Is this normal? Capture file size in GB's using VD, Huffyuv

[jsparks]

Just a quick question. I captured a show in 4 files (fat 32 RESTRICTIONS)with Virtual Dub using Huffy uv and while capturing the file size was in MB's, but when I finished and looked at the file(s) properties they were In GB's. I captured the show in four files and they took up most of my hard drive. Is this normal and when I convert to mpeg will the files be MB's again. I loved the picture quality and the sound rocked when I watched them with Windows Media player. But even newbie that I am know you cant put those huge files on a 80 minute CD.

[warthawg]

This is absolutely normal. For me, about 30 minutes of captured video (at 480x480 res) uses close to 15GB. Once you encode them to MPEG, the file size will reduce in accordance to the bitrates you select. Remember, you AVI file is an uncompressed video file, therefore it will be HUGE. Your only alternative is getting a hardware MPEG encoder (Dazzle DVC, etc) that will encode to MPEG/MPEG2 on-the-fly.

[jsparks]

Thank you. When reading the help with capturing it said using Huffy uv takes alot of hard drive. I just didn't think it would take ALOT of hard drive. But since this is the norm, on to phase 2. Experimenting with editing the files with virtual dub. Got to clip off some stuff.

[jgibson65]

I noticed the huge file size as well which is why I never used it. Will the picture quality be diminished when it is encoded to an mpeg?

[sommersby]

picvideo is another option you might try, I usually use it for most captures, capturing in rgb mode at 640x480 with quality set from 15-18 I end up with quality as good as huffuv using about 1/2 to 2/3 the disk space, others here have reported the same results...Gary

[alucard2050]

jgibson65, yes the picture will decrease in quality when converting to Mpeg but it is possible to not lose very much quality during the transfer process.

[sommersby]

Actually as far as pictue quality goes, if you just play back a huffuv capture or a picvideo capture after capturing it will not look that good, it will have allot of horizontal lines, but after encoding those will be gone and depending on your source, crap in crap out, you will end up with slightly less or better than vhs quality.

[homerpez]

If you use huffy and v-dub, it might be a good trick to compress AUDIO a little too...

I personally capture using Huffy for video, and ADPCM compression on audio. It's only 4:1 compression, but saves a lot of space verses full, uncompressed WAV.