also a lot of my conversions (anything to mpeg) seems to just stop for no reason whatsoever when it gets 3/4 the way through, but to avi it works fine..
This page has a lot of guides on how to convert files using more complex programs. I lik to this because gx transcoder, for some reason doesn't work on some users computers. I added that program because not only was it free, but it was incredibly easy to use.
others have suggested VirtualDub, but i have had the same problems you are having with that program, plus it takes a good 3 solid weeks to get acclaimated to VirtualDub.
Doom9, for their guides, use different programs and tools for converting between many different programs, but they all seem to work.
Is there a way to force Auto Gordian Knot to encode a 320x240 resolution? There's occaasional text below the main area of the video I'm encoding and using the auto-size, it cuts it off. I would normally not bother, but it's another language and it's part of the show. I've searched for the answer and all I found was this thread.