editing file size

[dsenart]

I captured a home video with my mini dv camcorder. The file size is pretty big. What is the best way to lower the file size without losing a lot of quality?

I have autogk but I am not sure if that would work or not.

[yoda313]

You could capture it to mpeg 2 in dvd mode since thats probably what you're going to make from it. Just set your bitrate pretty high so it isn't compromised. Maybe in the 6-7000 range???

[redwudz]

It depends on what you want to do with it. If you want to make a DVD out of it, encode to MPEG-2. If you want to just play it on your computer or you have a settop Divx player, encode to Divx with AutoGK.

Encoding to MPEG-2 for DVD, you should be able to get an hour per disc at good quality.

If you look to the left in 'Convert' for DV to the format you want, you will see some guides listed. <<<<<<

[guns1inger]

If you want to edit it first, leave it as DV until after you have finished editing, then encode it to something smaller.

[dsenart]

My video is in .avi format now. I looked through the guides and couldnt really find anything that made sense to me. AutoGK won't let me find the file because it's not a dvd file i think im not sure.

[redwudz]

My method with DV is to transfer it to the computer with WinDV as Type 2. Then I drop it into VirtualDub Mod. (Install the Panasonic DV if needed for VDM)

I do the edits in VDM, apply filters if needed. If I'm going to DVD, I save out the audio as a WAV.

I frameserve the video to TMPGEnc encoder. I process the audio to AC3 with ffmpeggui. After encoding to MPEG-2 with TMPGEnc, I put the video into TMPGEnc DVD Author, along with the AC3 audio. Make basic menus, author and burn as a DVD.

Or if you want to do this quick with less quality, use DivxToDVD. The free version is still available.

For DV to Xvid, I use VDM again, convert the audio to MP3, use VDM to encode to Xvid, burn as a data disc with Nero.

The most important part of either method is your encoder settings. That's where the quality is set.