The Movavi Video Converter vs. Free RealPlayer

As a job description, video converters have the unglamorous duty of grinding away on one digital file format and turning it into another. However, they are indispensable tools because of the many different incompatible technical standards and the competitive jumble of devices that can play video today.

Because there are so many, finding the right one for your needs can be a challenge. We’re going to compare the free RealPlayer alongside the Movavi Online Video Converter. On the surface, this might not be considered fair, as RealPlayer is a digital media player and Movavi is a dedicated converter. But the RealPlayer Converter has its own set of features that can grind away on those formats, so you can enjoy your video on the go, through set top devices and also easily share it with others on the Internet.

The Movavi Video Converter has a complete compliment of input and output file formats, a stack of devices it transfers to, a good selection of special features, it’s quick, and has a sharp interface. Priced at $49.95, Movavi delivers a complete package of capabilities.

It is indeed a worthy competitor for the free RealPlayer.

FIRING UP THE MOVAVI VIDEO CONVERTER

The first thing that strikes you is a similarity to the free RealPlayer. It’s an illusion really, because of the gray color scheme and general shape of the software window, not because the interfaces are the same. This is a dedicated file format converter, not a player, so there is going to be functional design differences. It does look nice, though.

The “Sintel” trailer has already been selected, with output to the HTC EVO.

Peeking under Movavi’s hood at what this software can do is where it really gets interesting.

SELECTING PRESET FORMATS AND DEVICES

For both digital video file formats and output devices, Movavi Video Converter covers the field. The lists for input and output formats, along with the mobile and set-top devices that can be converted to are extensive. Just click the Preset field to reveal a pop-up menu with broad listings of formats, devices, and specific brand options.

Virtually every video format, plus every brand of mobile device is available.

Additionally, each format category, device brand, and model also has deeper levels of settings for even more precise profiles to target your needs. Here, we’re using the HTC EVO to compare the functionality offered by the free version of RealPlayer. The RealPlayer Converter also has a “details” option to modify specifics of the desired profile.

Detailed settings for the HTC EVO can be made to further customize the format, quality, frame rate, resolution, etc.

For this comparison, we’re using the “Sintel” free movie trailer. It was downloaded as 1080p HD, encoded in MP4/H.264. The trailer and the entire movie are available from the Blender Foundation, and released under the Creative Commons Attribution license.

CONVERTING VIDEO FILES TO ANOTHER FORMAT

Choosing your input video files uses a typical browsing practice accomplished through the +File button in the upper left corner of the Movavi interface. Once your file is in the list, a Quality/Size setting can be adjusted.

Displayed in blue text, the default shown is Low Quality with an estimated file size. Clicking on that text opens a slider interface where you can move the quality higher or lower. Be careful here. It’s easy to get carried away and crank it up to the highest quality, resulting in extremely high bitrates and a file of enormous size. These could be incompatible with your playback target.

When all your device or output format profiles are set, simply click on the Convert button and let it run. During the conversion, the video playback is not displayed. Progress bars showing percentage completed, elapsed time, and remaining time do provide status feedback. Conversion speed is very good.

SPECIAL FEATURES OFFERED BY THE MOVAVI VIDEO CONVERTER

Prior to converting video, you can preview a number of effects the Movavi Video Converter has available. Among them are crop, rotate, watermark, subtitle, and video adjustments for brightness, contrast, hue, and saturation. There is also a basic trim tool to create smaller segments from the longer original and the ability to take snapshots.

What’s more interesting, though, is Movavi’s ability to upload converted videos to YouTube, Facebook, add them to iTunes, and upload to PSP.

If you’re up for it, you can also explore the command line interface for some spooky stuff. That said, unless you know absolutely what you’re doing, don’t even try.

All in all, Movavi Video Converter is nice to work with. Its attractive user interface draws you in, and the available tools are smartly designed, clear, and intuitive. The selection of input and output formats, including the expansive range of mobile and other devices it converts to is impressive.

INTRODUCTION TO THE REALPLAYER VIDEO FORMAT CONVERTER

Let’s see how RealPlayer Converter holds up against Movavi’s dedicated video converter.

It can be opened directly, without RealPlayer running. Simply click on its icon pinned to the Windows taskbar or its alias on your desktop.

Once open, click on the Convert button. It opens a window to select from a long list of file formats, along with major brands and models of mobile and set-top devices.

Clicking on the Details button offers deeper access to specific settings for the video format, quality, and resolution, along with settings to customize the audio.

Adding files directly to RealPlayer Converter can be done through two routes. Either the conventional way by clicking the Add… button and browsing your system for the file. Or, by dragging and dropping files from a list into the converter’s Drag Files to Convert Here area.

USING REALPLAYER AND ITS LIBRARY TO ADD VIDEO CLIPS

After opening the free RealPlayer, click on the Library tab to see your video clips either as graphic thumbnails, or in the usual text list format. As an interface, the pure visual power of the thumbnails is compelling. Along with the images, information on the clip title, origin, running time, date acquired, and format are also presented.

You can also select a clip, and then click on Convert To… under the main Library menu on the left. It’s even faster to drag & drop thumbnails from the Library to the Converter.

Video can be sent to RealPlayer Converter from the Now Playing window.

WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT, CONVERTING VIDEO TO ANOTHER FORMAT

With the “Sintel” trailer in the converter, and the HTC EVO’s detailed profile set, the only thing to do now is press the Start button. The converter gets busy with its processing. When completed, the format conversions are sent both to the Save In folder, and to the RealPlayer Library for viewing playback.

Several video clips could also have been added to the RealPlayer Converter, where they’d each be processed individually as a batch.

SOME EXTRA FEATURES AVAILABLE ON THE FREE REALPLAYER

The RealPlayer Converter is almost an unexpected bonus to all the capabilities of the free RealPlayer. However, since the attention has been on the converter, you should know about the other special work RealPlayer can do. A few examples are:

• Download video from the web with one click
• Trim clips to make custom video segments
• Upload videos to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.
• Email video clips
• Organize Playlists

If you’re looking for additional power and features, upgrading from the free version to RealPlayer Plus, for $49.95, could be for you. The extras you’ll get with Plus include:

• Downloading from the web three times faster
• Transferring video to mobile devices twice as fast
• Recording DVDs
• Recording High Definition (HD) video onto DVD to play on Blu-ray machines
• Burning audio CDs with professional automatic level controls

COMPARISON CHART FOR THE MOVAVI VIDEO CONVERTER vs. REALPLAYER CONVERTER

Compare	Movavi Video Converter	RealPlayer

Price	$49.95	FREE
Input File Formats
Input File Types	M2TS, MTS, WMV, MPG, MOV, AVI, MKV, MKA, MKS, VOB, IFO, MPG, MPEG, DAT, MOD, VRO, MP4, M4V, ASF, 3GP2, 3GPP, 3GP, 3G2, QT, FLV, HTML5, MP3, M4A, M4B, WAV, WV, AAC, WMA, OGG, FLAC, APE, APL	AAC, M4A, PLS, EPL, AVI, CDA, IVR, MP3, MPA, MPG, MPEG, MPV, MPS, M2V, M1V, MPE, RA RV, SMIL, WAV, SSM, MP4, M4E, M4V, WMA, WMV, WAX, ASX, ASF, WM, WMX, MICROSOFT MEDIA SERVER PROTOCOL, MOV, QT, AU, AIF, AIFF, ACP, 3GP, 3G2, DIVX, DVD (RP+), AMR, AWB, QCP, EVRC, EVR, FLV, VOB (RP+), REALAUDIO LOSSLESS, MP2 (RP+), MP1, MPGA, MID, MIDI, RMI
Output File Formats
Output File Types	M2TS, MTS, WMV, MPG, MOV, AVI, MKV, MKA, MKS, VOB, IFO, MPG, MPEG, DAT, MOD, VRO, MP4, M4V, H.263, H.264, MPEG-4, 3GPP, QT, FLV, SWF, HTML5, MP3, WAV, WV, AAC, WMA, OGG, FLAC, APE, APL	RA, RM, RV, WMV, MP4, AAC, H.264, H.263, RealPlayer Plus H.264, 3GP, CELL PHONE, M4A, MP3, RealAudio Lossless, WAV, WMA
Conversion to Output Devices
Mobile and Set top Devices	Amazon Kindle (audio only), Android, Apple, Archos, Barnes & Nobile, Blackberry, Cowon, Creative Zen, Dell, Explay, HP, HTC, iRiver, LG, Microsoft Zune, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, PS3, PSP, Samsung, SanDisk Sansa, Sony Ericsson, Sony Walkman, Windows Mobile OS, Windows Phone 7, Xbox	Android, Apple, Archos, Barns and Noble Nook, BlackBerry, Creative Zen, Google, HTC, iRiver, KIN, LG, Microsoft Zune, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, PS3, PSP, Samsung, SanDisk Sansa, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, T-Mobile, ViewSonic, Xbox, 3GP
File Format Processing Support
Pre-set Format Profiles	Yes	Yes
720p and 1080p HD Support	Yes	Yes
GPU Acceleration	Yes, NVIDIA CUDA	Yes, with RealPlayer Plus*
Multi-pass Encoding	No	No
Fixed and Variable Bit Rate Encoding	Yes	Yes – Audio Only
Calculator to Estimate Output Size and Time	Yes	Yes
Batch Processing	Yes	Yes
Video Quality – Sync, No Skipped Frames	Excellent	Excellent
Conversion Speed	Better	Good
Editing Capabilities
Trim Head and Tail of Clips	Yes	Yes
Crop Video Size	Yes	No
Makes Screen Grabs	Yes	Yes
Merge or Join Files	Yes	No
Adjust Brightness, Contrast, Color, etc.	Yes	No
Video and Audio Special Effects	Yes	No
Graphic Watermark	Yes	No
Create Subtitles	Yes	No
Other Features
DVD Ripping	Yes	No
DVD Burning	Yes	Yes, with RealPlayer Plus*
Hi-Definition Burning	Yes	Yes, with RealPlayer Plus*
Easy Upload to Social Media Sites	Yes	Yes

THOUGHTS ON THE MOVAVI VIDEO CONVERTER vs. FREE REALPLAYER

Movavi has an appealing, easy to use interface with a smooth, logical workflow. Selecting files is done in a conventional way, but the multiple windows that can be opened to deal with various settings, details, and effects makes it an engaging application to use. Movavi also makes quick work of its primary job of converting video files.

The Movavi Video Converter has a large selection of input and output formats, and mobile devices it converts to. The capability to upload directly to YouTube, Facebook, and iTunes sets it apart from the other converters.

The free RealPlayer and the $49.95 Movavi are closely matched on file format processing and device transfer capability. The integration of RealPlayer, and especially its Library features, combined with the RealPlayer Converter to offer an overall package that is quite convenient.

Choosing to upgrade from the free RealPlayer to RealPlayer Plus at $49.95 instead of Movavi could well be worth it. You get all the advantages of a top-notch media player with a terrific interface, while RealPlayer Plus can handle most file conversions, offers accelerated download and device transfers, DVD burning, and HD burning capability.