Frequently Asked Questions

Questions about licenses and updates

I have not received the activation email

If you don't receive the activation email after a few minutes, it's probably because our email was rejected, either because the email was considered as spam or because our server appeared in a email blocklist.

We do our best to keep our activation server away from email blacklisting. We have never engaged in spam activity and strictly enforce the security of our activation server, which can send only activation email and nothing else.

However, we can still be caught in "boycott" email blacklist that include all the servers of our hosting service because other servers hosted by the same provider are engaged in spam activities.
As our hosting service is OVH, the biggest in EU one and world's #3, we are regularly affected by this problem.
Email delivery depend of the will of 3rd party, with which we have zero influence.

So if your email provider decide to reject email coming from us, there is nothing we can do about it.
In such a case, the solution is to contact the technical support for assistance, which always has the ability to activate any of our software as long as you provide to support team your computer ID.

I purchased the software and did not receive my license key, what should I do?

First of all, check your spam/trash folder.
Licences are sent automatically and are sometimes mistaken for spam by email providers. You can also retrieve your licence by clicking here.
If you still don't receive anything, send in a support request using our support form with your full name, email address used when you purchased and what registration service you used.

When will I receive my product?

As soon as your payment is received your license key is sent to you by email immediately (even if you have ordered the backup CD). You can download the latest trial version from the download section and use your unlock key to unlock it. If you have specifically ordered a backup CD (additional cost and only available through Avangate), the delivery time for the CD is the following:

USA: 7 business days
Europe: 9 business days
Rest of world: 21 business days

I lost my license key, can you send it again?

In our support section you will find the option to retrieve your license key.

My email address has changed, what information do I need to send to have my registration information updated?

Please use this link to have your new address added in our database automatically If you have problems then please write to our support team

I have lost the software, how do I get it back?

You can download our software at anytime from the download section. If you need an older version corresponding with an older license key you have you can get it by requesting your 'lost' license key again and the corresponding download for that version will be sent to. If you need a very specific version please contact our support team and explain why you need that version in particular.

My unlock key does not work, how do I fix it?

If you have just purchased the product, make sure you have downloaded the latest version of the product that is available on the VSO Software website. Copy and Paste your key as it figures in email that was sent to you. To see how to do this or to learn how to copy and paste, check out this guide.

What is your upgrade policy?

Unless you bought a lifetime licence (No longer available for purchase) or a Goldmember licence (No longer available for purchase), each license allows one year of free upgrades beginning from the date of purchase( or 1 month for the Downloader 6). After this year, if you have purchased with Avangate, a renewal offer will be sent to you by email. You can also log on to your account to get the discounted offer for the upgrade: upgrade page. If you do not want to upgrade you can continue to use the last working version. The version does not expire after one year. If you have a license problem after one year, contact us and we will provide you with the last working update for your license. Please note however that we only provide technical support for the latest working version. If you are a Goldmember or have a lifetime licence for certain programs, all updates are free for life.

How do I unlock the software?

Copy and paste your license key into the software. Make sure you have downloaded the product that corresponds with the key you purchased. You may check out this guide for help.

What is your refund policy?

We provide a free trial version for each product and strongly advise to test the software before you buy it, to make sure it fits your needs. We only provide refunds if a technical issue cannot be solved. If you do encounter a technical problem, please use this tool to contact us

Can I order the software on CD?

If you place your order with Avangate or Regnow (not ShareIt or PayPal) you have the option to add to your order a "Backup CD". A key will be sent to you by email once your payment has been received and the delivery time for the CD is the following:
USA: 7 business days
Europe: 9 business days
Rest of world: 21 business days

Can I buy the product with in a store?

Our products can only be bought online, from our website and other authorized reseller websites. Each licence is personal and cannot be transfered to a third party. Please do not buy from Ebay or second hand shops, as the licences sold are often pirated.

Is there a functional difference between the trial and the registered version?

During a limited time (typically 7 days), there will be no functionnal difference from the registered version, except some popup to remind that the software is in unlimited trial mode for a limited time. This unlimited trial period start from the 1st use of the software on a given computer, and requires an Internet connection. Once this fully featured trial period is over, or if no internet connection is available, several limitations will be introduced, such as limitation of output duration,video watermark, The unlimited trial period doesn't reset / restart when re-installing or updating the software. We highly recommend to use the unlimited trial period to extensively test the software before you buy, to make sure your hardware is compatible with the product you want to obtain.

I have lost my licence details and do not remember which email address I used to register

Please send us all information you may have about your registration: order ID, possible last names used, approximate date of purchase, on which website, if you remember the payment method (PayPal, Credit Card, Check, Wire Transfer) and maybe the different email addresses you are using. If you have any license/registration emails from your purchase please include them with your reply.

My Goldmember key does not unblock my product.

All our products have their own key. if you're a Goldmember you can retrieve the keys here.

Technical questions about the products

Why is my burned disc jumpy, blocky, skips etc when played?

There are many reasons why the playability of a disc may not be smooth. The disc could be simply dirty, scratched, etc. It is possible that the type of disc you burned is not a format that is accepted by your player (for example not all DVD players read +R or RW media). There is a lot of poor and good quality media on the market and not every player will read any media. For the last two cases above a computer should be able to play these discs without any playback problems and it is possible on a different player the disc would read back fine, it is just a matter of player/disc compatibility. Some brands we recommend are Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden. Another reason why a disc is jumpy, skips, etc. can be low burn quality. Burning at reduced speeds can increase the quality of your disc and make it more readable. If your disk contains video and the playback is not smooth or in black and white, check to see that you have the correct region set for your DVD player (PAL, NTSC or Automatic) and then check to see what format you burned your video. The format of your video needs to be the same as what your DVD player is capable of reading.

Why does it take so long to convert my file?

Conversion time and speed varies from system to system. As a general rule of thumb the playing time of the video file is the time it will take to convert the file. If converting takes considerably longer, make sure that your system is updated, hard disk is defragmented, hardware is functioning well (not suffering from overheating), sufficient free space is available, and system is free from any virus, trojan, etc.

System Requirements: Memory Processor
Minimum: 512 MB Pentium 3
Recommended: 1 GB Pentium 4 (2 GHz) or Athlon 2000+

I get an error "Playback prohibited by area limitation", how do I fix it?

Each Region has its own format. If the DVD was not made with the correct format then your DVD player may give you this error. Some DVD players can read both formats, for some you need to specify what format you want it to read.

NTSC is for North America and some parts of Asia (Japan). NTSC standard is 29.97 FPS (frames per second). PAL is mostly Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and South America. PAL standard is 25 FPS (frames per second).

On my converted videos there is a message in the middle of my screen, referring to your website. How do I stop that from being put on my videos?

To stop the watermark being added to the output you need to purchase a license for the software, once unlocked all future conversions will not have the watermark added to the output.

I bought a license for ConvertXtoDVD but the watermark still shows when I play my DVDs, why?

Only conversions done after the software has been registered will not have the message (message is printed on video during conversion process).

You would need to re-convert your original files as the watermark that is added with the trial version cannot be removed.

Why am I receiving access violation errors?

If for any case you are receiving an access violation and you are using a trial or registered version, please make sure you are using the latest version of the product first, then contact the support team for analysis, and explain if you get the error under all circumstances or just with one particular file.

Make sure your computer is free of any virus which could be another reason why the software is malfunctioning.

How do fix audio/video synchronization problems in ConvertXtoDVD?

The first thing to check it you have a video file that converted and the result is out of sync is to watch the original video file and see if it was already out of sync to begin with.

Once the video file is loaded in ConvertXtoDVD, play it in the preview. If it plays in sync there than the chances of the final result being in sync are very high. If in the preview the video and audio are out of sync.

Then in the audio tab in the advanced section use the offset setting to modify the audio so that it comes sooner or later. Use the preview to check your work and once it is fine, then press convert.

If you have burned the result to DVD, see if the result of the converted file (before it was burned to DVD) has the same synchronization problems in order to make sure that the audio problems are not due to bad media. You may have to redo the conversion with the option "Burn result to DVD" and/or "Delete folder after successful burn" unchecked (in settings under "Burning" tab). Use the latest version of VLC (www.videolan.org) to watch the result.

If the original file has been made by yourself with software such as Adobe or Pinnacle Studio 8 you may want to try saving the output with the original software in a different format that ConvertXtoDVD may handle better.

Of course you can always submit the file to VSO, so we can test the file to see if a correction can be made to the software.

Why does my computer shut down or reboot when trying to convert a file?

This can happen if your system is overheating, suffering from another malfunction, or signs of being infected by a virus.

How come there are no subtitles on my DVD?

First of all, note that subtitles do not appear in the preview window during conversions (unless your subtitles are already embedded in the video).

If you have added subtitles to your project but you cannot see them on your TV, press the "subtitle" button on your DVD player's remote control. This should activate the subtitles.

Also, if you watch the file on your computer, you might have to activate the subtitles through the options of the media player.

Why is the "burn" button grayed out and I cannot click on it?

If your burner is recognized by the software, but you cannot click on the burn button that is because your burner does not recognize the media that is inserted in the drive, or it will not accept to burn onto that disc (because it is not blank).

If the disc is blank, make sure that it is the type of disc required for your project (CD if you are trying to burn an audio CD, DVD if you are trying to burn video, etc). It can be that the burner simply does not like that type of disc, try another type or brand of media. Making sure DMA mode is activated and that you are using the latest firmware available will increase the compatibility of your burner with various media (see manufacturer's website).

How do I update the software ? Where can I get the latest version ?

To update the software you simply need to download and install the latest version of the program available on the download page

You do not need to uninstall the version you have in your PC, the new version will be installed automatically over the old one and the registration information will be kept. To update to a major new version (ie ConvertXtoDVD 3 to ConvertXtoDVD 4), you will need a new key, that you can retrieve here

My files to burn are 4.38 GB (or bigger) and I am using a 4.7 GB DVD disc, why won't it fit on the media?

A 4.7 GB disc will only hold 4.37 GB of data, the computer sees 1 GB as 1,073,741,824 bytes.

The disc manufactures see 1 GB as 1,000,000,000 bytes. So for them a 4.7GB DVD disc holds 4,700,000,000 bytes.

That divided by 1,073,714,824 (a real GB) makes 4.37 GB of real data storage.

You say I can only put 4.37 GB of data on a DVD, so how do I put larger movies on a disc?

Either you transcode the DVD to reduce its size or you use a Double Layer media, which holds 8.5 GB, if your writer supports that.

What is a transcoder and where do I get one?

A transcoder is used to compress a DVD movie to fit it onto a normal 4.37 GB media. Visit this page to download such products:

Why won't my backups made with BlindWrite work in other computers?

You should download and install EZ-Play (formerly know as Autoplay) on that computer.
EZ-Play is installed when Blindwrite is installed.

CopyToDVD and BlindWrite do not handle encrypted DVDs. What can I do?

In some countries bypassing the copy protection is illegal, that's why we did not include this feature. You can try to find some tools to make this possible such as DVD Decrypter, DVD43, or DVDIdle.

Please keep in mind this may be illegal and we take no responsibility for the legal consequences this might cause to you.

Here are some products that may work for you.

What is the Patin Coufin driver and do I need it?

Patin Couffin is a low Level driver; it is the interface between VSO software your hardware for burning. It is only needed for on XP machines with Service pack 2. The current burning engine uses Advanced SPTI which is available in XP (with service pack 3), Vista, Windows 7 so the Patin Couffin driver is no longer necessary and does not need to be installed.

How to burn another copy without out having to convert again?

With ConvertXtoDVD and Blu-Ray converter you don't have to burn your files straight after conversion if you don't want to. You can also burn your converted files as many times as you want if you keep them on your hard drive.

For ConvertXtoDVD: Go into the "Settings" select the "Burning" tab, make sure the option "delete folder after succesful burn" is NOT CHECKED. To burn another copy of an already converted file, go to "action" and click on "burn an already converted project". Conversions by default are saved in this location: My Documents/ConvertXtoDVD/videofilename. This location can be changed in the general tab of the settings (the working folder).

Please read this tutorial for more info.

For Blu-ray Converter, click on the "wheel" icon on the top right , Click on "Tools" then "Burn an already ripped DVD project"

How do I completely remove/uninstall VSO product from my computer?

You can use our CleanVSO tool to completely remove 1 or all our products from your machine.

Why does it say my disk is protected? What do I need to do?

Check out this guide to see what to do if your disk is protected. Basically you need a decryptor in order to convert your disk to another format. Reading the guide will help.

Frequently Asked Questions

Find a list of common problems and their solutions

Questions about licenses and updates

Technical questions about the products