Easy Video Conversion - Make DVDs

I've just spend the last few days using Windows Movie Maker to create a video of some students who have been visiting for the past two weeks. Yesterday I ran a workshop where they got a chance to build robots and then create a movie using WMM and a webcam.

I've got all the movies complete, and for a free package Movie Maker has a lot of features and does a very good job. The limitation is that it only creates Windows Media (.wmv) files.

One of the students asked me if I can make the movies playable on a DVD so I figured I would look into how it can be done. I've got some calls in to my people and I'm waiting to hear back from them, but I did find some free software that might help.

First off, this one is time-sensitive: If you've never been to Giveaway Of The Day before, you should definitely check it out. Today's offering is a video and audio converter that lets you join video clips of different formats into one file, then save the whole thing in one of many options for a final format.

The deal with GAOTD is that you have a limited amount of time in which to download and install the software. After that, its not free, but you can buy the software from the vendor. So check it out for great software.

Now, after searching the comments very briefly, I found one COMPLETELY FREE piece of software you might want to check out: MediaCoder.

Not only is the software free (the author is of course asking for donations) but it appears to be extensible, and even programmable in XUL! I love XUL!
Oh I see. The guy is offering the software free because he has bigger products available for purchase. More power to him!

So if you are looking for media conversions or ways to make DVDs, check out the software I've just described. Also check with GiveawayOfTheDay and you might find a great new peice of software you've been looking for.