Hero Video Converter v2.7.8

Hero Video Convert is versatile DVD tool with the ability to convert DVD VOBs to eg. animated GIFs and VCD MPEGs. There's also a screensaver function using which you can view a DVD VOB or an MPEG video as your default screensaver. Looks pretty nice, I must say!

The DVD to GIF function lets you create an animated GIF from a DVD. You can set the picture dimensions etc. by hand, but I couldn't find a way to set the video range, so while the feature is fun to play with, there's little use for it, since you can't pick the exact frame range you want.

The DVD to VCD function lets you convert a DVD VOB to VCD (or other MPEG-1) format. Here you have a more versitale GUI than with the GIF-tool, but still the preview window is awfully small and difficult to use. If you want, you can easily select a subtitle stream from a pulldown menu and have the subtitles printed on the picture. You can also choose the audio track and the angle. The resulting MPEG quality is not actually top notch, but it's not too bad either. The subtitles, however, are pretty impossible to read. There's also an AVI to MPEG converter, which works pretty much the same way.

With a simple MPEG Unite tool you can join up MPEG files.

The bundle also has two more features - DVD Copy and AVI Maker. I wasn't able to test the former, because I don't have a DVD-burner, and the latter crashed on my computer no matter what I did.

Overall a pretty interesting all-in-one -package. There's still alot to do, but it's worth taking a look, if you're looking for a simple "Click here" -solution, and can settle for less than perfect quality.