If you have done the Repair and your problem persists, please make sure that you are using the latest version.

It is important to enter your name (Registration Name) exactly as you did it at purchase, because "John Doe" and "John A. Doe" or "JOHN DOE" are not the same thing.

The simplest way is to copy the Registration name and the Serial number from your registration letter and to paste them to the appropriate boxes of the registration window. This is ESPECIALLY important if you have Unicode characters in your name.

To do this:

• 1. highlight your registration name in your registration letter, received from us and right-click it;
• 2. select "Copy" in the right-click menu;
• 3. move the cursor to the appropriate box in the registration window of the AVS Video Tools;
• 4. right-click the the box and select "Paste" from the menu. Do the same with the serial number.

Some tips to remember:

• 1. Make sure that there is no space before and after the registration name and serial number.
• 2. Make sure that you are not mistaking the letter "O" for the figure "0" (zero).

Internet connection is necessary to complete the registration. Make sure your computer has access to Internet, otherwise you won't be able to register the software!

You might also need to disable your antivirus or firewall or make sure that the AVS Video Tools program is allowed to access internet.

If you have installed our trial version, you do not need to download anything else. To register the software you have to click the ABOUT button on the main toolbar (the first window you see when you start your downloaded trial version). You will see a registration box. Please enter the unlock key which you have received from us.

Important note: Internet connection is obligatory for the software registration!

AVS Video Tools is not sold in boxed version.

The ad banner is only in the trial version. If you purchase the program, there will be no text or other messages in your movies.

If you want to reinstall the program, please uninstall the previous version first. To do that go to windows Start menu, select All Programs -> AVS Media -> AVS Video Tools (or AVS Video Converter) -> Uninstall AVS Video Tools (Uninstall AVS Video Converter).

Important note: Internet connection is obligatory for the software registration!

Internet connection is necessary to contact our server and complete the registration process. AVS Video Tools use Internet connection only once when you register them.

Upgrade to AVS Video Tools 5.1 for the registered users of AVS Video Converter 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 is provided free of charge. You will only need to confirm your previous registration after you install and run the program for the first time.

Upgrade to AVS Video Tools from the earlier versions of AVS Video Converter is provided at additional charge.

Important note: Internet connection is obligatory for the software registration!

There is not need to convert wmv to asf. Windows Media Server supports wmv files perfectly. WMV is a more advanced format than ASF, we may say that ASF is a previous version of WMV.

You can rotate an entire media file with the Rotation effect.

You can easily find out if your registration is complete or not.

First, if you have an unregistered version installed at your computer, the title of the AVS Video Converter main window says AVS Video Converter - Unregistered .

In About menu there are Help and E-mail us... buttons in registered version instead of Registration... and Buy now... buttons in the trial version.

And finally there is no watermark banner in the middle of the screen of output files.

Please, note!! If you are upgrading from versions 3.1 or earlier to versions 3.2 and later, you need a NEW registration key. Upgrade to version 5.1 is provided at additional charge.

Upgrade to AVS Video Tools 5.1 for the registered users of AVS Video Converter 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 is provided free of charge. You will only need to confirm your previous registration after you install and run the program for the first time.

Upgrade to AVS Video Tools from the earlier versions of AVS Video Converter is provided at additional charge. Please click HERE to learn more about upgrade options.

 Please click HERE to learn more about upgrade options.

AVS Video Converter supports decoding of Windows Media 9 into other formats, moreover we are watching for the new releases of Microsoft and include support for them in our program. WM Profile list box includes all profiles related to WMV series 9 format except ones named Windows Media 8.

A video or audio Codec (COmpression/DECompression) is a software component allowing to encode data to be stored on a media (CD, DVD, etc...) and/ to decode it to be visualized or heard. There are also so-called "hard" codecs usually embedded to camcorders or digital video players or professional and semi-professional video cards for video editing and composing.

Basically AVS Video Converter works with all of the video codecs installed at your computer. Here is the description of the most common ones:

"XviD MPEG-4 Video Codec" http://www.xvid.org/

XviD is an MPEG4 video codec which is being developed under the open source model, much like the LAME MP3 encoder. It's based upon the efforts made in the Open Source project "OpenDivX" by DivX Networks, which shut it down and closed the source with all the ideas and work spent by many coders from the net. Since the start-over, XviD is developing very fast and is evolving into a very high quality codec.

"DivX 5.0.5 Codec" http://www.divx.com/

DivX was originally a hack of the Microsoft MPEG4v3 codec, but has since become a completely separate codec. It is available in both free and purchased versions.

DivX is the most common codec used in the groups, although you will find several versions of the DivX codec that are all used.

The most common versions are 3.11, 4.0n, and 5.0. Officially, installing the most recent version of the codec will allow playing older versions, however, there have been complaints of lowered quality and compatibility when playing files created with the older codecs. Version 3.11 can be installed separately of later versions without much hassle. Getting versions 4 and 5 to coexist on a single computer is very difficult.

"MS MPEG-4 v1,2,3 driver 4.1.0.3927"

These three codecs were the first MPEG4 codecs used. Because better codecs that are also freely available are now present, these codecs should no longer be used for new encodes. It is, however, still necessary to install some or all of these codecs depending on your operating system to support older encodes.

AVI

is short for "Audio Video Interleave", the original Microsoft file format for Microsoft's Video for Windows standard. It is an audio video standard designed by Microsoft and is apparently proprietary and Microsoft Windows specific. It is a format developed for storing video and audio information. Files in this format have an .AVI extension. However, Video for Windows does not require any special hardware, making it the lowest common denominator for multimedia applications.

MPEG

Gives excellent compression with little loss in quality of the video. MPEG support three types of data - video, audio and streaming. There are a number of standards: among them there are two flavors of MPEG available today. MPEG-1 was designed to provide VHS video quality and CD audio quality at a combined data rate of 150 kilobytes per second. MPEG-1 is displayed at 30 frames per second in a frame that is 352x240 (horizontal x vertical) pixels in size. This allows relatively high quality video images to be stored in relatively small file sizes for playback across computer networks or CD-ROM delivery. MPEG-2 is the other side of the compression coin. It is a broadcast standard specifying a playback size of 720 x 480 pixels at 60 fields per second. Data rates can range from 2 to 10 megabits per second. This means large file sizes and data rates that require specialized hardware for playback. MPEG-2 is one of the core compression technologies for DVD.

WMV

This is Microsoft's new standard for audio and video which is closely tied with the Windows Operating System. The player is able to play Windows Media Video (.wmv) and Advanced Streaming Format (.asf) files, and also other formats such as QuickTime, AVI, MPEG and MP3.

RM

RealMedia provides one of the oldest and most widespread (85% of all web-accessing computers have RealPlayer installed) Web delivery formats. The RealMedia files (.rm) can be viewed using RealPlayer 3 and above.

VOB

DVD video movie file. DVD is the new generation of optical disc storage technology. DVD is essentially a bigger, faster CD that can hold cinema-like video, better-than-CD audio, still photos, and computer data. DVD aims to encompass home entertainment, computers, and business information with a single digital format. It has replaced laserdisc, is well on the way to replacing videotape and video game cartridges, and could eventually replace audio CD and CD-ROM. DVD has widespread support from all major electronics companies, all major computer hardware companies, and all major movie and music studios.

MOV

MOV is a file extension for QuickTime Video Clip. QuickTime is a video and animation system developed by Apple Computer. QuickTime is built into the Macintosh operating system and is used by most Mac applications that include video or animation. PCs can also run files in QuickTime format, but they require a special QuickTime driver. QuickTime supports most encoding formats, including Cinepak, JPEG, and MPEG. QuickTime is competing with a number of other standards, including AVI and ActiveMovie.

MPEG-4

ISO/IEC open standard for video encoding developed by MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group). It is characterized by a small output video file size and quite good picture quality even when a relatively low bit rate is used. The most known resulting output when you use MPEG-4 format for compression is the AVI file type which is commonly used in home video. It is coded with XviD, DivX, 3ivx, Nero Digital and other video codecs.

Bit rate very often used when speaking of video or audio quality and file size - defines how much physical space one second of audio or video takes in bits (note: not in bytes). The higher the bit rate, the more times per second the original sound is sampled, thus yielding a more faithful reproduction and better sound. When choosing an MP3, weigh the advantage of a higher bit rate against the size of the file. Generally speaking, a bit rate of 128 kbps or higher will provide satisfactory sound quality.

The same is with the video picture: the higher the bit rate, the better the picture quality although the output video file size also gets larger. If it is possible to save the output file onto a storage with a large capacity the use of higher video bit rates can be recommended.

Selecting the proper audio and video bit rate for your projects depends on the playback target: if you're making a VCD for playback on a DVD player, the video must be exactly 1150 Kbps and the audio 224 Kbps.

Selecting the proper bit rate for your projects depends on the playback target.

In basic terms, a video can be thought of as being made up of numerous snapshots, called frames. Frame Rate defines how many pictures e.g.. frames one second of video or audio contains, normally used acronym for framerate is fps - frames per second. Human eye can't see picture changes after the framerate is more than ~24fps.

Video files with higher frame rates show motion better but have larger file sizes. Typical frame rates are 29.97 for  NTSC video (in American TV system), 25 for PAL (European system) video, and 24 for film. When exporting low-bandwidth versions, select a frame rate that is 1/2, 1/3, or 1/4 of the original frame rate. Setting a frame rate higher than the original frame rate will make the file larger but will not improve the quality.

Note that MPEG format only supports 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30 frame rates.

Windows Media Player requires installation of special plug-ins to be able to play DVDs. You can download them from the official Microsoft site.

My computer DVD player handles my newly converted DVD files, but my home DVD player won't take them! How do I go about it?

We do not guarantee that our software supports all home DVD players. That's why we strongly recommend that you test DVD's created with the help of AVS Video Converter on your home DVD-players before purchase.

Also, make sure that your DVD-disc is compatible with your DVD drive and DVD player (check that your drive and player accept DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, depending on your disc).

When I capture video, there seems to be a file size limitation of 4 GB per file. How can I change this?

Certain file systems have file size limitation. If your HDD is formatted using FAT32 system, you cannot create files larger than 4 GB on it. If your files are splitted into 4 GB files when you capture, and you are sure that you haven't set this split, it means that your HDD is using FAT32 file system. Normally, Windows XP and 2000 offer to format your HDD using NTFS, but you can also select FAT32, when you install the OS. The only way out of this situation is reformat your HDD using a more up-to-date NTFS file system, or capture video to a HDD which is already using this file system.

I have recorded a DVD, but on my home hardware DVD player it only plays in black and white. Why is it so and what can be done?

The television standards differ in different countries. That's why it is possible, that either your hardware DVD player or your television set support only one of the standards. For instance, you recorded your DVD disc in PAL standard (using DVD PAL preset), but your hardware player is only NTSC compatible (which is quite common for North America). So you should pay attention to what standard you choose, when you select the preset for creating DVD, VCD or SVCD video discs. If you do not know what standard is supported by the television sets and DVD players in your country, see the table below:

Countries with TV broadcast in SECAM standard (Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia (Kampuchea), Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (Democratic Republic), Congo (People's Republic), Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Georgia, Guadeloupe, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, New Caledonia, Niger, Reunion, Russia, Rwanda, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Tahiti, Tajikistan, Togo, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Wallis and Futuna) use DVD players with PAL support.

1. How to convert video files from one format to another using AVS Video Converter?

   AVS Video Converter enables you to convert your videos to various formats quite easily in only a few steps:

   • Step 1: Select a file that you would like to convert by clicking the Browse... button near the Input File Name field. Select a format you would like your result file to have clicking the one of the buttons in the upper menu. E.g. - if you would like to convert your file to AVI format - select To AVI and so on.
   • Step 2: Determine your output file location and name by clicking the Browse... button next to the Output File Name field. Please not, that you CANNOT change output file name and path in the main window directly, but only through MS Windows Explorer windows that are opened when you click Browse...

   Step 3: Press Convert Now! button and wait for the process to be over.

2. How to select input file or files?

   You can select a file which you would like to convert clicking the Browse... button next to the Input File Name field. In an opened Windows Explorer window select a needed file.

   You can also select multiple files. To add and delete files from the list, use plus and minus ( + and - ) buttons. Please note, that if you use Browse..., your input file will simply be replaced, and no files will be added. But afterwards you will need to specify if you would like to convert them simultaneously to separate files (using Batch Mode processing) or convert them all into one single file (which is set upon default).

3. How to change output file name and location?

   You cannot change output file name and location through the main window interface directly. This was done to eliminate the number of error, which may occur if you enter a wrong path. When you click the Browse... button, a Windows Explorer window opens. Using this window, you can select a location for the output file and change the default name in the File Name field.

4. How to remove Interlacing Artifacts?

   INTERLACING ARTIFACT

   In basic terms, a video can be thought of as being made up of numerous snapshots, called frames. The frame rate, or the number of frames displayed each second, is 29.97 in the United States and other NTSC based countries. For the sake of simplicity, we can round this number to 30 frames per second (fps). In many European countries, they use a PAL or SECAM video system that displays exactly 25 fps.

   A television, however, does not deal with video in terms of frames. Instead, it displays a video using half-frames, called fields. Each frame contains exactly two fields. One field is made up of the odd horizontal lines in a frame. This is called the odd field or the top field since it contains the top line of the image. The other field is made up of the even horizontal lines in a frame. This is called the even field or bottom field. Here is an illustration:

   COMPLETE FRAME		ODD FIELD		EVEN FIELD

   Since there are two fields in every frame, a television actually updates the display at 60 fields per second (or 50 fields per second for PAL/SECAM video). Each field is displayed 1/60^th of a second after the preceding field (or 1/50^th of a second for PAL/SECAM video).

   However, when watching video on a television (interlaced display), the split isn't noticeable by human eyes. This is because, among other things, a television doesn't produce as crisp an image as does a computer monitor. Therefore, in only one of the four setups will the split be noticeable: interlaced video on a progressive display (monitor). This split in the image across fields due to motion is what is known as an interlacing artifact.

   REMOVING INTERLACING ARTIFACT

   AVS Video Converter allows you to remove interlacing artifact using deinterlacing filter. You can use remove interlacing artifact by removing one field of a video (the Even or Odd lines) and then Interpolate or duplicate them.

   How to apply:

   • Step 1: Open input file clicking the Browse... button
   • Step 2: Choose the output format and click the Edit button
   • Step 3: To apply the deinterlacing effect choose Add->Effect->Deinterlace in the Effects area
   • Step 4: Check Even and/or Interpolate check-boxes, if needed
   • Step 5: Press Start Preview.

   Note: There is no need to apply this filter for high quality non-interlaced video.

To delete parts of your input file:

• Step 1: Choose the area you want to delete by clicking the left mouse button and dragging the slider along the navigation line. The selected area will be highlighted
  

  

  
  
• Step 2: click the Add Area of Deleting button and close the Edit window to return to main menu
• Step 3: Set parameters of profile if applicable
• Step 4: Press Convert Now! to start conversion.

You can uninstall any video codec without removing AVS Video Converter:

• Step 1: Go to your Control panel -> Sounds and Multimedia
• Step 2: Click the Hardware tab, then select Video Codecs from the Devices list
• Step 3: Click the Properties button, after that click the Properties tab
• Step 4: Select the video codec you want to uninstall and click Remove.

You can easily export frames from your input files and save them to your hard drive as JPEG, PNG, BMP, WMF or EMF:

• Step 1: Enter your input video file
• Step 2: Click the Edit button. The Edit Input File(s) window will appear
• Step 3: Set the cursor to a frame you want export (use Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys to navigate along the file by frames and Ctrl + Left Arrow and Ctrl + Right Arrow to navigate along the file by 10 frames)
• Step 4: click the Export Frame button, select the output file format in Save as window and click Save.

Windows related question. You should find Send To folder in your Documents and Setting. You can edit you right click context menu removing or adding components to this folder. Notice that Send To folder has Hidden attribute, so make sure that you've set Show hidden files and folders option in Control Panel -> Folder Options ->View.

There are a lot of ASF files that are not indexed. Basically it means that these files were intended for streaming only and it's not supposed to use them for editing or seeking. AVS Video Converter can read and convert some of ASF-files. So far as it's a kind of old format we don't have a special support for them. In case you need to edit not indexed file, you should:

• Step 1: Convert your input fie to some other supported format without applying any effects
• Step 2: After conversion the file becomes indexed one and you will be able to add different effects, edit it, etc.

The Text effect allow you to include any message to your video. How to apply:

• Step 1: Open input file clicking the Browse... button
• Step 2: Choose the output format and click the Edit button
• Step 3: To add the text effect choose Add->Draw->Text in the Effects area
• Step 4: Select the text properties following the menu
• Step 5: Type in the text you want to appear in your movie
• Step 6: Set fade-in and fade-out area
• Step 7: Press Start Preview.

The Rotate effect allows you to revolve your video. How to apply:

• Step 1: Open input file clicking the Browse... button
• Step 2: Choose the output format and click the Edit button
• Step 3: To apply the Rotate effect choose Add->Transform->Rotate in the Effects area
• Step 4: Select the rotation angle following the menu
• Step 5: Set fade-in and fade-out area
• Step 6: Press Start Preview.

You can not only convert files using our program, but also apply a variety of effects, delete parts of files, add text lines and so on. To apply effects to a file, which you want to convert, click Edit button in the menu in the upper part of the main window.

The window is divided into 4 main parts. On the right - the upper part shows TimeLine of your video file where all applied effects, adjustments, and changes are reflected. There you can change Fade In and Fade Out settings. Below you can preview your file (without audio) and check how the applied changes will look in the output file, or play the input file. For these purposes click Start Play or Start Preview buttons respectively.

In the Effects field you can apply various changes and adjustments to your video file. Click the Add button and select the needed effect, transformation or adjustment. You can read more about what each of the changes on the list does to your video in our Help File .

Please note, that the effects will only be applied during the process of conversion. If you would like to leave the same file format - simply select this format for your output file.

You can merge several files in one with the help of AVS Video Converter .

To select the list of files which you would like to merge, click "+" button and select files in the Windows Explorer window. Use "-" buttons to delete files from the list. After you have selected input files, set the output file name and location. Choose the necessary format and start converting. Please make sure, that Split option is disabled.

To learn the type of your input file and some of its technical specifications, such as bitrate, frame rate, video and audio compression codecs and other click the << Advanced button twice. In the opened window you will be able to check both your input and our output file formats and technical specifications.

Select input file, set output file parameters, then go to Edit profile. and select No audio in Audio Bitrate box. Close Profile Editor and convert the file.

Select the converted file with left-clicking it, then click it with the right button. Select Send To > AVS Disc Creator in the menu appearing. Then follow the instruction of AVS Disc Creator. WARNING! We recommend to reconvert the file and to wait for the Disc Creator to launch automatically as only in this case we guarantee that the disc you write will be compatible with your DVD player.

Open AVS Video Converter, press Ctrl+Shitf+F12, close the converter and reopen it. The language will change. If it is not the language you need, please repeat the operation.

To have a good quality output video you need to select only VIDEO_TS.IFO file as Input File Name when converting a DVD video. For more info please refer to our Help file (Help > Features > Working with DVDs > Converting DVD files to another format).

You can divide your video into chapters, i.e. to create a single level menu that allows you to select which video to play. To create chapters:

• Step 1: Open input file clicking the Browse... button
• Step 2: Select To DVD as output format
• Step 3: Click the Edit button
• Step 4: Add the markers indicating the beginning of each chapter using the timeline
• Step 5: Use the Edit DVD menu button to see the created menu and DVD Menu Style drop-down list to select the menu style
• Step 6:: Close the Edit window
• Step 7:: Press the Convert now! button to start conversion.

To add markers:

• Step 1: Put the timeline cursor at the position where you'd like to set a marker
  

  

  
  
• Step 2: Click the Add button located in the Markers area. The name of marker shown as Position:# will appear in the markers list.
  

  

  
  
• Step 3: Use the Edit DVD menu button to see the created menu and DVD Menu Style drop-down list to select the menu style

To read AVS Video Tools documentation, please run AVS Video Converter and click 'F1' on your keyboard. Or follow Start > All Programs > AVS Video Tools > AVS Video Tools Help .

When you are experiencing difficulties or run onto error messages, our support staff may ask you to make a screenshot of your program window or error message.

To make a screenshot:

- Run AVS Video Converter

- Open a file you want to convert

- Select a preset for the output file

- Click << Advanced two time to show input and output file parameters

- Press Alt+PrtScn to copy the screenshot to the clipboard

- Open a graphics editing program (e.g. Microsoft Paint, select Start\Run..., enter 'mspaint' and press OK to start it)

- Press Ctrl+V to paste the screenshot from the clipboard

- Save the image in PNG format

- Attach the image file to the bug report email

To change a skin for any of the Video Converter:

• Step 1: Run AVS Video Converter
• Step 2: In the upper right-hand corner of the program window click the a small arrow

or the letter S in some skins and select a skin from a fall-out menu.

Please note, that if you change the skin back to the default view, the program will be restarted.

I am absolutely new to movie conversion as I never did it before. Will it not be too difficult for me to use this software and how do I convert my media files?

If you are new to movie conversion we can recommend that you start with the AVS DVDtoGO as this software doesn't require any special knowledge on movie conversion. It has a simple user friendly interface that will guide you easily through the conversion process so that you need to know only few things: the path to the source DVD or video file, the type of the device you would like to watch your movie on and the capacity of the storage your device has. If you know this information you will easily manage the conversion process without any knowledge. Just follow our five steps and everything will be done for you. Start with Step one of the AVS DVDtoGO and see for yourself that movie conversion can be easier than ever before.

I have a DVD which is the collection of music video clips. How do I convert only specific clips I need?

If you want to save only specific clips from a DVD you will need to choose every clip separately. At Step two of the AVS DVDtoGO choose I want to convert a part of my DVD movie and after that select the initial and the final point of the first video clip. Remember to see the clip beginning and end scene pressing the button to make sure the place you have chosen is the one you really wanted. After that you follow the other steps to get down to the conversion process. Once the conversion of the first clip is over you return to Step one, choose the same DVD and select the time boundaries of the second video clip. The same succession of action can be repeated as many times for as many clips as needed.

I have a DVD and I want to be able to watch the movie on my Sony PSP (Portable Media Player, Mobile phone) while traveling. How do I convert it?

Follow steps one to two of the AVS DVDtoGO to choose the source video file(s) for the movie you would like to take along with you. At Step three you select the portable device you would like to use on the road for the movie watching. If you want to change some specific settings press the Switch to custom mode button to customize the output video file. AVS DVDtoGO software have several presets of the most common devices used to watch the movies.

I made some changes in Custom mode at Step four of the AVS DVDtoGO and want to save them to use the next time I convert. How do I do that?

When you made some changes to the presets you have in Custom mode of the AVS DVDtoGO you might want to save them for future use. To do that press the Save preset as... button, choose the name of the preset and press the OK button. Your preset will be saved in your program folder (by default it will be C:\Program Files\Common Files\AVSMedia\VideoTools\AVS DVDtoGO\presets\).

If you want to use it the next time you convert the movie you will need to press the Load preset... button to load it.

If you have some presets you no longer need you might want to delete them pressing the Delete preset... button.

My DVD movie has several language tracks in it. How do I choose between them?

After you selected the path to the DVD video files at Step one of the AVS DVDtoGO you will get the information on the language tracks that are present in the movie in the Audio track box:

Pressing the Pull down button you can choose between the audio languages to select the language you need.

I have a homemade video and want to share a part of it with my friend over the Internet (over a mobile phone). How can I do that?

Select the path to the source video at Step one and at Step two choose I want to convert a part of my DVD/video movie. After that select the initial and the final point of the video you want to share. Remember to see the beginning and end scene pressing the button to make sure the place you have chosen is the one you really wanted. At Step three you select the device you would like to use to send your movie, after that press the Switch to custom mode button to change the size of the output video file so that you could send it over the Internet or over a mobile phone.

My DVD movie has black areas in the upper and in the lower parts of the screen. How do I crop them?

You do not need to do anything to crop the black areas in the upper and in the lower parts of the screen. They are needed to retain the original video picture sides ratio, so that the video player could playback the output file without distortion.