Joining and Converting Video Files

[Apota]

I found this program called MediaJoin. The problem is it lets you convert and join from AVI, WMV, etc. to AVI, Mpeg1, Mpeg2, WMV, etc. I have a number of video files both in AVI and WMV formats, that I want to join, and don't know what format to save it in. For example. I have 6 WMV files that are 25MB a piece that I wanted to join into one file. So, I thought that if I joined them and converted them to AVI with a DivX codec it would be small and good quality, and I configured Divx to the smallest file size, and the final file was over 525MBs. I was thinking that if you joined the files they would only be around 150MBs, the total of the sizes of all the files put together. The original files are 400 x 300 resolution and that's the same resolution of the final file. Media Join lets you convert to the different formats and use any of the codecs that are installed on your computer. So, I have tons of different options. I just don't know what to do or use. I also don't understand why the final file is almost 4x bigger then the original files put together, when both is the same resolution. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. I just want to join AVI and WMV files together and convert them into a format that would be the smallest and best quality. Thanks for your help and time...

[guns1inger]

You can't compare relative file sizes of different codec when converting. They each use different methods and have different pros and cons. By the sounds of it, mediajoin hides most of the settings from you, giving you a limited ability to really influence the file size beyond it's preset choices.

[Apota]

Well, it actually gives you lots of options. I just don't know what options to use, or what formats or codecs to use. You can actually configure the codecs settings individually. I was just going to use Media Join to join the files together with the same file format, but even when I did that the file was huge compared to the original size. So, I just need to know what formats or codecs I should use to join AVI and WMV files, etc. Also, if the problem is with MediaJoin then what should I use instead that will do the same thing and is better? All I want to do is join the file AVI and WMV files together and maybe convert them into another format if I can have them a good quality and smaller size. Thanks...

[guns1inger]

If you can set the option individually, then you need to learn how to optimise Xvid/Divx. I'll leave that for the AVI gurus.

[Apota]

I'm using DivX Pro 5.2.1 Codec and under General I have it configure for Slow that says it's the smallest file size, 1-pass and 780 kbps bitrate. Under Video Tab I have nothing checked under Video Settings and under Advanced I have Source Pre-processing turned off, Interlacing Progressive source, Scene change threshold 50%, Max Keyframe interval 300 frames, and Quantization Type H.263. Basically it's at all the defaults. I'm not even sure if DivX is the best way to go. Thanks...