Creating very small .mpg from .avi

[sim]

I have only just started in this video editing lark - so go easy on me.

I have d/l using my firewire card about five minutes of video footage of a works charity event. I used MGI Videowave III to capture the video (it was the free product with the firewire card). The problem I have is that the file is 800MB+ for just the 5 minutes.

The current file type is a .avi file.

I am trying to find a way to convert the file to another format (of less quality/image size if necessary) so that the five minutes can be emailed to people.

Is there a simple way to do this? Picture quality doesnt have to be great - size is the important thing.

Thanks in advance

Sim

[Batman]

You have many options.

You can do a 2 pass divx/xvid encode (great compression and preserves quality) read the 2-pass encoding guides at www.doom9.org or www.dvdrhelp.com

Or you can convert to (s)vcd (creating a *.mpg file, these files can be played on some dvd standalone players). Use TMPGEnc or CCE. Again the guides at doom9 should help.

[sim]

Thanks for that - will check out doom9

Any idea of what the maximum compression I can get will be - i.e. how small can I make this?

[Batman]

It all depends on what format/resolution and bitrate you apply. However, the 800 mb 5 minute clip could easily become a 50 mib 2-pass xvid/divx encoded clip with quality close to the original, you can go lower. The software will be able to predict the size for a given resolution and bitrate.

[sim]

Thanks again - I managed to get it down to about 39MB - which is still too large to email - but at least I can edit it now - and maybe cut it down a bit more.

I tried to find a way to cut down the picture physical size in the hope that would trim the size - but could not find such an option in TPGEnc - any hints?

[Batman]

If you select a vcd or svcd template in TMPGenc, it will convert it to an appropriate vcd complaint mpeg file. You can get better quality and compression by doing a 2-pass divx/xvid encode.

However, if you want to cut down the resolution in TMPGEnc select SETTING radio button and then enter a resolution of your choice.

[sim]

OK having tried this a lot this morning - I have now surrendered.

The problem that I have is that I am aiming for a really cut down version of the video.

I have tried using virtualdub to go straight from the avi to a divx file - which I was told should really compress the file.

However - whenever I try to import the .avi file into VirtualDub - i get the message:

file type-1 DV detected. type1 DV files have the audio and video stream combined. virtualdub will not be able to extract the audio

Thus when I try to compress the file - I am left with video only..... any help?

[Batman]

You'll probably want to search google and the doom9 forum and see how you can convert the audio using an audio conversion utility.

Does TMPGEnc accept the audio? If so seperate the audio from the video in TMPGEnc (called de-muxing or de-multiplexing guides at doom9/dvdrhelp) and load that audio into Virtualdub and compress it to ogg or mp3.