Why is capturing AVI files so big?? Help Please

[pbuscher]

I have an AIW ATI 8500DV and when I capture any AVI its huge. Is there a particular codec or something that will help reduce the size yet be in good quality? I've used some like UYVY and DIVX, but they are all the same. Even when I put the resolution as low as 320X240 its still huge. How is it that I can download good quality AVI files off the web and they are usual small in size?
Can anyone help?

Thanks

[MrPhelps]

What are you capturing????

Svcd format is a good option.
Full dvd resolution capture takes a ton of space, Guessing one DVD would take 50/100GIGS .

[Greg12]

You are capturing an uncompressed video stream, which is very big.

The avi files you download are actually compressed with DIVX MPEG 4.

U can't really capture to this format directly, it isn't a caputre codec.

[dcapp1]

Good question, I would like to know how I can get good quality captures that are as good as downloaded divx files.

[dcapp1]

Let me rephrase my question. I would like to know how to get them as small as good quality divx files.

[tonyp12]

THE RULE OF CAPTURING:

Capturing is CPU intensive and trying to encode to divx at
the same time just spells problems.

So Capture to RAW AVI or HUFFY.

When done with the capture, let the computer work on
encoding it to something smaller at its own pace.

when done delete the original huge avi, end of story.

[chuis]

I'm facing a similar problem. AIW capture (or my machine?) is too slow if I capture as uncompressed AVI. Even some high res MPEG's are too slow for my machine.
Any advice on what can be done to improve capture efficiency?