VSO ConvertXtoHD is a Windows application for turning video files into Blu-ray and AVCHD projects with menus, chapters, audio tracks and subtitles. It combines video conversion with disc authoring, so the result can include both the films and the navigation used to select them on a player. Sources can include MP4, MKV, AVI and MOV files, camcorder footage in MTS or M2TS form, and existing disc structures.
The software is paid, with a seven-day full trial. Its license includes continued use and a year of updates; after that period, the last eligible update remains usable. One license permits three simultaneous installations.
Blu-ray or AVCHD output and target capacity
ConvertXtoHD lets you choose between Blu-ray and AVCHD structures and select an output resolution. Blu-ray structures are intended for Blu-ray discs. AVCHD can be written to a Blu-ray disc or DVD, or transferred to USB for a player that supports it. An AVCHD DVD carries HD video in that structure, so the playback device must support AVCHD.
The target capacity controls how much space the finished project may occupy. Choices include BD-25, BD-50, single-layer or dual-layer DVD, and a custom capacity. Conversion works within the selected target rather than simply preserving the sizes of the incoming files. The finished structure can stay in a folder on the computer, become an ISO image, or pass to the built-in burning engine.
Assembling titles from clips
Each imported video becomes a titleset that can be selected in the project tree and played in the preview. Several clips can also be joined within one titleset. Reordering those pieces determines their playback sequence, allowing separate camcorder clips, for example, to form one continuous title.
The cutting tool marks portions to omit from the conversion. Start and end boundaries can be adjusted along the timeline, including in frame increments, and the preview can skip the marked sections to show what remains. These edits affect the converted output while preserving the original files.
Rotation, cropping and padding handle the picture itself. Letterboxing retains the picture with borders, while cropping removes part of the frame to fill the output area. Stretching fills it by changing the proportions. ConvertXtoHD shows framing changes in the preview, and settings can apply to an individual titleset or across the project.
Menu templates and chapters
Menu templates provide layouts for a single movie or a collection of videos. The editor can change text, reposition items, and replace backgrounds or thumbnails with pictures and video extracts. A reusable theme can carry a chosen design into later projects. The menu preview includes a remote-control view for checking navigation between pages and titles.
Chapters provide jump points within each title. ConvertXtoHD can import existing chapters, create them at intervals, or let you place and move them manually. A chapter menu can present these points for selection when the chosen template supports it. Playback settings also determine whether the disc starts a title immediately, plays titles consecutively, returns to a menu, or loops the content.
Audio tracks
Audio streams can be added, removed and auditioned separately in the preview. Their language identifiers and menu labels tell the player and viewer which track is selected, while a default-track setting determines which one starts with the title. A timing offset moves a track forward or backward when it does not align with the picture.
Volume adjustment changes a track’s level, while normalization analyzes and adjusts its loudness. Output choices include AC-3 stereo and AC-3 surround. Automatic handling can copy compatible audio without conversion, but applying sound processing or converting DTS to AC-3 changes that behavior.
Subtitle tracks
Subtitles can remain selectable during playback or be embedded permanently into the converted picture. A matching subtitle filename in the video’s folder can be detected automatically; additional streams can be loaded manually. Each stream can have its own language label, default-playback choice and timing offset.
For editable text subtitles, controls cover the font, color, size, screen position, margins and outline. SRT files and single-style ASS/SSA files support style editing; other subtitle formats retain their existing formatting. The preview shows how the subtitles sit against the video before conversion.
ConvertXtoHD encoding options
Two-pass encoding first analyzes the video and then uses that information to distribute the available bitrate across its scenes. Concurrent conversion and hardware decoding are available, with hardware H.264 encoding on compatible configurations.
For an existing Blu-ray or AVCHD structure, Smart Copy can reuse streams that already meet the selected output’s specifications. Compatibility includes the video resolution, codec and frame rate as well as the audio and subtitle properties. Ordinary MP4, MKV and AVI inputs do not qualify for this structure-based copying path.
