Trying to shrink avi size, and more!

[janlafata]

I'm trying to send an avi movie file to a friend of mine in Japan so she can watch it on her computer. I would have just burned the file onto a DVD as an MPEG, but her home player will not play R or RW DVD's. So to do this,I need to do two things. One, I need to shrink the 975 MB avi file down to below 700 MB's so I can fit it onto a CD. Second, I need to edit in subtitles.

I haven't had much luck with one piece of software I tried, CyberLink PowerDirector. It's a great program and I was able to load the subtitles, just fine. However when I went to click on "Produce or "Create Disk", everything crashed. I may not have had the right patch in it though, so I may try reinstalling it.

I also have Ulead MovieFactory Plus which will also edit in subtitles, however, this program appears to just be geared for burning onto DVD. No editing or shrinking then saving onto the hard drive.

I really think this can't be that hard to get completed. I think adding the subtitles is the hardest part, but I have already downloaded the srt file, so I just need a good install program first. Even nicer would be a program that installs the subtitle and then burns it onto a CD or allows me to save it to my hard drive as an avi file. I should mentioned, I've also tried some of the smaller third party subtitle utilities without much luck.

But then all of this messing around with the subtitles will not do any good unless I can shrink this thing to fit on a cd!
I'm very much looking forward to hearing some suggestions.

[guns1inger]

Use virtualdub and you can re-encode the video to fit, and hardsub from the srt files at the same time. This guide : https://forum.videohelp.com/topic272736.html covers the process and tools. Otherwise try AutoGK, which will automate most of it for you.

[janlafata]

guns1inger,

Thanks for your reply. Looks like these tools will work just fine for me, so hopefully this "nightmare" I've been through the last couple of weeks with trying many, many different types of software, might be over!

One quick question though. You said "Use virtualdub and you can re-encode the video to fit, and hardsub from the srt files at the same time" I downloaded Virtualdubmod and also, like the guide says, Vobsub, but I read a little further down and I did not see any reference to "Hardsub". Is that part of VirtualDub or something else you download and install?

I imagine I'll understand this all better, tomorrow when I actually install all of this , then start playing around. Right now though, like you...I'm "so very tired"!

[citanool]

Avi Recomp is perfect for this and very easy

[redwudz]

When you install VobSub, you will get a page that has 'Choose Components' at the top. Under 'Plugins', expand that menu and you will see 'VobSub for VirtualDub' and a bit lower, 'TextSub for VirtualDub and Avisynth'. Check both those boxes. Later in the install you will be asked where VirtualDub is installed.

Now when you open VirtualDub, then 'Video>Filters>Add', you should see VobSub and TextSub on the list. TextSub is the subtitle filter.

At least I believe that's correct. It's been a while since I've installed TextSub.

[guns1inger]

Avi Recomp is perfect for this and very easy

Another simple option worth exploring.

@janlafata - sorry. Hardsub is just a term that means to encode the subtitles as part of the image when you re-encode the video. The subtitles are fixed and cannot be turned off. As opposed to 'softsubs', which can be switched on and off with the players subtitle feature.

[manono]

Here's Baldrick's guide to doing what you want using AutoGK:

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic316471.html

[janlafata]

citanool, redwudz, guns1inger, manono

Thanks for all of your replies and help, so far, however it just hit me that, since I also have the folks over at afterdawn.com helping me also, I better coordinate all of the information I have coming in, so that both help forums know what's going on with my little project. So below is a copy of a reply I just sent to afterdawn telling them about some suggestions I've also been getting on videohelp.com. citanool there is a big question I have for AVI ReComp in here also...

To afterdawn members:

Thanks for your replies. Well I knew there was a chance of this happening. You know how whenever you post a thread on a topic that you have very little experience on, you get either, no replies back or close to too many? Well, I'm close to that but I'm complaining!
I'm just trying to digest all of this!

You see, some folks over at www.videohelp.com also sent me some suggestions. One of them also was AGK, so I've downloaded that. I also downloaded ImgBurn, but I am concerned as to if it will work on Vista. It is not listed on the download page.

I was also recommended to try VirtualDubMod. To get that to both shrink my file and add the subtitle though, I have to also install vobsub.

Finally, someone else recommended AVI ReComp, which sounds the most promising solution so far, because it will supposedly do everything for me.

So like I said, I'm grateful that I'm getting lot's of help, but at this point, I'm getting close to being overwhelmed! I mean, I've always just been an audio guy on my computer, up until about a month ago. Then I decided to dive into the whole world of movie downloading and many people were quite helpful in getting me started.

In the process, I downloaded, but have actually only tried a few, of what must be about 20 different video programs! For example, like I mentioned, I have CyberLink PowerDirector and Ulead DVD MovieFactory, both fairly expensive programs, installed, but it's a shame to find out that neither one can do what I want in this little situation with the subtitle and the shrinking.

I also have all kinds of video converting software that I haven't even used yet, and now all of these smaller programs that people have recommended to me from this site and videohelp over the last few days.

So what I need to do now is just start trying some of these programs out, so that, in the future, I will know what program works best for me. But it would be nice just to have one or two of the same types of programs, that do everything except vacuum for you!

Also, while this thought is still fresh in my mind, I need your thoughts on how I should best burn this avi file to a CD. What I mean is, once I get my subtitles on and shrink my file, should I save the edited file back to my hard drive, then burn that standalone .avi to a CD, so that my friend could just either execute play on WMP from the CD, or copy it to her hard drive and play it back from there.

Or should I simply burn the whole "movie" to the CD, so it plays automatically when she inserts it into her computer, just like when a movie is burned onto a DVD. The reason I ask is that all I have been dealing with over the last month or so, is burning avi files onto blank DVD's where they turn into MPEGs for playback on a home DVD machine. I have not even gotten into burning video on a CD yet.

I also have one other concern. If I go with AVI ReComp, it supposedly will compress the file to a smaller size using XVID, but will she be able to play that back on her computer or will she need a codec for it. I'm also concerned here, because many of the avi files that I have on my hard drive were already compressed using XVID, so by compressing them again, won't that mess things up?

As you can see, I still have many, many questions about video, all due to my lack of experience in this area.

But thanks again for your help.

[redwudz]

I think you will discover there are lots of ways to do what you want to accomplish. Many of us have our favorite ways of doing it. I favor freeware, though at times it takes more steps, but you also get more control. Once you find what works for you, it gets much easier.

BTW, ImgBurn works great with Vista. It's the only burning application I use for DVDs or CDs.