flv

For a piece of freeware in a category that's rife with scams and junk, FLVPlayer4Free stands out as a solid, reasonable program that does what it says, offers a bunch of options in the deal, and does it all without any annoying predatory advertising.

The program starts off with eight skins, most of which provide significantly different looks beyond just a new coat of paint. The options menu, which is only right-click accessible, provides hot-key and menu access to several useful choices. These include fixed resizing to double the original size or full-screen viewing, maintaining the aspect ration, smoothing, … Read more

YouTube is a household name, but most handheld gear doesn't support it. The Flash video grabber and converter YouTube Downloader makes taking your YouTube with you a cinch. Seth Rosenblatt shows you how in this First Look video.

Lightweight and effective, Free FLV Converter is a great way to convert video files from Flash formats into something more versatile. Specializing in formats meant for portable devices, Free FLV Converter also supports AVI and can download embedded SWF or FLV vids directly from the Internet when you punch in the URL.

The app can also perform local searches for vids as well as convert to FLV. Hitting either conversion tab will automatically open a file browser so you can choose your victim. From there, a conversion window opens, and you can change the basics such as settings, including output … Read more

Although it's not bursting at the seams with features and customizations, FLV Player should appeal to users who need a lightweight tool for watching Flash-formatted videos. The freeware program can also stream content directly off the Internet. CNET Download.com Editor Seth Rosenblatt takes it for a spin in this First Look video.

Programs that grab videos from Web sites like YouTube aren't a dime a dozen--they're a dime for 200 dozen. Most of them aren't that good, either, which makes Ashampoo's freeware ClipFinder such a breath of fresh air in the video-grabbing game.

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Sometimes, you just don't need the whole enchilada. Freeware video players like The KMPlayer, GOM Player, VLC Player, and others are excellent at what they do and are generally lightweight, but they look like top-heavy refrigerators compared with these nimble and zippy yet similarly named Flash players. But are Free FLV Player, FLV Player, Riva FLV Player, and BitComet FLV Player all the same, or does one pull ahead of the pack?

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There are tons of YouTube video-grabbing downloads out there, but relatively few also convert those FLV files for later viewing on a cell phone, iPhone, or other flavor of mobile device. Since we don't like using two apps when we can use one, here's a hand-picked collection of apps containing the packaged set.

1. Out of all the downloader/converters I tried, nothing felt more honest than CinemaForge, with its homegrown UFO-shaped interface. The freeware app lays down a simple 6-step downloading and conversion trajectory that includes finding a video's "real" URL, as opposed to … Read more

Two of the most effective tools I've found for keeping videos embedded in Web pages are the Free FLV Converter and RealPlayer. Yes, that RealPlayer.

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Who said free had to be flimsy, too? This robust video converter ably packs a number of file formats into the Flash video format and is stylish to boot. Riva FLV Encoder works well with the usual suspects: AVI, WMV, MPEG, and MOV files. With a graceful, well-designed interface that shows its developers care about details, this video converter also offers a healthy set of conversion options. Frame rate, bit rate, and audio-compression options all can be set to your preferences. The program can "cut" video files into JPEG images, if needed. We were very impressed with Riva'… Read more