The evolution of computers reveals a trend towards multimedia centres where users can listen to music, watch videos, surf the net, work and view photo albums. If you've gotten your hands on media files, you've probably been in the situation at least once where you had to convert the files to transfer them on a different device (such as a phone or an iPod) or in order to play it in another application. SUPER makes audio and video conversion a breeze thanks to a well presented interface and a slew of options.SUPER's single window interface is divided into audio and video and the selection of output options is done via the three drop down menus at the top. We appreciated the number of formats available. SUPER allows you to convert movies and music to play on recent devices such as Apple iPod, Sony PSP and 3gp for use on Sony Ericsson and Nokia mobile phones. The huge bit rate menu, from 64 to 9792 Kbps, means you can truly optimize and quicken the conversion process. We were disappointed however that SUPER only offered 2 video codec outputs (H263 and MPEG-4) and 3 audio codecs (AAC, AMR wideband and narrowband).
On the audio side, SUPER allows you to select your language from individual tracks, but audio is limited to one channel and one sampling frequency (8000). It seems the program is more suited to video conversion. Luckily the program includes recognized encoders such as ff mpeg or mencoder, ensuring a decent conversion process for both audio and video.
Use the buttons at the bottom of the interface to play files and check their quality after having converted them. The 'Player Options' button gives you the chance to tweak video features such as aspect, saturation, hue, brightness and contrast. All files converted or waiting to be converted are visible in a list and you can verify the streaming link and the output status.
In SUPER, we found a very open media converter that even the klutziest of users will get to grips with. If you watch a lot of videos and movie clips and would like to be able to enjoy them anywhere and on any device, SUPER is a program you'll need to get your hands on.
Review by Cyril Roger
