We keep a folder of sample videos for converting, which lets us compare both conversion time and quality.

Needless to say, we started with some of those. Many of the formats showed the AMD APP logo, signifying compatibility with enhanced graphics.

The program opened with a Getting Started Guide: Step 1, choose a profile from a drop-down list with just about every option you could ask for, starting with the default choice, iPod. Xilisoft's user interface bears a family resemblance to other video converters, but it's much better designed and rendered, with crisp, attractive icons and excellent functionality. We could easily disable the acceleration with a click or two, of course, but we recommend owners of AMD/ATI or Nvidia CUDA graphics cards let the converter's built-in GPU detection take advantage of all available processing power, since it can improve video quality. Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate opened with a message identifying our AMD graphics card and automatically enabling compatible graphics acceleration - a good start, by any measure. The full-featured Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate is free to try, but conversions are limited to three minutes, which is plenty of time to see how the software works. But if you also watch a lot of video on your smartphone or tablet, or like to make DVDs, or find yourself constantly saving bits of video for later, a decent video converter isn't good enough. If you watch a lot of video on your computer, a decent video converter is an absolute necessity. Xilisoft's Video Converter Ultimate is on the pricey side of premium video converters for home use, but you get automatic profiles enhanced for just about any device or format, automatic graphics card detection and acceleration, video editing, and more.

Xilisoft vs avs video converter