How can I shrink an mpeg2 file?

[JBredensteiner]

. . . I have a bunch of mpeg2 files I ripped from my DVDs using DVDShrink to make an ISO with the main movie and 5.1 audio, and then VOB2MPG to convert the vobs into mpeg2 files. My problem is that I just bought an Archos 605, and it is running Linux, which means it uses the FAT32 file system, which also means that I cannot transfer files larger than 4GBs onto the player.

. . . At first I decided I was going to convert all of my movies to WMV9 files using the 5.1 WMA10 codec; however, the Archos will not play WMA files over 192Kbs, so that didn't work either. I could convert them all to Divx files using mp3 joint-stereo for the audio (I think that is similar to 5.1, but I'm not sure???); however, I stream my movies to my XBOX 360 from my media server running Vista Ultimate, and the Media Center app will not play Divx files.

. . . So, what are my option going forward? From now on I plan on using DVDShrink to shrink the file down to 4GBs before I use VOB2MPG to convert the VOBs to mpeg2 files, but that doesn't help me with the 200+ mpeg2 movies I already have on my server that for the most part are larger than 4GBs. My only real requirements are that I maintain DVD quality on both video and 5.1 audio (not stereo), and that I am able to stream them to my XBOX 360 either via the Media Center app (WMV and MPEG2 files) or via the XBOX 360 dashboard (WMV, AVI, Mpeg2, H.264 and Mpeg4 files). Thanks in advance for your help, Jon

See below links for better description of files types:
http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/2007/11/30/december-2007-video-playback-faq.aspx

[redwudz]

If your purpose is just to shrink a MPEG-2 file, try ReJig. It's a transcoder, similar to DVD Shrink, but for MPEGs.

Otherwise, you would need to re-encode them to a format your Archos will accept or re-encode to MPEG at a lower bitrate..

BTW, each time your re-encode, you will have quality losses and it won't be the video quality of the original DVD. But if you want to keep the 5.1, you can just pass that though and re-encode only the video. But 5.1 also takes up a lot of space.

Joint stereo is just that, a two channel audio format. 5.1 is a encoded multiple channel Dolby AC3 format.

[olyteddy]

You could reauthor the MPEG files. That's lossless. GFD or IFOedit will handle that fine.

[JBredensteiner]

Thanks guys for your suggestions. I will try out ReJig today; hopefully it works as easy as DVDShrink does with DVDs. I'll try your suggestions olyteddy if ReJig doesn't give me the same quality and speed as DVDShrink does with my DVDs.

By the way, I have TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress; will it work in some capacity to help me? I know it doesn't do AC3 5.1 though, or at least I can't figure out how to get it to do it. Thanks again, Jon

[redwudz]

If TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress is just a encoder and doesn't do AC3, then you should be able to add the AC3 during authoring to DVD format. GUI for dvdauthor can do that for you for a freeware solution. But apparently you aren't converting to DVD.

You might look into Aud-X. It can convert 5.1 to a compact format for Divx or some other video formats as an alternative to MP3. Maybe of no use, but check it out.

[JBredensteiner]

...Thanks, I had heard that Divx can have 5.1 sound, but I wasn't sure until now. It sounds like I would have to convert the AC3 5.1 to mp3 5.1 using Aud-X, and then use something like TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress to create the Divx file, and then join them together somehow, right? That sounds pretty time consuming.

...Is there an application that will create the Divx video and 5.1 mp3 audio all at the same time? Do you know of a site I can go to to read about doing this as easily as possible?

p.s. Please keep in mind that I want to keep my videos (audio & video) as close as possible to DVD quality as I can, so that they look good on my Hi-Def LCD one day when I get one

Thanks again, Jon

[redwudz]

You can probably use AC3 5.1, but it makes the filesize a bit large.

You can try the Aud-x version of VD Mod. It's available on the VD Mod toolpage: http://www.aud-x.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=34&func=download&filecatid=3

It will make those type of conversions a bit easier. That will get you a 5.1 MP3 file. Give it a try and see if it meets your needs. You can also check out Aud-X at their website: http://www.aud-x.com/

[Soopafresh]

AutoGK will let you keep the AC3 5.1 Track.

[JBredensteiner]

Thanks guys for your help. I'll try these out tonight and report back.

[JBredensteiner]

I downloaded ReJig, and at first I was really excited because it seemed to work really easily, but after I converted a couple of movies I found out that the sound wasn't working. Do you have any idea why it isn't working for me, and why it uses .m2v instead of .mpg for the file extension? I'm running Vista, and I see that this application hasn't been updated in a few years, so that may have something to do with it.

Is there another application I can try that will work just like ReJig "should" work? All I really need to be able to do is shrink my mpeg2 files down a little while keeping the AC3 5.1 audio intact.

I investigated Aud-x, and it will not work with my Archos 605, and I also found out that I cannot stream Divx files with AC3 audio to my XBOX 360, the Divx files have to have mp3 audio, which means Divx is out of the picture. Also, the Archos 605 will not play WMA Pro 10 files either, so I cannot use WMV files either if I want to keep the 5.1, Therefore, I must keep my files in their mpeg2 format with AC3 audio.

Thanks again, Jon

[manono]

I don't use ReJig, but if it's giving you back an M2V then it's giving you back the video only. You'll have to extract the audio and then remux it with that M2V using something like ImagoMPEG-Muxer.

[JBredensteiner]

Isn't there one simple application that will shrink/transcode my mpg2 files like DVDSkrink does with DVDs?

There has to be something that will do it in one step. I don't care if I have to pay for it or what, I just want it to be easy and high quality. Thanks again, Jon

[Midzuki]

Isn't there one simple application that will shrink/transcode my mpg2 files
like DVDSkrink does with DVDs?

There has to be something that will do it in one step.

[AlanHK]

I downloaded ReJig, and at first I was really excited because it seemed to work really easily, but after I converted a couple of movies I found out that the sound wasn't working. Do you have any idea why it isn't working for me, and why it uses .m2v instead of .mpg for the file extension? I'm running Vista, and I see that this application hasn't been updated in a few years, so that may have something to do with it.

Rejig works fine.
M2V is just video (no audio). It can compress that if you want.
It can also save out any soundtracks (normally AC3). You choose which ones you want. None are selected by default. Also it can extract subtitles, as SUP files.

(See the "Streams" checkboxes on the right, circled in red.)

The idea is that many DVDs come with multiple soundtracks, and you probably don't want a lot of foreign languages. (You may want a commentary track if there is one though.)

You can use Rejig to reauthor using the m2v, ac3 and sup files it extracts, or many other authoring apps if you want menus, etc.

[JBredensteiner]

I don't want to reauthor the movies though. I simply want to shrink my mpeg2 files from say 5GBs to 4GBs and keep the AC3 5.1 audio in tact. Is there a single app that can do that???

[poisondeathray]

You can use avidemux

Video sidebar set to "DVD(lavc)", you can configure encoding by average bitrate or video size

Audio sidebar set to "copy"

Format sidebar set to "MPEG-PS(A+V)"

Press save with extension (eg. "myfile.mpeg")

You may want to add filters (eg. you might want to deinterlace if your input was interlaced)

Cheers

[AlanHK]

I don't want to reauthor the movies though. I simply want to shrink my mpeg2 files from say 5GBs to 4GBs and keep the AC3 5.1 audio in tact. Is there a single app that can do that???

You can demux (extract the video and audio), compressing the video, with Rejig as above.

If you want to multiplex the resulting m2v and ac3 into an mpeg, there are several tools listed
here, such as ImagoMPEG-Muxer.