What is a VFW?

[pyropawz]

VirtualDub says I need to have a VFW compadable codec in order to open up my file. Where can I get one of those? I keep reading about how good VirtualDub is but I can't get it to open my exported .avi files from Premiere in order to convert them to something smaller.

~Pyro

[setarip]

"VFW" stands for "Video For Windows"

There are all sorts of codec "packs" available at this forum's sister site, DivX Digest...

[pyropawz]

I hate to sounds ignorant, or to be a bother, but I suppose I can't help that at this point. How do I know if a codec is compadable with Video for Windows? I tried searching for 'Video for Windows' and I didn't get any articles that said anything about it.

~Pyro

[dementillo]

I use for wmp(window media player ) "ANGELPOTION VIDEO CODEC V1"

[setarip]

In order to determine which codec(s) you need for a particular .AVI, you should do the following:

1) Load the file into VirtualDub

2) From the "File" dropdown menu, select "File Information"

3) Post (here) EVERYTHING you see (both video and audio information), or post a screen capture .jpg of the information box

[pyropawz]

That only problem with that is the file won't open in Virtual Dub. I get the error when I try and load it. However, the file that I was trying to open is exported from Premiere in it's default settings. I have since then figured out I can export the file in DivX, even though it does sacrifice quality. (Unfortunatly the souce material was horrible quality as well.) So pretty much what I was trying to do was change the file with the default settings from Premiere into another file type that was smaller. I still wouldn't mind knowing if there is anyway to change this file into something smaller, or if it's not meant to be changed and I should just stick with the DivX export.

~Pyro

[setarip]

There isn't a video format that's going to be smaller than DivX. If the audio is in Uncompressed PCM (.WAV) format, you can reduce the overall filesize CONSIDERABLY by converting to MPEG Layer3 (.MP3) audio...

[pyropawz]

It is in PCM actually...how would I go about changing it to MPEG Layer 3?

~Pyro

[setarip]

Assuming you've got an MP3 codec installed on your system, you can use an audio editor such as GoldWave or CoolEdit (since you obviously can't use VirtualDub in this situation)...

[pyropawz]

Actually since the time of the first post I was able to export the file in DivX format, and that was the file I was refering to that has the audio in PCM. I'm not sure about the other file because I have since deleted it because it was over a gig in size and I was tired of messing with it. The DivX version does open in VirtualDub.

~Pyro

[setarip]

Then once again, ssuming you've got an MP3 codec installed on your system, load the file into VirtualDub and convert the audio to .MP3 (MPEG Layer3). Then save with a new filename.

Remember to set "Video" to "Direct Stream Copying" and "Audio" to "Full Processing Mode".

[pyropawz]

Wow. 75megs to 25...not to shabby. Thanks a lot for the help. This is definatly something I'm going to have to remember for the future. Along with helping me learn to use VirtualDub a little better. ~grin~

~Pyro