Bitrate question for Avi to Wmv conversion w/ Windows Media Encoder

[Gonz0ne]

Hola, I'm a newb trying out some DV editing. I have been using Windows Movie Maker, and am trying to edit an AVI file. I tried to import the file, but it didn't work and said that I needed the right codec installed. I thought that was weird since it played fine in Windows Media Player. I got Gspot, and it told me that I did have the correct codec installed. I did a little more digging, and it sounds like WMM just can't handle the codec involved, does that sound right? Anyways, I decided to convert the AVI to WMV with Windows Media Encoder so that I could edit it w/ WMM. When I select the AVI file, a pop-up says it is 128kbps. In the conversion tutorial I read, it recommended a higher bitrate for better quality, but I figured that if the source file was 128, it would not matter. So I set the conversion bitrate to something like 150kbps. However, the converted file was much lower in quality that the source file, and about 1/6 of the file size. What happened here?

PS - I had to use the two-pass encoding with WME, because the disable function was grayed-out, so I could not turn it off. Why is that, and how can I convert my videos in one pass, and what is the trade-off for saving time? Does it lower the quality, up the file size, or both?

[zoobie]

I think the 128kbps is just the audio because if it was video, it would be next to nothing with very poor quality. Pull your cursor over the file and look at the status bar on the bottom. You'll see windows tell you the duration and total kbps

[Sartori]

PS - I had to use the two-pass encoding with WME, because the disable function was grayed-out, so I could not turn it off. Why is that, and how can I convert my videos in one pass, and what is the trade-off for saving time? Does it lower the quality, up the file size, or both?

It will lower the video quality , a first pass analyzes the video file / decides where it needs the extra bitrate and the second pass turns the analysis into an encoding operation . I don`t use WME so I can`t answer how to turn it off sorry . The tradeoff in time will be dependent on your PCs power and the resolution/length/encoding bitrate of your video .

If you are only cutting bits out of your avi file , I personally use (and recommend) VirtualDub - an avi editor , I make hybrid video files with it - wmv video codec with mp3 sound , Vdub allows easier change of codecs / encoding passes / bitrates along with using whatever video processing (noise filtering) I wish to make . You can make videos with the wmv video codec and use wma for the audio codec - this will make an avi file that can have its suffix changed to wmv if needed although it wont strictly speaking be a WMV file (this is from what Ive read and I`ll gladly be corrected on this) .

[Gonz0ne]

I think the 128kbps is just the audio because if it was video, it would be next to nothing with very poor quality. Pull your cursor over the file and look at the status bar on the bottom. You'll see windows tell you the duration and total kbps

Hmm, it does seem like the vid has to be more than 128kbps, but when I select that file it displays this info in the status bar - Type: Video clip, Duration 0:57:02, Bit Rate: 128kbps, Dimensions: 512x384, Size:587MB
Does that add-up?

It will lower the video quality , a first pass analyzes the video file / decides where it needs the extra bitrate and the second pass turns the analysis into an encoding operation . I don`t use WME so I can`t answer how to turn it off sorry . The tradeoff in time will be dependent on your PCs power and the resolution/length/encoding bitrate of your video .

If you are only cutting bits out of your avi file , I personally use (and recommend) VirtualDub - an avi editor , I make hybrid video files with it - wmv video codec with mp3 sound , Vdub allows easier change of codecs / encoding passes / bitrates along with using whatever video processing (noise filtering) I wish to make . You can make videos with the wmv video codec and use wma for the audio codec - this will make an avi file that can have its suffix changed to wmv if needed although it wont strictly speaking be a WMV file (this is from what Ive read and I`ll gladly be corrected on this) .

Ok, thanks for clearing that up. I am only cutting bits out of the file. I've taken a look at Super and t@b, but they are both too technical for me. I like the video-editing-for-dummies approach of WMM. How complicated is Virtualdub, would you recommend it to a newb like me for simple editing tasks?

[zoobie]

It's kinda weird...You hover the cursor over an .avi and the status bar will just tell you the audio bitrate. Hover over a .wmv and it tells you the total...I think

All editors take a little time to figure out...no biggie

[Sartori]

On first loading VirtualDub can look a little daunting , ignore that

You just need to use (for now anyway)

1. "load" and "save" file in the file menu
2. the 2 panes of video show "before" and "after"
3.set the video codec (to save in) in the Video menu (select "Compression")
4.set the audio codec (to save in) in the Audio menu (select "Compression")
5.the Slider will drag you through the video
6.the right most Buttons under the slider are the "In" and "Out" buttons , press the left one and it makes a mark , drag the slider a bit more and press the right one - you`ll now have a section of video selected - Press DELETE and it will delete just that bit (this is the simple bit of it) , just cut out what you dont want and then save it (after selecting video and audio codecs).
7.In the Video menu - the selection of Filters will bring up tools to modify the video , change the resolution etc , there are loads of tutorials across the net and quite a few excellent ones on this site.


It really is a great video editor which if you decide you need more , will allow you to learn other bits it can do , best of luck with it .