JOHNHAMMONDS My review of MovieGate v3.0.7. I bought this app about 2 months ago trying to find an app that would do what "ConvertXToDVD" would do when I was on Windoze. VisualHub won't give you a menu. All the other programs, Toast, Aimersoft, Xilisoft, ImToo, Wondershare, 4Media, etc... They will do what what MovieGate will do (most will even do MKV files), but they cost more and they all put a "Video" button on your menu. I personally don't care for that and MovieGate gives you the option to use text, video or a picture. It will also allow you to place that "button" anywhere and even ConvertXToDVD v3" wouldn't allow you to do that. MovieGate will get the job done as long as you don't need to convert straight from MKV. When I first tried to import a MKV, it popped up a window that it needed to download "OpenSource Tools". I wasn't connected to the internet at that time so the next time I was on the Net, I tried a MKV again. It just hung there for awhile. I figured it was downloading the tools it needed and then would go on. After several minutes I got tired of waiting and just closed the app and reopened it. Every MKV I've tried to open in MovieGate since then has just hung up. I had one finally go through one time, but I couldn't chapter it and it just hung up in the processing shortly after it started. As far as conversions go, it is a fairly quick app. Not the fastest, not the slowest, but it gets the job done and all the movies I've ever converted have worked without issue in my stand alone DVD player. The file size is never what it says it will be though. It has a slider to adjust the bitrate to hit the best quality you can get and hit the "4400mb" target it wants. With a 700-1400mb AVI, the finished movie is rarely over 1.5-2-5GB, not the suggest 4.3GB. Another issue I've noticed, at least with V3.0.7, is that the "update" function obviously doesn't work. As I can see from MacUpdate, V3.0.8 is out, but when I hit "update" the app tells me I have the latest version. The thing that annoys me most about MovieGate is what I call the "Hideous Ring". When you do select to use "text" as your button and not a video or picture, it puts this awful "square ring" (usually unevenly) around the text to highlight it on the menu. That "square ring" either needs to be removed or at least removable in the settings. I have found no way to remove it. Example of said "Square Ring": http://i47.tinypic.com/iog482.jpg For it's purpose, it gets the job done if you want a menu with your converted movie. It gets a "A" for effort and the $20 price tag, it's hard to beat. But to compare to "ConvertXToDVD", this app still has quite a way to go. I hope the author keeps working on this app as VSO has adamantly stated they are not doing a OS X version.
(Version 3.08) | 
