_TS folders.
Converts SRT subtitles to DVD Studio Pro 1.5 format.
Creates AVI or MPG files with two audio tracks.
Authors as VCD or K/XVCD (.bin/.cue files for burning with Toast by dropping the .bin into VCD window).
Authors as SVCD, CVD or K/XSVCD (two .img files to be burned in Toast under Multitrack XA window).
Authors as DVD (/DVD/ folder for burning in Toast DVD mode, and .img file for burning in Disk Image app or Toast disk image mode).

What's New:
"iPod H.264 640x480" preset now support synching on iTunes for Windows.

Requirements:
To install ffmpegX, follow the installation instructions (http://ffmpegX.com/download.html)
To playback DivX, use codecs from www.3ivx.com or www.divx.com
To playback mpeg-2, use VLC, mplayer or the Apple QT MPEG-2 playback component
To playback MP4 H264, use QT 7
To comply with applicable laws and licensing terms, the mpeg2enc, mplayer and mencoder components must be downloaded and installed separately by using the installer application which comes with ffmpegX. To comply with copyright laws, ffmpegX doesn't allow to select a DVD device as input and doesn't contain any DVD decryption software.