We have mixed feelings about Mystik Media's Blaze Media Pro video converter software. The company has performed well in other reviews and this particular software includes a slew of additional features that most of the other products couldn't hold a candle to. However, Blaze Media Pro lacked the features it needed most, like a comprehensive selection of input and output files. Additionally, we found the software was slow loading and used a lot of RAM, making our computers run slower overall.

Blaze Media Pro supports WMV, AVI, MPEG and DAT imports as well as a large selection of compatible audio formats, and it can rip a CD directly from the drive. Unfortunately, it's output selection is more limiting than it's imports, only having the ability to convert to WMV, AVI, MPEG, FLV (Flash) and SWF. This means there is absolutely no support for Apple products like iPod or QuickTime.

We also found that Blaze Media Pro only enabled advanced configuration on certain outputs. The MPEG output provided the most flexibility with codecs and bitrates, but not every output was created equal.

However, if these are all the formats you need and you can get past the steep price tag, Blaze Media Pro is a fairly impressive piece of software. It includes several editing features for both audio and video files, allowing you to include special effects, swipes and text.

Blaze Media included two of our favorite features including the ability to record line-in or streaming music directly from your computer and a "decompile" function that enabled you to break down your entire video frame by frame.

Blaze Media video converter also had a comprehensive online and in-program help guide that made answering any questions we had easy. Sadly, it seems this software put more effort into its additional and special features, and not enough into its compatibility features. Especially, with its inability to work with iPod.