New to this... Recomend some software?

[virtual81]

I used to use EasyVCD to backup my movies and split into to 2 files to fit on to cd.

I'm looking for some software that will now convert all of my old MPEG2 movies into somthing that takes a little less hard disk space.

Eg:
From...
Back to the Future 1of2.mpg (582meg)
Back to the Future 2of2.mpg (581meg)

To...
Back to the future.avi (~700meg)

Is there some free (GNU) software around that will do this for me quickly and in an un-attended way? (Batch encoding)

I have about 80 gig of these so i assume its going to take a long time.

I use AutoGordianKnot these days to backup.

Thanks in advance,
Virtual Insanity

PS, looking to take more advantage of my DTV card, will look around, seems to be a good topic already.

[setarip]

You should be able to use the "Job Control" feature of VirtualDubMOD (Different than standard VirtualDub) to handle such procedures for MPEG-2s...