DMR-E80H to web?

[JeffM]

I've recorded some MPEG-2 AC3 video (10 min or less) off a Panasonic DMR-E80H and would
like to upload it to the web, ideally at 320x240 resolution, 50MB or less.

However, all of my conversions seem to go bad, I either get large files or crappy
quality. What would be the best way to handle this? Should I use software to resize
the video resolution down, or dub the video directly at a lower resolution?

These are pretty much the sizes offered by the DMR-E80H:

XP mode: 704x480
SP mode: 704x480
LP mode: 352x480
EP mode: 352x240

It doesn't exactly offer 320x240 resolution. EP mode is kinda of crappy.

[oldfart13]

Have you thought of converting the files to something other than Mpeg-2? I do DivX avis all the time and they look fine (at least on my 13" TV). You really can't take a large file and convert it to a smaller one and expect the quality to be the same. That is your trade-off, smaller file size equals lower resolution picture...

[Baldrick]

yep, record do highest dvd quality and then convert to divx,xvid or wmv for the web.

[JeffM]

I tried using VirtualDub to convert to DivX, but I noticed the video is tagged with the DivX logo.
I don't want logos tagged on my video.

[Captain Satellite]

It's all that I do with my E80. DVD-RAM>MPG>WMV.

This file was recorded on my E80 then converted to a .wmv file.

http://myfavoritevideoclips.com/billybo.wmv

[JeffM]

What software did you use to convert it to WMV?
Ah, I see embedded in the file is 'Windows Movie Maker.'

I see that your video is 320x240 and looks somewhat squashed. The DMR-E80H
doesn't offer any resolutions that divide nicely down to 320x240, so I would
guess it would mess up the original aspect ratio. Do you know how to tell
Windows Movie Maker not to change the resolution or original aspect ratio?

That is, it should write it out as 352x240 instead of 320x240.

[JeffM]

Damn it, Windows Media Encoder v9.0 also squashes the original aspect ratio.
It forces the video to be 320x240, no matter what.

Found a tool that preserves it:
http://www.marauderzstuff.com/programs/m2pmcencoderzx/default.aspx

[Captain Satellite]

Thousands of people all over the world watch my vids, my stuff ain't squashed, man.

[JeffM]

You used Windows Movie Maker to create your WMV file.
And you said you use a Panasonic E80H to create your MPEG-2 file.

Windows Movie Maker forces all video to be 320x240, no matter what the original aspect ratio is,
so yeah, lack of better words, your video is squashed.

[Captain Satellite]

I'm not the one asking for help now, am I? LOL!

[JeffM]

Do the math, cowboy.

352/240 = 1.466
320/240 = 1.333

Your video is squashed horizontally.

[oldfart13]

For DivX/Xvid use AutoGK. Very easy to use and very good quality encodes.