Existing users, 
 VideoDrive - 1.7.3Import your video collection to iTunes with 1 click. |
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Feedback Summary:
| Version 1.7.3: | |||||
| Overall Rating: | Not rated (0.0) | Features: | Not rated (0.0) | Support: | Not rated (0.0) |
| Ease of Use: | Not rated (0.0) | Quality / Stability: | Not rated (0.0) | Price: | Not rated (0.0) |
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Featured Reviews
Addendum to prior review... - Version: 1.9.6.03, 4/26/2009 08:07AM PST
(1 of 1 users found this comment useful)
Obee Juan
VideoDrive's Metadata importer is second to none! 
- Version: 1.9.6.03, 4/26/2009 05:37AM PST
(1 of 1 users found this comment useful)
Obee Juan
I've been experimenting with VideoDrive among a variety of other media converters and utilities in an attempt to find what works best in managing my iTunes Library for use with my recently-purchased Apple TV. While its Import Videos function certainly serves as a very fast way to make a video compatible with Apple TV regardless of what type of video it is or codec used, I've found that the video quality pales in comparison to doing a true conversion in Handbrake using .h264. Additionally, sometimes the audio is slightly out of sync when using VideoDrive. I've also found that some videos, particularly .mkv videos in 720p, simply play much too choppily, if not outright freeze up, when using VideoDrive to make them Apple TV-compatible.
Where VideoDrive REALLY shines though is its Metadata import feature. This is second to NONE! It will automatically search the Internet Movie Database for movies or TV Shows, add tags and episode descriptions, attach the movie poster (or let you attach an image of your own choosing), and so on. You can also manually edit any field. Sometimes you may have to manually adjust the show name to its "correct" spelling (since the file name it uses automatically may not be exactly accurate) to get the results you expect. I've tried using MetaX, which is an alternative Metadata editor that is intended to work with Handbrake, and when it comes to auto-importing the data, it just doesn't work well. VideoDrive as a Metadata editor is just outstanding! It works directly with videos in iTunes and will move any bona fide "TV Shows" that are in the Movies section to the TV Shows section once correctly tagged.
In summary, while VideoDrive as a video importer leaves a lot to be desired in quality when compared to a true converter like Handbrake, it is very fast at what it does and may be sufficient for videos with lower resolutions or for people with smaller TVs (I'm reviewing using a 50" Pioneer Kuro 720p) on which the video quality differences I mentioned may be less noticeable. Additionally, its Metadata Editor is without question the best out there, easily worth the shareware fee for this functionality alone if you intend to manage a large library.
Where VideoDrive REALLY shines though is its Metadata import feature. This is second to NONE! It will automatically search the Internet Movie Database for movies or TV Shows, add tags and episode descriptions, attach the movie poster (or let you attach an image of your own choosing), and so on. You can also manually edit any field. Sometimes you may have to manually adjust the show name to its "correct" spelling (since the file name it uses automatically may not be exactly accurate) to get the results you expect. I've tried using MetaX, which is an alternative Metadata editor that is intended to work with Handbrake, and when it comes to auto-importing the data, it just doesn't work well. VideoDrive as a Metadata editor is just outstanding! It works directly with videos in iTunes and will move any bona fide "TV Shows" that are in the Movies section to the TV Shows section once correctly tagged.
In summary, while VideoDrive as a video importer leaves a lot to be desired in quality when compared to a true converter like Handbrake, it is very fast at what it does and may be sufficient for videos with lower resolutions or for people with smaller TVs (I'm reviewing using a 50" Pioneer Kuro 720p) on which the video quality differences I mentioned may be less noticeable. Additionally, its Metadata Editor is without question the best out there, easily worth the shareware fee for this functionality alone if you intend to manage a large library.
Most Recent Replies: View All 1 Replies
- Clarification: "Copy to container" vs. actual video converting...
Don't do it... - Version: 1.9.6, 4/19/2009 01:37AM PST
(1 of 1 users found this comment useful)
dotmacaus
This version does not work. Constantly asks for Turbo.264.app during loading. Aroona Software promise it will be fixed "in the next few days" with version 1.9.7.
So for the time being don't waste your time or money.....
So for the time being don't waste your time or money.....
In actual conversions of video material, VideoDrive actually doesn't do anything but pass the video to Quicktime and Quicktime does the actual conversion. What VD does do extra is allow you to set up batch conversions by monitoring a designated folder for new videos that need converting and auto-queueing them up. Very handy for mass processing!
As for the quality of the conversion.... I converted a XviD AVI file using VideoDrive and Handbrake, resulting in files sized about 500mb and 700mb respectively. The two videos were very similar in quality, the most obvious difference when directly compared was that the one acquired using VideoDrive had less color... it seemed a bit more washed out. It should be noted that Handbrake has available presets that are considered optimal for use with Apple TV... you could probably get identical results using VideoDrive by modifying Quicktime's settings for MPEG conversions (Quicktime Pro required, I do believe).
VideoDrive did fail to convert (ok.. pass to Quicktime) an mkv video, even though I can play those and convert them using Quicktime. In the case of the mkv files I've worked with though, Handbrake is easily my choice. While Quicktime technically can pass through the video in mkv files for a perfect conversion to m4v format, the 720p files I've used don't play well on the Apple TV (too choppy). Additionally, Quicktime will not pass through AC3 (Dolby Digital) sound tracks since they are not technically supported in the mp4 standard. In practice, I've found that using Handbrake's Apple TV preset along with using its own AC3 passthrough option allows me to convert to an m4v video that Apple TV can play with very minimal loss of video quality while keeping the AC3 track.
Bottom line? VideoDrive can do mass conversions a bit more easily than Handbrake can, but will require some manual tweaking of the settings in Quicktime to get comparable results to Handbrake's optimized presets. And you'll have to stick to Handbrake instead if you have an AC3 sound track and want to keep that for surround sound.