AviSynth

AviSynth is a frame server –it feeds uncompressed frames to other applications directly- that can be scripted to automate image processing and editing of videos.

It is not a video editing or special effects workstation. Its strengths lie on allowing the video professional to pre-process videos to resize, crop or remove noise and to conform video sources with simple cuts. Basically you create a script that indicates AviSynth which filters to apply in what order. If you are not comfortable with writing scripts in text form, you could use VirtualDubMod or MeGUI graphic user interfaces to create them.

AviSynth comes very handy when preparing videos for compression in an automated and streamlined fashion. In particular, you can perform noise reduction, resizing and color conversions to ensure that the compressed video looks as best as possible.
It is an open source project that has many followers. Check it out:

http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Main_Page

Consumer Software Transcoding Applications

Below are some of the most popular consumer video transcoding applications in the market. They often are bundled with DVD authoring and DV Cam capture modules that come in handy. Some of these software packages don’t allow you to change or customize encoding parameters like the bit rate. Often they only offer a limited amount of pre-defined profiles for users to choose from.

AVS Video Converter: $39.95
Movavi Video Converter 6: $29.99
Pinnacle Studio 12: $49.99
Nero: $59.99
QuickTime Pro: $29.99
TMPGEnc 4 XPress: $99.95
Roxio Crunch: $39.99

AVS Video Converter:
Good value for your buck. You can convert to many formats, AVI, MPEG (including for DVD, iPod, and Mobile) QT, WMV, RM and Flash. It offered some simple yet handy editing features. They have a trial version that watermarks the output file. Output video quality is good.

http://video-converter-software-review.toptenreviews.com/avs-video-tools-review.html
http://www.avsmedia.com/VideoTools/index.aspx

Movavi Video Converter 6:
It doesn’t accept flash video files. Output formats cover MPEG, MOV, FLV, 3GP, AVI and WMV. Real.
You can select a profile and then go into “Settings” to change bit rates, resizing parameters, audio settings and more. It also offers some editing tools that come in handy. The Evaluation version didn’t work for me at all so I can’t comment on the output quality.

http://video-converter-software-review.toptenreviews.com/movavi-video-converter-review.html
http://movavi.com/videoconverter/whats-new/v60.html

Pinnacle Studio 12:
No trial version, so just read the review below.

http://computershopper.com/reviews/pinnacle-studio-12-review
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/Home+Video/Studio+Family/Studio.html

Nero:
Good application. Mainly targets users that want to burn video to DVD or CD. Supports AVCHD on regular DVD’s.

http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/Nero-7-Premium-Review-11730.shtml
http://www.nero.com/enu/nero8-introduction.html?NeroSID=7e4d874f7793823d9a17d6d5055b0141

Quicktime Pro:
Nice Product. The user interface for video conversion is not very good and the video quality is not the greatest, but you can’t beat the price. Output formats are limited. There is no support to convert to WMV, FLV or Real.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1875130,00.asp
http://store.apple.com/us/product/D3380Z/A

TMPGEnc 4 Xpress:
Easy to use. Has a batch encode utility. It offers basic editing features and filters for video and audio. It lets users set a great deal more parameters within a template profile than other consumer applications. There is no conversion to Real or Flash. You can save to DVD and VCD formats. Output video quality is good.

http://dvdcreation.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=48204
http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/te4xp.html

Roxio Crunch:
They didn’t offer a trial version, so I couldn’t give it a try myself.

http://www.itreviews.co.uk/software/s511.htm
http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/crunch/mac/overview.html

Next time I will review hardware encoding solutions.