These days most people may not have as much of a need to convert downloaded videos that they have stored locally, as plenty of people now stream all of their video content. Having said that if you’re of the group of people who like to have copies of all your favorite movies, TV shows, and other videos, software like Wondershare’s Video Converter Ultimate is a tool that would be useful to have as it can easily help you convert videos into a ton of different formats for use on multiple platforms, whether those be gaming consoles, or just on a standard DVD so you can watch them at home on the big screen. Video Converter Ultimate is actually quite robust and offers up a lot, so let’s take a closer look at its features and how it stacks up.
Before you can get started with converting your favorite videos, you’ll need to download and install Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate from their website.
Once you have it downloaded the program installer will run you through a simple installation and setup process that should only take a minute or two. Then you can open it up to the main home screen of the software which lands you right on the page for converting a video, which should make perfect sense given that it is a program designed to help you do video conversions.
There are tons of ways to complete a video conversion with this software and over on the right side of the program window you have a drop down menu for output format. Here you can select from a varied set of different formats and you can choose from a category like favorites which lets you select a format from the ones you may use the most.
There’s also a tab for selecting by format, so the more that you use it the more options you’ll under the favorites tab, and if a certain format type isn’t showing up there you can hit the actual format tab to see all the format types that are supported for conversions.
There’s also a device tab. If you’re not sure what type of format you need to be selecting but you do know what device you’ll be wanting to watch the video on, you can select the device tab and here it will display all the different device types which support formats that are supported by this software. Simply select the device type from the drop down menu and the tool will give you the correct output format that you need for that device. There are even different device categories like Samsung or VR to select from.
Aside from the conversion tab page there is also a page for burning media to a disc, which is where you would find yourself after you convert a video file and then want to burn it to a disc afterwards, or if you simply want to burn a video file to a disc without the conversion. There are a few different settings that are available to you from the burn screen, like selecting the quality of the video file you burn over, and the aspect ratio so you can ensure that it’s being burned for the correct screen size. There’s also an option to change the template of the video file interface that you see after inserting the DVD into a drive.
If you don’t have any video files to convert that are already store on your local storage drive but you do know where they’re located, you can use the Download screen to grab them from the web and the software will download them and store them for you in the corresponding folder. You can add a URL if you know the web address, or download a YouTube MP3, or even record video and have it downloaded, and if you’re downloading multiple videos you can see what’s currently downloading and what’s already finished as they have their own separate tabs. There’s also a Turbo Mode you can enable if you want faster downloads, though to access this you’ll need to have a licensed copy of the software as it’s not available in the free version.
The last page within the software is the Media Server page, and when you click on it it actually opens up the Media Server feature in its own window. Here you can essentially stream your video files from your PC’s local storage to your TV so you can watch any of the files on the big screen as it uses DLNA technology to connect to your TV. You can also stream music of course, and there are also options for converting and downloading from here as well.
Video Converter Ultimate has a handful of useful functions whether you need to convert videos or burn them to discs, or even stream your videos to a bigger screen so you can enjoy them with others. The software is fairly easy to use so it won’t take long to get things up and running and start using it, and navigation through the user interface is pretty simple. When it comes down to it this is a pretty useful piece of software for anyone even if it’s only used very seldom.
Ratings
- Speed (5/5) – The software program opens up pretty quickly and it doesn’t take long to complete functions, though this may vary depending on how big videos are that you’re trying to convert or depending on how much stuff you’re trying to burn to a disc.
- Features (4/5) – It has a handful of great features and makes things easy to access.
- Theme (4/5) – The UI is a pretty simplistic interface and that’s a good thing especially for those who just like to keep things basic.
- Overall (4.5/5) – Easy to use, with enough features on offer to make this a worthy tool to have.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Options for selecting format and device type for video conversions
- Ability to burn to a disc
- Steam videos from local storage to a TV
- Turbo Mode
Cons
- Some consumers may not be aware that Turbo Mode is not a free feature right away, though the software does alert you once you try to enable it.
Overall, Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate is a good little piece of software if you have a need for the features that it offers. If you don’t mess around much with locally stored video and you tend to stream all your video content, then you may have less use for it, but it’s simple to set up should your tastes or needs change. The fact that it’s a quick installation process was also a huge plus as I didn’t have to wait long to test it out. If you have any need for converting videos, this is the tool to use.