Convert DV .AVI to MPEG4 - how?

[ArthurDaley]

Hi,

Thanks to these forums I transferred my digi 8 tapes from camcorder via DV (using WinDV) to the PC.

I was going to use DVD studio which would make them MPEG2.

But I was thinking forget the DVD, and use MPEG4 sicne files are much smaller.

So how should I go from the .AVI files I now have to MPEG4?

Thanks!

[Baldrick]

what kind of mpeg4, divx,xvid,wmv,h264? wmv will play in most windows computers without any extra software.

virtualdub or dr. divx or autogk - > divx,xvid
https://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?guideid=700#700

wme or wmnicenc - > wmv
https://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?guideid=701#701

megui - > h264

[ArthurDaley]

Damn, shows how little I know, I thought there was one MPEG4. Could I say latest LOL? I know of the H264 CODEC and guess that is good to use. I also heard come DVD players support MPEG4 so if there is more than one, whichever one they support?

As regards player, I found Windows Media Player to be awful when it came to .mp4 files, and found Video Lan Client (http://www.videolan.org to be great.

So if there is more than one kind of MPEG4, does this mean .mp4 could be a bunch of things?

[FulciLives]

The most popular MPEG4 formats are DivX and XviD and these both have an avi ext such as filename.avi

AVI is just a "container" and can be a number of things such as DV, DviX, XviD, etc.

One thing I would like to point out. Anything shot on a DV camcorder will be interlaced. To make a proper MPEG4 you will have to de-interlace. This means you loose a lot of picture quality. With DV you are better off leaving it interlaced and making a DVD back-up of it.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[ArthurDaley]

Thanks.

I noticed that on MPEG4 trawls that you get MPEG4 for PSPs, iPods, mobile phones and so on. Yuck. Too complex!

OK so you say stick with MPEG2/DVD?

Because of these forums I got Ulead DVD workshop. So I guess you are saying stick with that?

I wonder if you know why so few MPEG4 camcorders are out? It seems a nice format in terms of quality/size? Also why are there not lots of them on the market with hard drives?

[edDV]

Thanks.

I noticed that on MPEG4 trawls that you get MPEG4 for PSPs, iPods, mobile phones and so on. Yuck. Too complex!

OK so you say stick with MPEG2/DVD?

Because of these forums I got Ulead DVD workshop. So I guess you are saying stick with that?

I wonder if you know why so few MPEG4 camcorders are out? It seems a nice format in terms of quality/size? Also why are there not lots of them on the market with hard drives?

The encoding strategy depends on your use goal. DV to MPeg2 is the most widely supported (all DVD players) but save your DV masters for future encoders. You want the highest quality source for MPeg4 encoders.

MPeg4 is more highly compressed and less supported. Most people currently use MPeg4 variants for extreme compression. H.264 is a future DVD standard but encoders are not yet optimized for best quality and encoding times are extremely long on a PC.

If you want DivX or XVid to play on a particular DVD player, research the compression settings that work for that particular machine. Don't assume other players will play it.

MPeg4 camcorders will need hardware encoder-decoders that are currently large and expensive. Give it time.

[ArthurDaley]

OK thanks for all the replies!

Sounds like I have a picture built. My aim was to get back my expensive tapes so I could record over them and have my videos portable (h/drive).

I will use Ulead and make them into DVDs.

As regards "save your DV masters for future encoders" - OK I will burn the .AVIs onto DVDs. Seems a tape when converted via WinDV takes up two DVDs. But that is 60pence compared with around £5 for a tape, plus is PC compat.

Thanks.

[edDV]

OK thanks for all the replies!

Sounds like I have a picture built. My aim was to get back my expensive tapes so I could record over them and have my videos portable (h/drive).

I will use Ulead and make them into DVDs.

As regards "save your DV masters for future encoders" - OK I will burn the .AVIs onto DVDs. Seems a tape when converted via WinDV takes up two DVDs. But that is 60pence compared with around £5 for a tape, plus is PC compat.

Thanks.

60minute MiniDV tapes can be found under $3 over here. DVDR backup is more labor and time intensive. My plan is to backup to DVtape until higher capacity DVDR formats become available. Current DVDR is beginning to feel like a floppy disc.

[ArthurDaley]

OK thanks for all the replies!

Sounds like I have a picture built. My aim was to get back my expensive tapes so I could record over them and have my videos portable (h/drive).

I will use Ulead and make them into DVDs.

As regards "save your DV masters for future encoders" - OK I will burn the .AVIs onto DVDs. Seems a tape when converted via WinDV takes up two DVDs. But that is 60pence compared with around £5 for a tape, plus is PC compat.

Thanks.

60minute MiniDV tapes can be found under $3 over here. DVDR backup is more labor and time intensive. My plan is to backup to DVtape until higher capacity DVDR formats become available. Current DVDR is beginning to feel like a floppy disc.

Mmm it's Digi High 8 tapes I use since when I last checked out Mini DV tapes where £14 (guess ~26USD) each!

But at least it is PC compatiable. I can use them same tapes then put them over onto DVDs at 30p (~56cents) each.

And when MPEG4 camcorders come along (hopefulyl h/drive drien) I can get rid of this one without having to spend a 100 days converting all the tapes to something PC compat.

[edDV]

Hi8 tapes can also be found under $3 as well.

I've found normal 8mm tapes (under $2) work fine in my Digital8. They potentially have higher interchange risk for playback on a different camcorder but they have played in every other Digital8 camcorder that I've tried (approx 5 camcorders).