Best noob friendly converter

[joms]

I am looking for a video converter to be used by various people in our house (some are technically inclined but most are not).

We want to be able to convert video to/from MKV/DVD/etc to MP4/IPAD/Iphone/etc. We download some MKVs and would want them to play in our ipad as well (mp4) and popcornhour, computer, iphone, etc.

Another area where I will use this most is to convert my MKV/MP4 files to be able to play in our Pioneer Head unit (model AVH-X8500bhs). As per manual, this is what it can play via USB:

H264 (Base Line Profile = mp4)
Max Size = 720x1280
Max bit rate = 8000
Max frame rate = 30fps
Audio Codec = AAC

If possible, free programs would be nice but if there's none that has a simple interface but powerful enough to convert videos, then i am willing to pay for such a program. Speed is also important

Any good suggestions? Thanks

[Kerry56]

Look at Handbrake and/or VidCoder first. If they are too complex, there are other free choices like Video to Video Converter.

[joms]

I tried handbrake but its a bit slow.

Oh I didn't mention, I need 2 converters actually. 1 for windows and 1 for mac. If it can do windows and mac then so much the better.

[Kerry56]

You can change the speed of the encoding in Handbrake. Video tab--->x264 preset.

[hech54]

I tried handbrake but its a bit slow.

Oh I didn't mention, I need 2 converters actually. 1 for windows and 1 for mac. If it can do windows and mac then so much the better.

Handbrake was originally designed for a Mac so yes it is a Mac and Windows program.

[joms]

thanks. i remembered using handbrake like years ago then someone told me of a program which was much faster than handbrake. I tried it and it was really faster. I just forgot what that program is.

So is handbrake the fastest available converter now? thanks

[Baldrick]

Maybe Freemake video converter. It's very easy. But I haven't compared the speed with handbrake. Just be sure to decline/opt out all adware crap when you install it.

[somespirit]

MeGUI

[jagabo]

Most of the freeware h.264 encoders are based on x264 so they're all basically the same speed when using the same settings. The differences are in what settings they use by default and whether they allow you to change them. Try the x264 veryfast preset in Handbrake. That's about as fast as you can get and still get decent quality with a small file size. If you have an Intel Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, or Haswell CPU try the Quick Sync beta of Handbrake. The QS encoder isn't as good as x264 but it is faster.