Best way to compress video with least difference?

[Dan-D-Pak]

I have a couple of TV Shows in MP4 format that are roughly 1.9 GB in size. There 1920 x 1080 pixels. It runs at 44 mins and 51 seconds. I use handbrake to downsize the TV shows to 720p. But, handbrake output the size to 720 x 406 instead I thought would be 720x480. Anyhow, I experimented with quality and noticed an improvement from my previous 1280 x 720 p. I been trying to eye what is the best. My overall goal is to keep a good quality without having to keep 1.9 GB for each show. I have about 3 seasons with at least 15 episodes. I plan on getting a bigger hard drive but, that is not going to happen right now. So I was thinking what is the best way to mathimatically do this. Some shows on SD quality run around 350-500 MB depending on length of show. Probs a 20-40 mins show.

For my TV series they all run at 44 minutes all @1920 x 1080. Very excellent details with that typical grainy mess blu-rays have. Not sure why its there but, im sure ya'll know what i'm talking about. Anyways, I tried to go for a 350 MB target size with a 720p. I tried custom dimensions of 1280 x 720 and 720 x 406. It looked fairly OK but, I kept seeing motion blocks in some scenes. I only notice this on my 55" HDTV. On smaller screens like my laptop 15" I can't tell at all. So i'm kinda confused what I should do. Should I go for 500 MB? I been converting for days and just asking for some advice. Thanks.

[theewizard]

go online , goto FRY's electronics, or Best Buy, New Egg
and buy a new external drive to replace the one that is near full
To Me..it makes no sense to record in Hi-Def and then reduce it to 720*406 (its 406 because 720*480 is NOT 16:9)
I don't do MKV, but if you convert to 1280*720 using h264 an MP4 container you can probably get them down to 500~700 MB
personally i prefer to keep my PVR recordings in hi-def mts recordings directly from the PVR

you can't reduce resolution and detail and NOT get blocking and artifacts
unless you want to pay thousands of $$ for a license for industrial encoders used by the studios for DVD and bluray

[Krispy Kritter]

"720 x 406 instead I thought would be 720x480" are DVD resolution 480P.

720P is 1280x720 (or 1280 x something depending on the AR).

[jagabo]

In handbrake the size you set is the frame width. It automatically adjusts the frame height to maintain the correct aspect ratio. 720p is 1280x720. So enter 1280 if you want 720p.