Best format to save

[radman2020]

I have several very large AVI files from dv recording that I want to save on my hard drive (yes, I backed up to dvd). But they are huge.

what is the best format to save in that might be smaller? Is MPEG 2 ok? Is WMV better? Please let me know how I should set up the mpeg wmv or whatever file so it is sufficient in quality.

thx

[olyteddy]

DV is the easiest to edit. Most of the higher compression formats are primarily presentation formats. If you just want to watch them, any are fine. If you want to edit them later then DV is best. I have a lot of MPEG2 stuff myself, especially since that is the native format of my PVR and it's also DVD ready. There are more compressed formats like Xvid, however.