Wonderfox HD Video Converter Factory Pro

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FlyingPenguin
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Wonderfox HD Video Converter Factory Pro

Post by FlyingPenguin »

I used to use Any Video Converter (AVC) Ultimate to download YouTube videos and convert videos. I have several documentary channels on YouTube I like to follow, but I download the videos to my server so I can watch them in the living room TV on the Media Center PC. I also often have to convert .mkv files to MP4.

Trouble is that AVC is not being supported much anymore. They notified us that they were ending support for YouTube downloads and recommended another product. The video converter still works, but hasn't been updated in a while and lately it's crashing on me in the middle of a batch conversion.

Did a little research for a replacement and settled on Wonderfox HD Video Converter Factory Pro. It works very well (once I figured out how to save my preferred video conversion settings - that was not intuitive) and seems to make better use of NVidia CUDA GPU cores for H264 and H265 video encoding (I have to encode using H264 as an MP4 for Media Center to be able to play it).

Right now it's on sale for 50% off - $34.95 for a lifetime license: https://www.videoconverterfactory.com/h ... converter/
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Executioner
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Re: Wonderfox HD Video Converter Factory Pro

Post by Executioner »

LOL - I have the same program; however, they are picky about converting movie files that are DRM. I usually have to use another program MakeMKV, then use Wonderfox for another format.
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Re: Wonderfox HD Video Converter Factory Pro

Post by psypher »

Ever use Handbrake?

https://handbrake.fr/
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Re: Wonderfox HD Video Converter Factory Pro

Post by FlyingPenguin »

I still needed something that could batch download YouTube videos easily.

I do need to look at Handbrake again. Last time I played with it (sheesh! Over a decade ago?) it didn't do what I needed and had no batch conversion, but it looks a lot more full featured now, and seems to have GPU hardware support as well.
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Re: Wonderfox HD Video Converter Factory Pro

Post by FlyingPenguin »

Hmm. Well, a little disappointed in Handbrake's GPU usage. I'm encoding H.264 which the NVidia encoder supports, and have GPU encoding enabled in Handbrake, but it's barely using 3% of the GPU and hammering the CPU at 89% - 100%.

By comparison, Wonderfox is slamming the GPU at 100%.

Encoding with the GPU is a LOT faster, and I often have dozens of videos to convert in a batch.

I'll have to do some research. Something seems wrong.

I do like the look of the interface, and the batch feature works nice.
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Re: Wonderfox HD Video Converter Factory Pro

Post by FlyingPenguin »

Ah a quick search indicates I need to specifically select the H.264 NVEnc encoder. I just assumed, like other apps I've used, that it would automatically use the hardware whenever the H.264 codec was used. I was using one of the presets.

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Losbot
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Re: Wonderfox HD Video Converter Factory Pro

Post by Losbot »

Care to share your settings for WonderFox? I too use AVC, based on your recommendation back in the day. Yeah, they're slowly walking away from it but it's been working fine for me. No crashes.
I'll have to grab WonderFox now.
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Re: Wonderfox HD Video Converter Factory Pro

Post by FlyingPenguin »

I transcode all my YouTube downloads to 720p /2000 Kbps, but you can pick what you prefer.

The Wonderfox converter will default to MP4 on all auto settiings (making quite large files) and not using the GPU.

I got this off their FAQ page, but it's not intuitive: https://www.videoconverterfactory.com/c ... -time.html

- Make sure GPU Hardware is enabled in the settings.
- Open the converter
- First, load a file. Even if you're not converting yet, the settings won't work right unless there's a file loaded into the list.
- Click on the big codec button on the upper right (by default this will show the MP4 icon)
- From the presets list, click the purple "Custom" button (gear icon) on the top left. If I remember there should be an H264 and H265 hardware preset in there. Also under Video the two H265 codecs default to GPU if I remember, but I can't use them (not supported by MCE). If hardware GPU is enabled and working, you should see a red GPU icon in the file conversion info for the files you have loaded as below:

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You can click on Parameter Settings on the right to change the settings. I use the following:

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- Then use the save as button in the lower left to save it with a custom name. It should now appear in that Custom list with your name. Select it and it should remember it as the last one you used.
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Re: Wonderfox HD Video Converter Factory Pro

Post by Executioner »

I never have touched the settings, and for me using defaults, it would always use the GPU. I have a NNVIDIA Geforce 670. I did create a custom setup like you show in your picture. Currently trying it out on a MKV file to MP4.
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Losbot
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Re: Wonderfox HD Video Converter Factory Pro

Post by Losbot »

I know it might be stupid but one thing that does annoy me about the program is that I can not find a way to maximize the app. I like full screen and there's only a minimize option. Just a pet peeve. I'm converting a few files now to test and compare the quality.
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Re: Wonderfox HD Video Converter Factory Pro

Post by psypher »

FlyingPenguin wrote: Wed May 24, 2023 9:13 am Ah a quick search indicates I need to specifically select the H.264 NVEnc encoder. I just assumed, like other apps I've used, that it would automatically use the hardware whenever the H.264 codec was used. I was using one of the presets.

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Sorry, got really busy, so just looked at your replies. Yea, you have to enable it. I configure mine and then save my preset that I use.
It definitely does batch conversions, I've used that feature a lot.

It does have a bit of a learning curve, but it has a lot of options, especially for being free.
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Re: Wonderfox HD Video Converter Factory Pro

Post by Losbot »

Another thing I noticed that was a disappointment is that for downloading YouTube videos, they don't offer FLAC as an audio option.
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