How to Save Online Videos

Converting, transcoding, re-encoding — these are just some of the words to learn when it comes to collecting and viewing your favorite videos. Want a YouTube clip on your Xbox? Convert and re-encode. How about DVD video on an iPod? Convert and transcode. Or is it transcode and convert? It’s all rather confusing, really.

Thankfully, a number of online tools have appeared to help you out.

• TechCrunch took a sneak peek at Hey!Watch, and some of the features are quite impressive. But you’ll have to wait until they open to the public.
• If you just want to get the YouTube clip on your phone right now, Vixy is a NewTeeVee favorite. Enter the URL, choose the format, click. It’s free, but there’s a limit to how much data you can send and receive each day.
• Zamzar doesn’t just convert video, but also converts audio, images and text documents as well. And the list of supported formats is truly staggering. Popgadget took it for a test spin recently.
• With only a 50mb limit, you won’t be able to convert a whole lot of video with Media Convert. But DVGuru points out that it does allow you to change the size, frame rate and bitrate after choosing from 10 different output formats.
• While it doesn’t convert videos, KeepV is an easy way to download clips from YouTube, Google and MySpace to archive, watch or convert on your machine. There’s also a handy Explorer toolbar widget.
• Mobile Converter from Elecard would be a good offline app for videos downloaded with KeepV. Even cooler is their free online converter demo — but you’ll have to be running Explorer on a PC to use it.