VideoDrive

3.7.07

3.7.07

See all Versions

Despite MacUpdate announcing a version 3.7, the latest version is 3.6.

Installed the app. Will not accept registration code. Can u help. shanshrrtmd@gmail.com

Deals with any video file I throw at it. Automatically processes them, downloads metadata and adds them to iTunes as movies or TV shows. And initiates a sync with my iPhone afterwards so my videos are copied. All without any interaction on my part. There's no other app that does this. Highly recommended.

While VideoDrive is excellent at adding all my videos to iTunes, I do wish Apple would release an overhauled version of iTunes as the interface has become too bloated and confusing.

Save your money. This app is mediocre at best and you have a number of free alternatives that perform just as well if not better.

Its been said may times by many Mac users.. Paid once, not paying again.. never have and never will. Plenty of other apps out there to choose from that are free, or free for ever. Adios VideoDrive.

It worked just fine until version 3, now it doesn't work at all, and I can't figure it out, can't select help.

Paid once, not paying again.

When I try to import an FLV file it takes me to IMDB.com and asks me to 'accept' some random movie (What's THAT about?) ….and then the import fails. Apparently VideoDrive "makes it easy to add videos to iTunes with or without converting them or losing quality" but it doesn't look like it does anything of the sort. I just want to import an FLV video into iTunes and play it! I'm happy to pay if it works, so throw me a bone here chaps!

I"ve been using VideoDrive for quite some time and it's worth every penny...... The new update with version 2.6 is a serious improvement. It's an amazing app for processing a large number of video's. You just put the video to the app and it appears in iTunes, already tagged and with picture. It saves me a lot of time and work for me. There's also a very good manual and whenever I had a question, the support team always answered and helped me promptly ... Keep going like this guys

I bought this software yesterday and downloaded the file, however when i go to instal it either on my Macbook Pro or my 27" Mac you see nothing happen is there a prob with this version as it wont install

I purchased the full version through MacUpdate. Whenever, I enter the registration info emailed, I get a message stating the license is invalid. I used the email address provided me (not my own). wmskaggs

At first it sounded like a good idea because I have many HD movies in .mkv format, and have been toying with the idea of finding a way to watch them on my AppleTV without going through the hassle of converting 200+ movies (and not having to use Plex on my hacked AppleTV 2); but after reading the Support page, the reference files can only be seen on your computer. The next viable option would be to convert them to iTunes, which brings me back to square one. I read it uses Handbrake to make the conversion to iTunes, which is pretty good, but if you are planning from the get go to convert your files to iTunes to have them played on iTunes, AppleTV, iPhone, or iPad-maybe I am missing something here-but, why pay 10 bucks (or 20) for an app that relies on an already free app to make the conversion? Why not download Handbrake (which is free), set it to any of the AppleTV, iPhone or iPad preset of your choice, add your videos to the queue and let Handbrake work its magic? Again, I apologize if I missed something, but I believe the title is a little misleading.

I have some MKV movies from 7GB to 11GB. As I bought an apple TV I would love to see these movies on my tv. I am trying hard to find some software to get help! Don't try Videodrive, it is a waste of time. You will see that it would take around 200 hours to convert. If you pass these 200 hours without a crash then you're fine! I did not have this luck. Today in 2011 I expect that converting a video should not be such a big deal. for me it definitely is!

I've reviewed this app in the past and i gave it a high rating. After using for 6 months, I regret buying it. I planned to use it for tagging downloaded TV Shows and movies. For the movies part, it does fill the metadata correctly, but for TV shows, it's quite a mess. I've tried to contact the developer to fix these issues but they remain unresolved. Point in case, the American Dad TV Show, take a look: http://s3.amazonaws.com/ember/ylwhz6qGrn98cYG84uWl9jj5WC4UYXFd_m.png So, if you want to automatically tag TV shows, steer clear of this one.

New error on launching v2.1. ===================== iTunes Media Folder Location error VideoDrive could not automatically locate your iTunes Media Folder. Set it manually to continue. You can find the location in iTunes Advanced Preferences. Error:2010-06-02 21:21:23.182 defaults[3463:10b] The domain/default pair of (com.apple.iapps, iTunesRecentDatabases) does not exist ===================== I set it manually and get the same error message on the next launch.

I am very disappointed with VideoDrive... I've tried it on 2 systems now, mac mini 10.5.8 and macbook10.6.3. 2 different itunes libraries, 2 different internet connections - the damn software will only do around 10% of the meta-tagging. I would heartily recommend Sapphire for Front Row or Hacked ATV, or iFlicks - which is way way better and more solid than videodrive I feel slightly scammed :-(

To Jeff H., chances are you won't know what will happen when you install VideoDrive because the bums who make it routinely refuse to include release notes. That's because the developer wants us to do their dirty work for them and this is really annoying. OK, if VideoDrive were free, I'd have no justification for complaining, but those of us who bought this program, we deserve better! By the way,since I updated to Snow Leopard, the last two or three updates absolutely refuse to convert a movie. I use VisualHub, a program that hasn't been developed in well over a year, to do my conversion. This is a testament to how crappy VideoDrive has become.

Just got a brand new mini today running Snow Leopard and Video Drive won't work. Keeps saying it needs to update Quicktime 7 and then quits. Stinks...I really love this app. Anyone have any ideas? Are there alternative apps for SL? Thanks

To the mental muppet in the room, I expressed annoyance with developers who release tiny, incremental updates to their software practically every week (or twice a week), listing one or two "improvements" like "rounder buttons and other superficial interface elements, without making any significant usability or stability improvements. My complaint about VideoDrive last week is that it simply STOPPED CONVERTING MOVIES and I would like the developer to make it work again--because I paid for it-- not just to announce new shiny buttons or color scheme refinement. Developers like this produce frequent meaningless update announcements just to get more free exposure for their product, but they often won't do the hard work necessary to make a good product that was worthy of what I paid for it. In contrast, I gave the example of the noble VisualHub, which hasn't been updated IN YEARS because the developer discontinued work on it for personal reasons (and who very nobly stopped accepting payment for it because he was no longer doing the work), but IT somehow manages to convert my movies for me, whereas VideoDive will not. In contrast, if VideDrive is supposedly improving their software constantly, why doesn't it work anymore? I'm sorry that you seem incapable of understanding my point or is it perhaps that you have some other agenda to defend a company's business model and practices or software that you want to refute as being defective for some, just because (you say) it works fine for you.

Here's an update: Since the last ten times (at least) I've tried to convert a movie, VideoDrive 1.10.2 has failed miserably every time AND THIS IS WITH CHAPTERING TURNED OFF as the developer recommended. As described below, I have all components of MacOS 10.6.1 running in 64-bit mode. Nothing has changed in the last six weeks except that VideoDrive stopped converting movies. Amazingly, VisualHub has converted movies just fine and IT has not been updated in years. So as the months pass, apparently there's still no functional version of VideoDrive available for people running Snow Leopard in full 64-bit mode. It's getting to be a real bummer.

The new VideoDrive beta still does not work with Snow Leopard. I installed the today's beta of VideoDrive for Snow Leopard on my new iMac, exactly as Aroona software recommended here on MacUpdate's web ie and on Aroona's own website. I already have the QuickTime 7 components installed as part of Mac OS X 10.6. However, the beta doesn't work. After trying to import two .avi files, I got the following error messages: "QuickTime could not process your video. Please try again: QuickTime Player 7 got an error: Can't get every chapter of document... (error: -1728) The second error message was "Import of [moviename].avi failed because QuickTime could not process your video. Please try again: QuickTime Player 7 got an error: Can't get every chapter of document [moviename].avi. (error: -1728)"

Just updated to version 1.10 and noticed that my copy is no longer registered. I remember reading somewhere when I purchased my license a couple of months back that all updates before version 1.9.x.x would be included for free so does that mean I have to purchase another license since it's no longer 1.9.x.x? I can't find much information concerning licensing on the developer's website. If I need to buy a new license then I might as well go back to using version 1.9.8.07 because it does the job and I'm not interested in spending more money on features I most likely won't use.

VideoDrive and Limewire would have to share the prize in any competition for the flood of superficial updates that seem to be rather transparent free extra publicity for these products. (Limewire can be excused for this since it's free.) Now, don't get me wrong; I love VideoDrive, what it does, and usually how it does it...except for the past couple of weeks that is. Since then, VideoDrive stopped working for me completely. It hangs with that endless Technicolor spinning ball, saying that it's trying to register with Growl. (Disabling Growl, restarting the system, or trashing the prefs file doesn't fix this.) I always end up having to force-quit VideoDrive and then go back to my old standby, VisualHub, which, although it is showing its age, still works reliably for simple video conversion tasks. Ironically, there seems to have been no VideoDrive update lately that fixes the problem with freezing. Maybe I'm being punished! ;-) Any developer who puts out an incremental update to a paid-for program should at least have the professional integrity publish the changes right away so we can judge for ourselves if it's worth the effort to update that program, or if we're just getting smoke blown up our butts.

It really annoys me that the developer of this application only bothers to send paying customers an updated version only every three days. How lazy! If they were earning their shareware fees, they would provide a new update three times per day, eight days per week. The added benefit for the developer is that that they would get all the extra free advertising of their product with shameless transparency. (We certainly yearn for more of that!) The added benefit for us customers is that we could waste more of our valuable time constantly downloading and installing VideoDrive, like version 1.9.8.02.06.321rc because we all know how irresistible and indispensable those new features are, like the more rounded edges to the button on the thirty-third preference option, or that incredibly important changed word spelling in the help menu, or the new localization into Finno-Ungaric. Besides my minor gripe, I do think this is an excellent program.

I just bought this a couple days ago so I will give it more time to prove itself but after these few days my experiences have been mixed. When it works, it does just what its supposed to do and does it faster than any other method. But I've had several .mov that once in Front Row will not play and even when I scroll over them Front Row goes into a sort of loop and I must force-quit to get back to my desktop. Anyone else with this?

I've come to rely on VideoDrive quite a bit since setting up my media centre. I routinely use it seek out cover art for my video collection as well as adding useful metadata. It does, however, have its idiosyncrasies, mainly to do with the metadata functions. For example, it has a distinct penchant for turning up "Doug's 1st Movie" for many automatic metadata searches. (It did this just now when searching for "Citizen Kane"!) If you re-type the movie title and search again it usually finds the correct movie. The other thing is an unfortunate interface arrangement. There is a "Set Metadata" button for starting a search on your iTunes selection(s) and below it a "Preferences" button. If you want to switch between manual and automatic metadata you have a trip to the preferences ahead of you. If you just hit the "Set Metadata" button there is no cue to what you'll get-you have to remember what you set your preferences to last time you used it. Surely it would make more sense to have a few more buttons at this top level such as "Auto-set metadata" and "Manually set metadata" (with a brief summary of the settings that will be applied)? In summary, it's a bit rough around the edges but it's better than doing everything manually in iTunes and I gladly keep using it.

Hmmm, first off, I always find it suspicious when there's so many good reviews and they promote features. You think the dev came up with a program to create user names for him? I downloaded this app and have to say it's kinda lacking. I guess it's a plus that they combine the two steps of adding to iTunes and meta tagging into one step. At $20 I'd expect it to at least tag the movie rating and it'd be nice for it to display movie poster size (so you know the quality of art (important for your AppleTV)) and it'd also be nice if it could tag actors, directors, producers and chapters like some free apps do (like MetaX). And while MetaX may have some kinks/bugs before I declare it the ultimate tool it too combines the two steps into one (tagging and importing) and like I said...it's free.

This constant updating is getting a little ridiculous... Is version 1.6.3.03.1 soon to arrive?

>To avoid loss of productivity time keep Aroona Software's upgrade philosophy in mind before you try to upgrade to 1.5.10. "VideoDrive will expire when upgrading to version 1.5.10 from earlier versions. Users will have to re-apply for a registration key. Please email us your current registration key with your paypal email address and we will send you a new registration key free of charge. When starting version 1.5.10 for the first time, VideoDrive will propose to create a mail message for you. Once you receive your new registration code, you can enter it in the VideoDrive Preferences, together with your Paypal email address. We are forced to make these changes to accomodate to the growing user base of VideoDrive and to guarantee the integrity of current and future personal licenses. For security reasons, we have to send out the new registration codes on a per-request basis. We apologize for this inconvenience. " >I wrote them that I dislike such uncomfortable updating procedure to get their next beta version 1.5.10 (decrementing amount of bugs but still no major improvements in workflow). Please judge their Email answer for yourself (read their last threaten sentence!): "Your request for a new key has been received and will be handled as soon as possible. Due to possible integrity violations, this process can take up to 12 hours. We understand this process does not offer the most optimal customer experience. However, we are forced to take these actions as the result of users who use illegal methods to obtain user licenses, compromising the integrity of the personal license system. We like to remind you that you are not forced to upgrade to this new version and that your current installation continues to work. Aroona Software is committed to enhancing VideoDrive continuously and free of charge for current customers. We believe this offers a better customer experience rather than keeping all updates for a paying 2.0 release. If we receive more complaints about our update path, we will definitely consider revising our policy." > Trying to continue with 1.5.9 shows the message: "Trial version expired". One last sentence to the guys at Aroona: Please handle your customers/beta testers with more respect and politeness! Mac users don't support M$-like behaviour.

Really like the app, but it really really needs an auto-update with all these updates coming out. If I didn't check this website I'd still be using version 1.3

VD1.5.7.01 starts up with AppleScript Error "sh: /Applications/: Is a directory (1)". German OSX 10.5.2

Buggy version with my licence number. Impossible to enter it even if i am a regular licence user, the button is grayed and i cant import new movies in iTune. WHERE IS YOUR PREF FILE TO DELETE IT ?

WRNING!!!! Demo clearly indicates that you can modify 12 videos for free! Not only that this app deleted my Metadata...It replaced my Metadata/description of the file with a 'Added by VideoDrive (unregistered)! THERE IS NO WAY TO GO BACK UNLESS YOU PAY FOR IT!

This really is a great app and if you use Frontrow a lot with avi movies this is perfect. It shows all your movies like the iTunes trailer section. Bought it 2 weeks ago when it was still version 1.3 and it's good to see the developer(s) are making better and updated version so quickly

This sounds really promising, but I'm encountering some strange problem: I was trying to import the last three episodes of a TV show and everything seemed to work fine -- but when I checked in iTunes only one was (correctly) placed in "TV shows", the other two ended up in "Movies"...!? Makes no sense and I can't get it right, it seems...! Tried importing the files separately as well as a single folder containing all three -- the result is always the same...! :((( Any ideas or suggestions...?!

If you just want to watch .avi videos via Front Row..just install the latest copy of Perian (donationware)...then drag all your .avi files into your Movies folder...launch Front Row..navigate to to your Movies folder and enjoy!

i'd warn buyers to beware this app until they have proven it does what it says, which may not be entirely possible if some features are crippled until AFTER you've paid for it. The reason I say this is that we are told that on MacUpdate that "VideoDrive makes it easy to add videos to iTunes without converting them or losing quality." The developer's website also backs that up. But if you squint at the tiny text on the VideoDrive webpage, the following statement: "(*) reconversion in iTunes may be required to copy videos to iPod, iPhone and AppleTV. Consult the support page for more technical information." Right away this indicates to me that something is wrong here and people should not reward software developers for over-hyping their products' capabilities and promising things that may not be real. I think we've all been burned that way. I, for one, am going to test this product and definitely buy it if it does all that the developer promises up front. If not, you will hear from me again in this forum.