Convert VRO to AVI with AVS Video Converter - Free Trial
by
Brett Bumeter
So here’s a little tale about impulse buying and getting things right later on with a simple software program.
Several months ago, I purchased a video camera. It was something I needed for my business, but budget constraints were tight at the time and I purchased a video camera that had a few less capabilities than I really needed. It was a Panasonic 210 with a mini dvd recorder.
It works great in a lot of ways, but lacks a couple things:
- It does not record to a hard drive
- It does not have a USB cable to connect to my computer
If you have lots of experience with video cameras, you are probably saying to yourself, “Rookie Mistake” or “Poor Schmuck just wasted a few hundred dollars.”
Thanks for your sympathy.
Now, in my ignorance, I thought I could simply take the mini-DVD out of the camera, put it in my computer and start editing things in MovieMaker or WinDVD or something.
Unfortunately, that’s not possible.
However, I did find a simple program that makes everything as easy as I had hoped it would be when I bought the camera.
The program is called AVS Video Converter
EDIT 10-6-08 This is still available for a free trial download, if you later decide to buy, it is now sold as a bundled subscription for about the same price as it used to cost for a single program. Its a better deal now than it was when I first wrote this article, but it has changed a bit in the way it is offered and sold. 10 months later, I still use this video converter program for many many activities every week, almost daily.
Here’s the updated link free trial here).
How Does it Work?
I can simply remove a mini-dvd from my camera (either a DVD-RAM or a DVD-R or a DVD-RW, and pop it into my computer.
The converter can then view the VRO or the associate IFO directory and convert the VRO file into a large number of file formats.
VRO, MPG, VOB, AVI, MP4, WMV, MPEG, DVD, RM, 3GP, MOV, 3G2, QT, SWF, DV AVI, DivX, XviD, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, DAT, VCD, SVCD, RMVB, ASF, MJPEG, H.263, DVR-MS, H.264
And maybe a few more.
So now I can drop it into MovieMaker and novice my way to a video with very little time spent!
What’s Next
Now that I have all the tools that I was looking for I can finally move move into the production mode. I’ve learned over the years that the best way to learn how to do something is to practice a bit and DO a lot more. Having my videos locked up on a DVD mini disc where I couldn’t get at it almost made my camera worthless. I would have been almost as good filming myself in front of my bathroom vanities and throwing the discs out afterwards for all the good it was doing me, but not I’ve got the ability to produce the film and edit the hell out of it (I have quite a bit of experience with MovieMaker and hope to graduate to some better tools in editing soon.)
