Looking for a All to mp4 video converter

So, I used to use Mediacoder for converting mkv's and avi's to mp4, but stopped using it when I got my laptop and didn't have a need for video conversion anymore. A year later and I've come back to wanting to do it, only to find out that the newer versions have the same issue the ones around this time last year did, they won't convert at all if using AAC audio.

I'm trying to convert videos for my Zune HD, but I can't recall what version MediaCoder was at around February of 2009, I know that version works, but I can't seem to find it anywhere now. If no one does have that, any alternatives out there?

 

use format factory its great Format Factory - Free media file format converter

 

Did you try to google "Mediacoder" ? MediaCoder - more than a universal audio/video transcoder - MediaCoder official website
(Edit - ups, the first part didn't fully register - but try super)

Else, try Super... SUPER &copy

 

I've looked all through MC's site and they don't keep the older versions up anymore after they stopped using sourceforge, and google only brings up dead links for any of the older versions, and the last time I poked around with Super, none of my videos came out right (aside from the semi-annoying interface).

I'll give formatfactory a shot and see how well it works with embedded subtitles for the moment..

 

I should have added I wasn't looking for one I'd have to pay for >.>

Aside from the fact that it seemed to have broken the settings for the Shark007 codec pack I have installed (which was a quick fix), it actually worked for what I needed it to without error on the first try, so +rep

 

MP4Box is the best MP4 muxer/demuxer

Id use YAMB or MeGUI as a GUI frontend for it.

YAMB is generally what I use if I need to extract something from a MP4, MeGUI is generally what I use to Mux something into a MP4 and encode my audio to AAC (NeroAACEnc.exe)

Use the Beta for YAMB is newer and better.

If your Zune supports MKV thats even better. use MKVToolnix and it includes a nice GUI that handles all kinds of muxing/demuxing for you really well.

 

You can use handbrake to encode videos for zune. There's also a preset for it. I believe it's easier that way. Zune does not support mkv.

 

I second the vote for Handbrake. It works quite well.

 

Dvdvideosoft is a great converter and I have used it for a number of years. It will convert most if not all formats to mp4. You can download the entire suite here for free. This is freeware.

 

AVI DeMux is also pretty useful to convert from just about anything to just about anything else.

 

Oh I thought you had files and just needed to put them as MP4's not do the entire encoding process.

I but you can still do that with MeGUI, it uses the newest versions of x264 (newer than handbrake or avidemux) to do your video (or you can if you choose use XVID instead for older devices) and for audio you have the full assortment of choices ranging from OGG, FLAC, MP3, AAC, AC3, and of the lot I recomend AAC for its quality and file size.

If its for Movies to be played on a home theater system you may wish to keep the stock AC3 or DTS audio tracks and not encode a new file. Though I actually stlll encode a AAC file that has normalization and dynamic range compression applied to it. I call this my "nighttime mode" track.

I find that DTS used in Bluray has a very large difference in speech volume compared to effects because its meant for surround systems with calibrated speakers. If you play it on a 2.1 system somebody is talking and you can barely hear it so you turn it up, and then the next scene when a car blows up it takes your ear drums with it.

My "night time mode" track however fixes that and reduces the min/max volume of the audio track and normalizes it so you can listen too it without that problem, this would probably come in handy even for a portable device like a zune as the big explosions and stuff would clip on the speakers easier.

A few things to note:

If you use AVISynth to feed your video into MeGUI you can run a few filters that will help you out.
First this is where you will resize your video and crop it for your Zune settings.
Second use Undot() in your script it will give you a free compression boost.
If you want to further your compression with basically no loss of visual quality use RemoveGrain(Mode=2) instead.
Depending on your Zune, you may want to try to use some sharpening filters and maybe Tweak() to boost contrast/brightness to make it look better on the screen. If its a ZuneHD I would just leave it at default unless its an older film that a filtered version is better than the original.

If you use MeGUI's built in AVS Script creator tool, it will allow you to analyse your material and see if its progressive/interlaced/film and will deinterlace it for you as well.