Transcoding software suggestions, please.

[AlecWest]

I've been a long-time user of Canopus ProCoder Express ... the last version of ProCoder to "not" require the use of a dongle. But recently, my Win7 HP laptop died (sigh). I have a new Win7 Acer laptop now and was able to restore all my favorite software "except" ProCoder Express. And now, Canopus has sold out to Grass Valley Software. They've put out a V2 and a V3 of ProCoder - both requiring dongle use. But they're phasing ProCoder out in favor of their expensive flagship product, Edius (which may require a dongle, too).

I'm trying to locate ProCoder Express with "old software" sellers - even if it's a used version. But, I'm not having much luck (and didn't expect it). So, based on the likelihood that I'll never find it, I'd like suggestions of similar transcoding software that has an easy/intuitive interface like ProCoder Express. It would need to be able to transcode:

1) MP4 or DivX AVI files to MPEG2 (PAL and NTSC, with total control over video bitrate).
2) MP4 or DivX AVI files to WMV.
3) MP4 or DivX AVI files to RM (RealVideo).

ProCoder could do all three. And while I'd prefer another transcoder that could do all three, I'd be willing to use more than one utility. While freeware would be nice, I'm willing to buy pro-ware as long as its price is in the double-digits and it doesn't require dongle use. Suggestions, please.

BTW, please don't suggest SUPER. When I installed the most recent version, and even though I declined their third-party software come-ons, they were installed anyway and then refused to uninstall. I finally had to use Lockhunter software to get rid of them.

Regards,
J. Alec West

[Kerry56]

XMedia Recode can do all three, but I've never used it for RM, so I do not know how well it works for that.

If I were going to make mpeg2 files, I'd normally use the HC encoder. If you want to work with both audio and video at the same time, you might want to use a program that can use HC as the encoder, like AVStoDVD. It can be set to output mpeg2 files or elementary streams instead of the default DVD-video structure.

Both of these programs are freeware.

I'm sure you'll get more recommendations for software. These are only some of the choices, and I have worked with both.

[TorBru]

FFmpeg can transcode from and to all of those formats. For realvideo I think that only encoding to V1 & V2 of RM is possible - newer versions of the codec are only decodable. If you are not font of command line utilities you can use a GUI like FFQueue that can handle FFmpeg for you. Other utilities could be Handbrake which is the preferred encoder by many but I'm not sure about the support for RM. All mentioned software is free to use.

[AlecWest]

I'll give FFqueue a try and see what happens. BTW, the VideoHelp tool page on it gives a bad link to the software. To get it, I had to go to your homepage. Thanks for the suggestion.

Regards,
J. Alec West

[budwzr]

AviDemux.