compression codec

[andrewk1719]

I captured some analog video using my ATi x800 xt All in wonder and ATi's multimedia suite. It captured the file in mpeg4, almost 5 hours coming out to about 12gb. After editing it down by about 2 hours in Vdub, I want to save it with a lossless codec. However, huffyuv causes 3 hours to come out to almost 25gb or so, and if i encode for only a couple seconds and then abort it, when I try to play it in WMP, Windows gives me a Data Executiuon Prevention error and closes the program and restarts Windows Explorer. What codec can I use to get about the same file size give or take 10gb and with out any loss in quality for Vdub?
thank you

[LoRd_MuldeR]

I think the best compression/quality you can get today is H.264 (MPEG-4 AVC).
You can either use the free x264 encoder or Nero Digital.
If you need "real" lossless compression, you can use x264 in lossless mode.

There also is a lossless video codec aviable from Alparysoft. (I have never tested that one)

If you want to stick to MPEG-4 AVS I would recommend XviD...

[neo squidward]

If you are just cutting out stuff you can use virtualdub to cut at I-frames and save as direct stream copy instead of having to reencode. Thats what I do when all I need to do is cut things out.

[andrewk1719]

If you are just cutting out stuff you can use virtualdub to cut at I-frames and save as direct stream copy instead of having to reencode. Thats what I do when all I need to do is cut things out.

Can you elaborate on "cut at I-frames?" I believe this could be a very viable solution.

[neo squidward]

Its just like normal cutting except when you are at the start and end of the area you want to cut you have to use the buttons with the keys on them to go to the nearest keyframe and set your cutting points there.

[CWR03]

neo's recommendation would be the one that best suits your request, as saving your wanted portions in VirtualDubMod in "Direct copy mode" would have no recompression at all, therefore no loss of quality. For future captures, however, you may consider using a different format for your initial capture, such as MPEG-2 or a lossless like HuffYUV. The problem you'll run into with editing an MPEG-4 is that I-frames are far apart and can make editing a problem since you may have to include or remove a few seconds of material to make the edit. MPEG-2 has I-frames at every 12 frames; uncompressed AVI can be cut right to the frame.