converters

is formatfactory the only good converter to convert files in general especially mp3's?

 

A few people use this one-
http://www.easy-video-converter.com/

here's a review-
http://dottech.org/freeware-reviews/12483

eusing has a few as well, I've used their's in the past and they seemed to do the job intended-

http://www.eusing.com/Products.htm

 

If you mean the free ones,there are some alternatives,like MediaCoder and Super@ ....All of them are multiformat encoders/decoders with some extra options.For .mp3,basicly any encoder that uses the Lame.dll or Lame.exe will give you decent quality after tinkering with the settings.
However,if you want to create .mp3 files from your excisting cd collection,and want the most accurate ripping options,take a look @ ExactAudioCopy (free) or DBPowerAmp (shareware)

 

is there such thing as a converter that doesnt lose quality when converting or do they all lose quality when converting

 

I you choose .mp3 as output,you get quality loss,even when using the maximum setting of 320kbps cbr.
For audio,there are several lossless compressors available,but the most popular 1 is .flac,which compresses the original .wave file to approx 60-70 % of it's original size.

 

Supposedly Monkey's Audio offers lossless conversion/compression using it's proprietory APE format.

http://www.monkeysaudio.com/

 

is there something like that for video files too?

 

I am using SUPER.Thats completely converter and FREE.
http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

Converting process of FF very long and poor result. If I remember correctly, the latest version bundled w/ ASK toolbar or something crap toolbar like that.

 

You might want to look at this program,I've not tried it but it sounds interesting:

http://www.yuvsoft.com/download/lossless-codec/

 

this might be wrong but if a video file was wmv and you converted it to avi will it have better quality?

 

No.
Container choice has little bearing on video quality.

The factors are varied-- codec, bitrate, framerate, filter choices and methods.
The most important factor is the inital quality of the video being converted.
There's no way to magically turn a pixelated, low quality video into a clean, noiseless, and pristine one.

I've used FormatFactory a time or two-- it's okay. SUPER is good for many things, and is relatively simple to use.

VirtualDub is excellent for working with .avi files, but doesn't support many input types.

The converter I use most regularly is Avidemux (Lord Mulder's version). Supports many input and output types, has good filters, lots of options, and does a real nice all-around job.

I also highly recommend FFDShow for installation. It should be in everyone's media toolbag, imo.

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html
(Better download link for SUPER): http://majorgeeks.com/Super_d5117.html

http://www.virtualdub.org/

http://mulder.dummwiedeutsch.de/home/?page=projects#avidemux
http://avidemux.org/

 

you'd have to convert to .wav for it to be the same quality