Any Video Converter Ultimate is a good name for this video converter software. It can handle almost anything you throw at it, at least on the input file side. Any Video can convert practically any video file, but it cannot produce any videos. Its list of output files is relatively limited compared to the top products. That kept it out of the top spot.

We still like this product a lot though. It is simple and efficient. Anyone with a PC, iPod or Windows-based media device could benefit from Any Video. The software is great at converting videos downloaded to your computer to compatible formats for your portable media player.

Although we gave Any Video a lot of credit for its number of supported input file types, we are disappointed that it is unable to convert audio files. We saw that capability in other products. The Any Video input file types list includes WMV (Windows Media Video), AVI (with Xvid and DivX codices) MPEG-1 and 2, MOV (QuickTime), MP4 (iPod and PSP), RM (RealMedia) and many more.

Any Video is also one of the few applications that had absolutely no problem converting FLV (Flash Videos) that were already downloaded to our hard drive and videos imported directly from a YouTube URL.

Although it doesn’t offer a very wide variety of output options, this video converter software includes all the basics associated with most popular media players, including the iPod. Additionally, you can adjust your video size to fit your whole computer screen, or a 2.5-inch media player screen.

One of our favorite features included with Any Video Converter is the YouTube import tool. You simply find a video that you like on YouTube or Google video, copy the URL and paste it into Any Video Converter’s application. Within moments, you have the funniest videos on the internet formatted for your portable player.

Any Video allows you to adjust start and stop times, video and audio codices, video and audio bitrates, brightness, sample rate and frame rate. Some features we would like to see Any Video add to this list include the ability to add watermarks and transition tools.

We had no problems using Any Video Converter. All of your output options are clearly labeled in the upper right corner and when you import files, it will only display those that are compatible. Any Video Converter’s output profiles are organized according to device or player, such as Xbox 360, Apple iPod, Sony PSP and so on. This organization makes it very easy for novice users with little knowledge of file formats. Simply find your compatible device and select Convert.

Any Video Converter includes an in-application help manual, a short tutorial guide online and email support. Although there isn’t anything extremely impressive about Any Video’s help, most of our questions were answered by the help manual, and the support staff answered our emails in about a day.