Howto: DVD Catalyst 4 and Bluray (aka Bluray Catalyst)

Many people believe that “easy” conversion tools are too simple or limited. While in most cases this is true, the thing is, DVD Catalyst 4 is different. The idea behind DVD Catalyst 4 is “automation”. Over the last 7 years, the concept of video conversion software has not changed a bit. They all still use a step by step interface, and while some new things have been added, the concept is still the same. DVD Catalyst 4 is the only conversion tool that includes innovative technologies and creative thinking on how to make it as easy as possible. Rather than forcing users to manually configure each aspect of the conversion manually, DVD Catalyst 4 remembers the changes you make, and will use them for all the conversions you use it with. After install, many of the most commonly used settings, such as black-bar removal, volume adjustment are already set, so all that is left for you to make use of it is to simply start a conversion. For the more demanding user, Power User mode and Global Settings provide access to 100′s of features and options that let you control every aspect of the conversion, many not found in any other application. Automatic language/subtitle selection, volume maximizer, brightness/contrast/hue/saturation. On top of that, DVD Catalyst 4 is the only conversion tool that doesn’t care if you want to convert 1 movie or 100. No need to set up each individual conversion, just drag a folder of video files onto the program, and start a conversion. All the basic settings such as video/audio quality, screensize and video format are set, but also the more advanced features you might have enabled.

Howto:Subsonic Music Streamer (Part 1)

Access your entire music (and video) collection from your phone or tablet anywhere you are. A dream? Not anymore, meet the free Subsonic Streaming application.

Xoom vs Playbook – after 2 weeks – back in the box

On May 4, 2011, in Android, Blackberry, Devices, Playbook, Xoom, by Mitch

Initially, I really liked the Blackberry Playbook. It is a great device for video playback, not too big, not too small, and with the custom QNX operating system, switching between my email and my video is really nice.

DVD Catalyst 4 V4.0.3 Beta 4

A new public beta of DVD Catalyst 4: Mainly internal fixes, but Toy Story 1 and 2 (Special Edition) should work fine now. The work-around should kick in when needed for other DVDs as well.  

DVD Catalyst Newsletter

Sign up for the DVD Catalyst Newsletter! The last couple of months, I have received quite a few requests to implement some form of newsletter to make it easier for people to stay up-to-date with anything DVD Catalyst-related. Of course I update the latest news section on the tools4movies website with whatever I can think [...]

1080 playback on Blackberry Playbook

Last week, I converted How To Train Your Dragon using the Xoom HQ2 1080 profile from Bluray (DVD Catalyst 4.0.3 Beta + AnyDVD HD), which played fine on the Motorola Xoom. Just for kicks, since the Playbook is advertised to be able to handle 1080 video, I loaded it up to see how it worked. [...]

Playbook vs Xoom (day 1)

Last night I spent a few hours with the Playbook, basically putting it through it’s paces to see what it can do and how it does it.

Blackberry Playbook

My Blackberry Playbook (16GB model) just arrived ! From the brief time I have played with it (UPS was late) I’ve managed to play a 20Mbps 1080 video clip I created earlier today to test on the Xoom, on it without any issues. Of course 20Mbps is overkill, but it does show off the capabilities [...]

Fullscreen Movies with DVD Catalyst 4

Full Screen Movies. This is the most often asked question I receive. With all the different video playback devices on the market, Blackberry, Droid, iPad, iPod, iPhone, Xoom, Zune etc, there is a large variety in screen aspect ratios, which affect the way movies and TV shows are displayed on-screen. Even if you use a [...]

DVD Catalyst 4 Update (v4.0.2.7) Release Notes

A bit quick, 5 days after the previous update, but somehow a bug regarding volume slipped into the new settings. With my complete attention focused on video playback quality, I never checked the volume settings. Currently 4.0.2.7 is available on the Tools4Movies website. The original installer files have been replaced, and of course you can [...]

What is next ?

With the Xoom update released, here’s what is next on our todo-list at this point:

DVD Catalyst 4 – Power Features

DVD Catalyst 4′s capabilities are often underestimated. While it is quite easy to use, it offers a lot more than just 1-click DVD to Whatever conversions. Besides all the standard features, DVD Catalyst 4 includes many options that you will not find in any similar application:

Quick Tip : Audio Sync Issues

Every now and then, people ask about audio sync issues, such as where lips don’t match up to the video. 99.99% of the times, this is because they use Windows Media Player to preview the files. While Windows Media Player (on Windows 7) can play MP4 files, the codec it uses is not completely reliable. [...]

DVD Catalyst 4 Tip : Audio Volume Levels

Video content such as DVDs and video files have different volume levels. When you watch a DVD usually you have to increase the volume of your TV or speaker system, but when you switch back to regular TV, the volume is a lot louder, forcing you to turn the volume down a bit. To eliminate [...]

DVD Catalyst 4 – Quality difference between different profiles

One of the more often asked questions we receive is what profile to choose. For many popular devices, DVD Catalyst 4 offers a variety of profiles, such as Standard and HQ, and for some even Fast and HQ2, and selecting one that fits your needs can be a little confusing. This article is intended to [...]

MP4 Streaming Server 1.1

On November 25, 2010, in Android, Applications, Blackberry, Devices, Droid, Free, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod, NOOK, Playbook, Streaming Server, Xoom, by Mitch

We just updated our MP4 Streaming Server application to work with DVD Catalyst 4.

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