Mega Video Converter

The field of Internet video converters is not short on contenders, some good at what they do and others, not so much. Mega Video Converter (MVC) from Clip Extractor is a new challenger in a very competitive market. Thankfully, it is one of the good guys.

We like Mega Video Converter for being fast, simple, and intuitive. Installation is quick and compact, only taking up about 20MB on your hard disk. However, you do need MS .NET Framework 4 before you can proceed and MVC will alert you if you don’t already have it.

Upon launching Mega Video Converter you’ll notice that the UI is a near-perfect replica of Windows 8’s interface, making this process an almost seamless integration if you’re already on Microsoft’s latest OS. However if you’re running an older version of Windows, it may feel a little bit out of place. We liked the interface as it is intuitive and easy to navigate — very touch- screen friendly. You can also select from a variety of color schemes for a more personalized look. The thing we found annoying is that since it was optimized for the big buttons and tile appearance, it wasn’t “Snap” friendly. The software window just won’t snap correctly to fill half the screen, preferring instead to edge out a little more to grab your attention. Not a huge issue on a desktop, but it could pose a problem for laptop users.

The core of the program lies in converting videos, primarily YouTube videos. MVC lets you do this in two ways: the old-school method of adding a link/file or the new way that we much prefer of dragging the file or video link directly from the YouTube search page into the program, itself. You can drag the preview pic or the title of the video on YouTube, and MVC will automatically find the link. You can also set single or multiple download tasks at the same time. After you have chosen your desired video to covert, MVC will list a variety of templates for popular devices (iPhones, iPad, Mac, Windows, and Samsung Galaxy). Each template will ensure that the converted file will be compatible with your selected device. If you have an Apple iDevice, it will also auto-import into iTunes. You can create your own personal template if you have an unlisted device. Further control can be obtained by clicking on Expert mode, which will give you full command of the conversion factors such as: output formats, resolution, codec, FPS, sampling, and channels. Given the opportunity, we much preferred using Expert mode for videos as the template conversion works well for smaller devices (phones and tablets); but on a regular computer, default settings convert videos at a much lower resolution. The process of downloading and converting, itself, is all automated and MVC will alert you when a task is completed. Not the fastest we’ve seen compared to other converters, but it’s not slow.

Overall, Mega Video Converter, with its clean and easy to use interface, will hit it off with the casual users, but its option to take total reign over all the settings will no doubt win over the tech-enthusiast crowd.