Re-encoding to black and white

[zakman]

I have an old black and white movie that takes up 7 GB. I seem to remember something about re-encoding in black and white, which takes up less space. Is this possible? I want to fit the movie onto a DVD-5.

[TJohns]

I don't think the DVD specs have any special "blank-and-white" encoding method that can save you any space. You'll need to re-encode the video at a lower bitrate to reduce the size, but it will technically still be a "color" encode using a 256 greyscale pallet.

Trev

[thecoalman]

Less color needs less bitrate, so a lower a bitrate "black and white" will give the same quality you would expect from a higher bitrate "color" video. As mentioned above technically its still a color video.

Use the bitrate calculator to determine the maximum bitrate you can use: https://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm

[Cornucopia]

Actually...

You can, in essence, encode in "B&W" if your MPEG encoder allows you to adjust the Q matrix separately for each of Y-U-V. Then you would set the U and the V to ALL ZEROs (IIRC). This should save even more than letting the encoder do it automatically, which it usually might do but then video noise might occasionally create an "artificial color".

Unfortunately, very few encoders allow this, so it's a moot point.

Scott

[Alex_ander]

There is a 'monochrome' encoding option in CCE2.70 accessible from 'picture quality' page. Chrominance information (if any) is not encoded in this mode. You can try using lower bitrates with this setting.

[zakman]

Thanks everybody
Are there any freeware tools that use CCE?