Shrinking those hugeass DV files!

[colinexl]

Hey all, this may sound pretty newb.. but i have these miniDV files that are like taking up way too much space on my HD. I can't export it back to a tape because i have none, and the best way right now that i can think of is just to compress them and burn them onto a DVD. I use to use MediaStudio Pro to do the conversion but it seems to crash everytime i run it. So i'm looking for a good program that will allow me to compress miniDV avi's so i can burn them onto a DVD. Thank for any help!

[holistic]

<--- read the GUIDES

For simple edits, load the DV (*.avi) file into VirtualDub then frameserve it to TMPGenc for encoding into MPEG2.

This method is one of the simplest and cheapest.

For more costly methods there are of course : Premiere, Vegas and that Ulead one :P

QUESTION : What is your objective ? Do you wish to author DVD or just store the video file?

*** note :
VirtualDub needs a DV codec installed to open DV files
You can store ~19 minutes 40seconds of DV material on a DVD if need be.

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[colinexl]

Oh koo thanks.. Actually i was just interested in storing the videos and that's it. I'll try your method and see how it works.. thanks!